There will be many repercussions after this North London Derby and it is absolutely correct that Arsenal should feel hard done by, after some atrocious decisions by the referee and linesmen meant that we ended up losing two extremely important points in the race for the Top Four.
There were many incidents that need looking at but we’ll take the obvious ones first shall we….
So we got a penalty in the final minute, which would normally mean that we win the game, although I totally disagree that Aubameyang should have been the penalty-taker. But one things for sure, if the ref had actually been watching it would have been retaken for ‘encroaching’. Have a look at just how close Vertonghen got to Aubz, but nobody noticed?
— Mikey (@M_1_K_3_Y_) March 2, 2019
Secondly, here is a pic of the free kick that resulted in Harry Kane getting a penalty. Who is the Number 10 furthest forward?
FIVE (5) Tottenham players are offside in this picture and Kane is the most offside of them all. Who was the linesman tracking, Hugo Lloris? pic.twitter.com/i9DqX3vDcY
— MJ (@MJ_Boh_) March 2, 2019
Now let’s have a look at an incident that the referee didn’t even notice. Would anyone say that Sanchez wouldn’t have been sent off for this if the ref was actually watching?
So FA……..how about Sanchez?? pic.twitter.com/bBnnYfxdt7
— gunner-gal26 (@gunner_x49) March 2, 2019
Okay now we are going to look at the model professional Danny Rose, who managed to get Lucas Torreira sent off, despite having no contact at all with our midfielder. And compare it to Rose’s slight contact with Bernd Leno’s chest, which only resulted in a yellow card….
When Torreira makes contact with the ball – look how for Rose is away from him.
Completely different to the proximity of Rose and Leno. pic.twitter.com/6WxhTOmCqq
— Phil Costa (@_PhilCosta) March 2, 2019
This is a very bad state of affairs that all the officials failed to notice the actual facts when they were right in front of them. Not to mention the fact that Harry Kane shouldn’t have even been playing after headbutting Cesar Azpilicueta and elbowing David Luiz last week, but Lacazette gets a three game ban for one elbow!
This makes it so dubious about referees being biased, but the fact is that those two lost points could cost Arsenal a place in the Champions League next season. I guess we are just going to have to wait and see if Karma comes back to bite Tottenham in the bum before the end of the season, because the referees are hardly going to punish them….
Admin
Shame on you Anthony Taylor/linesmen
Sue-was Taylor to blame for ALL the mistakes or should the Linesman belooked at?Kanes offside-Linesman not even level with play.Taylor was positioned exactly where he should be so he was relying on Linesman to do his job.Which he didn’t.Vertongen should have been spotted by the Linesman AND Taylor.How can BOTH miss that infringement?
In regards the tackles (or assaults) by those CAVEMEN.Im not going to make a big fuss about that too much.What I take out of it is the TEAM STOOD UP to them.And those NEANDATHALS had to result to those tactics to get into a game they were never looking like winning.
Great TEAM performance.Great tactics and motivation from Emery (Who now knows what a NLD is all about).
And can I have a big shout to Nacho Monreal-what a performance that was at LB.
The one tactic Emery gat wrong was allowing Trippier too much space and time to get on the ball.That was their main tactic.Get the ball to Trippier and he crosses into the box.
Other than that it’s a difficult result to take but also difficult to critise the performance of ANY player.Even Mustafi-Who had many good moments in that match
That’s why I put linesmen too Phil! All had a bad game imo.
It’s a bitter pill to swallow… we did so well, should have bagged all 3 points…so unlucky not to. Oh well unbeaten in the league against those jammy b******s
I’m with you on this Sue-Taylor was badly wrong with some of his decisions but the Linesman is there to do a job and he failed abysmally twice that cost us.It still doesn’t get over the fact that Mustafi AGAIN f***ed up by pushing Dah Dah Dah who went down as though he had just been shot with a Buffalo Gun and Aubamayang being far too complacent with that penalty.But if OUR players are in the team to do a particular job so are the match officials and they did not do theirs yesterday.
Bloody Dah Dah Dah can go & do one ?
Self confessed Spurs fan , 1st game 1967, I agree standard of refs in Prem is sub standard, like you, I’m a fanatic, but you left out the tackle from behind on Kane by xhaca? Did not even get a yellow, in fact was not even called? Draw was a fair result, almost snatched by a weak call for 90th minute penalty. The Rose collision on Leno? Come on now, in that position, bearing down on goal he has to go for it, yellow was fair enough. I’m not posting to get into a huge row! It is possible to discuss on forums, I’m virtually the only Spurs fan from a huge Arsenal supporting family, so have heard every Spurs insult that exists already, keep it civil.
Shame on Mustafi, Lacazette and Auba
The FA bottled it by not implementing VAR this season. Epl is the only league out of the top five leagues without it this season, such a shame. Even with all the terrible refereeing, we still should have won if our strikers didn’t miss chances in decisive moments. I also think after the performance in this game, the fans will have more belief and trust in the manager because before the start of the game, fans were going off on here about his selections, he proved you all wrong and showed that he has a plan, we should all embrace that. Isn’t that what we have been asking for over the years?
??Let’s move on and support Emery and the players. Hopefully the efforts over the last 4 games will be continued until the end of the season; one match at a time.
for me Auba just let us down.
Arsenal win, draw or lose as a team. Aubameyang will be hurting.
FA and Mike Dean’s of all kinds will always support 5pur2 cos they have “star” English players. And that there is no possibility to make a case after the game.
And I am so happy to still notice how various english media are against VAR although it is done deal for the next season.
After that we have to rid of Fergie time for ManUtd.
That might just be to 2 points that make us fall short of the top 4. So gutted, maybe Auba should be given special lessons on the importance of winning a NLD. Yes I totally agree that the officials were poor but the truth is, we lack the killer instinct that a top four team should have.
Just for the records, yesterday’s loss (yes a 2 point loss) was not on Emery but on our players (Mustafi and Auba). I just hope Emery remembers the players that constantly let us down – the likes of Mustafi, Auba, etc. Notice I didn’t add Laca to that list cos of his work rate, at least he’s puts in the extra to create the chances.
Praises to Ramsey, a player gone but still plays with his whole heart, Emery for getting many things right even with a very limited budget. Leno is definitely among the 70-80mil class of keepers. Socrates is a rock, and I agree he should be captain or at least one of the captain’s cos he’s a fighter.
Above all I still believe Emery will take us back to the glory days. I still believe we can win against United at home, and I believe we can make the top 4 if we keep the push for the remainder of the season.
And at this moment I urge every arsenal fan to be unified in supporting the whole team and the manager, Ozil supporters and Iwobi supporters alike, we are all ARSENAL fans. Gunners for ever. In Emery I trust.
The ref was not fair,the were a lots of action that ref did not take into consideration taking an example after Kean penalty Leno picked up the ball two Spurs players went to Lenos head and start to embarrass him ,am asking myself is this modern football in England? Actually there some refs are officially the game with interest.
GOGO-Dont preach about who we should be commenting on.I take it you have never been to a live game have you?Trust me-EVERYBODY has an opinion on EVERY PLAYER when a game is being played.And EVERY SUPPORTER has every right to dislike ANY PLAYER.
We all see the game differently and you must accept these views.
Unless of course it’s from TH14 and Iwobi-then just ignore it.
My very respected friend Phil, yes you are right I’ve not been opportune to attend a live game maybe some day I will but this has nothing to do with what I said. I concluded by saying we need to remember we are all ARSENAL fans. We can keep blaming players but that won’t change anything but our wholesome support to the team might change a lot.
My ratings for yesterday
Leno-9 ,for me one .one our players of the season .
Mustafi -3 ,not sure why he was even player at RB.
Papastathopoulos-9,strong no nonsense defender.
Kos-8 ,again looked composed,age no problem .
Monreal-6.5,maybe we’ve seen his best years .
Ramsey-7.5,great goal ,but not much else from him ,keeled it simple for a change .
Guendouzi-6,maybe needs a break .
Mkhitaryan -7,great assits but like Ramsey keepers things simple
Xhaka-6,didn’t do a lot wrong ,but didn’t stamp himself in the game ,lucky not to have been re carded
Iwobi -5,still not sure what he brings to the team ,seems more of a hindrance than a Asset.
Laca -6,off day but with the right players around he’s still a class act .
Subs
Ozil-6,no time to show what he can do ,strange leaving him on the bench after Wednesday night .
Auba -5,nightmare for him but still around the top in the scoring charts (dives for penalty imo )
Torreira-5,look off the pace ,definitely a red card
Manager
Emery -5 ,to defensive in his setup ,spurs were there for the taking but left stronger players on the pitch
Stronger players on the bench *
Great assist by laca
What game did you watch Dan? Surely not Arsenal. It is no surprise that your rating accurately describes the prevalent bias and gross dislike you have for Iwobi. TYPICAL!! Smh ??♂️
My opinion mate that’s all ,I saw nothing from him yesterday,seems to be a frequent occurrence with him ,but like I said my opinion .
Dan-I thought Iwobi had a pretty decent game overall as did everyone else in the team.If Mustafi hadn’t had his brainfart of a moment on Kane then his performance would have been more highly rated.He actually played well at RB.BUT-he is always one moment of madness away from costing us and yesterday was no exception.
Iwobi covered as well as he could for Monreal and his work rate was phenomenal.But that’s why Emery plays him.For his work rate.Nothing else as there is nothing else.But in a rigid team pattern that was set up to be tight then he did everything that was asked of him.
TH14-make the most of this.This is most definitely the ONLY time I will ever have a decent word to say about this talentless lard that will NEVER be good enough for ANY TEAM that has aspirations of being considered a good side.
You’ll come around soon Phil, there’s no fighting it.. Time is all it’s going to take. Tik Tok ?
Respect all opinions but if iwobi was benched we Miight see some proper attacking play ,I watched him closely yesterday and mall I saw was the constant given the ball away ,I actually don’t think he’s good at even tracking back ,and the one shot he had on goal with all the time in the world he hits it straight at loris ,who could have caught it with his mouth but decided to look like a plank and turn the save into something it wasn’t .
FYI that was a shot on target, one more than Lacca managed the entire duration he stayed on and he’s supposed to be our CF and lead the line, one more than Ozil managed too.
Yes but when you have iwobi next to you it’s like a handicap ,because he knows that he’s got to do all of it by himself ,regarding ozil ,what’s he meant to do when emery sets his team up defensively ,that’s not his game and he didn’t have much time to impose himself on the game .
TH14-I can assure you I will NEVER EVER accept Iwobi as being good enough for Arsenal.He simply does not possess the quality and never will.
You say give him time.How much more time and opportunities does he get?
Rarely beats a man for pace
Rarely scores
Never dictates
Never leaves the pitch where any “normal” supporter will feel we have a real talent on our hands.
I’m very fortunate to have seen real talented young players come through the academy at Arsenal going back to the 1960’s and I can assure you I have seen even more come into the team and soon get discarded.Iwobi will soon be out the door of Arsenal simply because he is just not good enough.
He won’t make it being played out wide
He certainly won’t make it being played anywhere in midfield.
However.There could just be one opportunity for him!!!!!!!!!!
When I look at the size of his big fat arse he would fit into the costume of Guunersauras (even if it would be a tight fit).
Perhaps he does have a future at the Club after all
No ,he would still mess up being the mascot
Not if the mascot had wings ?? (sorry I couldn’t resist)
Sorry mate, but you couldn’t have watched the game. It’s just not possible with those ratings.
How on earth does Iwobi get a 5? Which is somehow a whole point less than Ozil (who literally did nothing). I actually agree with giving Ozil a 6, because that’s what I gave him as well in my rating, but Iwobi did so much more than Ozil. And Auba also got a 5, the same as Iwobi? If Iwobi is a 5, then surely Auba has to be at least a 2 or 3. He did nothing, then missed 2 sitters in 2 seconds! Xhaka only a 6? Monreal 6.5? Torreira a 5? Crazy ratings.
And Emery got it spot on yesterday. It was only Mustafi and Auba that let him down. Even his decision to play Ramsey ahead of Ozil proved right.
Exactly how I feel about Auba, he only had Bertonghen to beat from 2 yard out but somehow managed to still miss. Just a tap in either side of the defender and it’s a goal. I’m gutted
ThirdmanJW, unfortunately it wouldn’t matter how well Arsenal play or the results (points wise an imrovement on last year and still competing for top four in March) Emery achieves in his first season, people like Xxnofx still retain their anti Emery agenda.
What do the players and manager have to achieve to get so called supporters on side?
Anti emery ?
Ok mate ,I’m sorry that we do r all have you’re high opinion of a manager but don’t get all defensive all the time when some one questions him .
I don’t like the football being played ,is that’s crime ?
I’m not the only one who is questioning him .
I’m not being defensive; I just want the new manager to be given a fair go taking into account the issues he has had to face this season:
1. Starting the season with Koscielny and Mavropanos with long term injuries;
2. Losing Bellerin, Holding and Welbeck to season ending injuries;
3. The non availability of two playmakers in Ozil and Mhikataryan due to injury and illness;
4. The inherited contract issues with Ozil and Ramsey;
5. The imbalance in the existing squad due to the lack of wide players; and
6. The lack of funds made available in the January transfer window to address the injury and squad deficiencies.
Despite these issues Unai Emery has kept Arsenal in touch with the top four, with more points than at the comparative stage last season.
As I and others have said, we should back the manager and players, support the Club and see where we end up.
After four good performances there has been too much negativity from some. Hopefully after the disappointment of Saturday’s unlucky draw, Arsenal can maintain the momentum in the must win games against Rennes and Manchester United. COYG!
Clearly Auba is not a skillful penalty taker. But you should understand that the guy who blocked his rebound strike ran with him for the penalty. If not he wouldn’t have been able to catch up with Auba to knock off that second strike.
That’s a terrible error from the referee.
?
The likes of Kenny Rolfe and myself have long argued about the standard of refereeing and it’s biased decisions towards our club.
We have been told that we are paranoid and it equals itself over the season.
We are both realists and, after watching our club for a combined total of over a century, this refereeing display is not unusual!!
Congratulations to UE who got everything right yesterday and to the players who gave absolutely everything.
We are not light years behind spuds and they must now realise this themselves, along with fans on here who have classed our players as dross, weedy, inept and mentally fragile.
If we don’t qualify for the CL this season, I have no doubt that UE, having sorted out the Ozil situation, will be able to get us there next season.
What a shame we didn’t get the Ramsey decision right and isn’t he the model professional footballer?
We will certainly miss him.
Well said Ken, You know what mate, I’ve just about given up on criticising our northern referees, everybody on these pages know my feelings about them and as I’ve said on countless occasions it all comes down to Manchester United fan and head of the PGMOL, Mike Riley. It’s disgusting that this corrupt former referee is still running this crooked organisation. Everybody knows we had no referees at the last World Cup and the reason was because FIFA looked at our refs and thought they were just not good enough. This decision alone should have been enough owst Riley but instead the PGMOL gave him a rise. This blatantly shows that they want Riley to continue hiring referees of which 95% of them now come from within 30 minutes drive of his home in Yorkshire. If anybody want’s to check these facts just go online and put in SELECT GROUP OF REFEREES WIKIPEDIA.
Correction: SELECT GROUP REFEREES IPFS
Am not going to blame any official, this is football, at times their decision works in or against you, you have to face it, but when your destiny is in your hand like the 92nd min penalty and you fail to make use of the opportunity, there is no one to be blame. For all of us complaining, let me ask you,
would you have remember any of the decision against us had it been Auba score and we won? I guess the answer is obvious. Our players have to toughen up. See aggression of kane or Rooney whenever both are taking spot kicks, even GK would be confused, Auba needs to watch more of Rooney video, on that.
Thumbs up to the resurging team, its looking like we are heading for a beautiful end of season, hope we come to party next week, nothing but a win, Utd isnt special just a few luck with counter attacking footbal. Coyg
Poor officiating at instances, yes, but too much is being made of that. If anything, Arsenal got the best poor officiating decision by being handed a cheap penalty in the 92nd minute to grab all 3 points but bottled it. I would rather be given Arsenal’s decisions than those Spurs got. With a penalty in the last 2 minutes to claim all the points, the referee more than atoned for the penalty given to Spurs earlier. Torreira’s red card came too late that it had nor bearing on the outcome of the game. Arsenal has itself to blame.
Let me tell both of the last two posts that between ’95 and 2005, maybe before your time, our team was so good, similar to Manchester City of today, that if the right decisions were made we’d have had at least 3 more Premier League titles under our belt. One of the biggest cheats at the time just happened to be former referee Mike Riley who famously made the decision to award Manchester United a disgraceful penalty to end Arsenal’s 49 match unbeaten run and it wasn’t the only run in he had Arsene Wenger.
That decision Kenny was a big a disgrace as ANY at any time in Premiere League history.There was NO WAY he could have told if there was a trip by Sol Campbell or a dive by Rooney so the rule of uncertantity should have been applied.Riley just could not wait to give that penalty.Would it have been given if that was a trip in their box by one of their defenders?No way.Riley was a discrace not only that day but most of his career.
On the subject of refereeing standards in general that you and Ken 1845 are often debating I would ask that in however many European games we have played in over the years how many times have we ever been so vocal on the decisions?Very very rarely.Even the Leaman sending off in Paris was the correct decision even if it was very hard to accept.The referee applied the letter of the law so he had to send him off.
Yesterday Taylor made the game all about him.Riley was the same.And we used to moan about the likes of Mark Halsey and Graham Poll.At least they were honest.Taylor was not yesterday.
TW14-TH14, please explain to me why, in every single “Match of the Day”, there is always discussions about decisions being missed, made incorrectly, or blatently ignored?
How were Arsenal to blame when the linesman missed Kane and four other spuds players being offside?
How were Arsenal to blame when vertonghen was practically level with the penalty spot as Aba took the penalty?
How was Arsenal to blame when Rose hit Leno with his studs showing and his foot at least chest high?
How was Arsenal to blame when Torreira was sent off for actually connecting withthe ball, before then doing what is seen every single week, then catching the player? At the most a yellow card, considering the action taken against Rose.
We all saw the chances missed by the team yesterday, along with Leno’s fantastic double save…but that is not what Kenny and I are forever highlighting…it is the consistent unconsistent decisions against our club that we are on about.
As for Aba’s penalty, look at where the referee is standing when he gives that decision…he sees it…look where he is standing when the penalty is taken…he must surely see vertonghen, but doesn’t give it…why blame Arsenal for these inconsistent decisions made by, supposedly, professional referees who (the last time I checked) earn over £80,000 a year?
Ken-£80k a year from the Zpremiere league.Add on international plus European games and you will see they could most likely double that figure.Thats if they are considered good enough to officiate these games.And is why they are never chosen.
The blame falls solely on Riley.What does he do exactly?If he was responsible for improving the current performances of all referees he is solely responsible for their displays and should therefore be held accountable.The refereeing standards in the EPL are da disgrace.
??
I have cried out for many years about how biased officiating was against Arsenal, especially under Wenger. They had it in for him. Yesterday, there were poor decisions by the referee, however, my point is that Arsenal didn’t lose 2 points as a result, but for their own shortcomings.
Phil, it is unbelievable that the FA, PL and all affiliated clubs are not allowed to question the weakest group of referees ever to perform under that name.
As you say, the money they COULD receive (not earn) in a season is unbelievable, especially as they don’t get even simple decisions correct.
Five spud pllayers, all in a line, were offside and yet the third official couldn’t see one!!
vertonghen just had to be seen by the ref, as he was looking at Aba taking the penalty and vertonghen was running in his line of sight.
Why has no-one asked Riley why none of his referees was chosen for the world cup? It seems as if the media are running scared of him!
TW14-TH14, I’m sorry but in every game we see referees mking these awful decisions and yet they are rewarded with another PL GAME THE FOLLOWING WEEK.
I appreciate that you have the same views on referees performances, but without the mistakes yesterday, we would/could/should have won the game with the dominant football we played.
As a general observation, Riley is as much use as the guy who represents the players union (so insignificient I’ve forgotten his name), taking millions out of the game and having nobody to answer to while they do it!!
Gordon Taylor Ken and you’re absolutely right, he gets an enormous amount of money and does nothing for football.
Agree Phil, just like the decision to book Ian Wright in the Cup Winners Cup semi final that put him out of the final was the correct decision. We never moaned about that either. I remember Taylor’s first ever game as a Premier League referee when he gave Villa a disgraceful last minute penalty against us at the Emirates. He’s been the same ever since. Another one of at least ten Manchester officials in the Premier League. They try to disguise it using terms such as Lancashire, Cheshire and Manchester etc but we all know where they come from. After all this not one official including assistant referees from London. A fifth of England’s population, it’s shambolic an utter disgrace.
You have certainly done the research to back up the facts Kenny and no matter how much they will deny it the Northern Clubs certainly get the decisions.
Going back to the Ian Wright booking against PSG in 1994-I can remember George Graham going ballistic at Wrighty who was upset and had become unfocused.GG didn’t care.There was a game to be won and Wrigjty had a job to do for THE TEAM.
Great Management.
And as you say-correct decision and we all just accepted it.
You know what Phil, the last referee we had from London was David Ellery, a school master at Harrow Public school. An excellent and honest referee. I remember the BBC doing a documentary and miked him up during a Millwall v Arsenal game at the Den. During the game Tony Adams called him a cheat. He pulled Adams over, gave him a firm talking to and said to him “call me anything you like Tony but don’t call me a cheat” Tony accepted it, took the booking and never called him a cheat again. He actually had Riley’s job, head of the PGMOL and referees when he finished refereeing and the standard was the best it’s ever been. After him Riley took the job and it’s been downhill ever since.
I’m sure you know this story anyway Phil.
Yeah Kenny-Remember it.And I’m sure TA did too.Very decent referee and human being.With his profession he did not need to referee but did so anyway.Todays Referees seem more in it for themselves and NOT the game