Well lovely Arsenal people. It’s the last minute of the first half and Xhaka gets a yellow. I’m thinking oh my god, not again, please no, both Xhaka and Partey on a booking. Then in the second half Martinelli, out of all people, gets a ridiculous red card.
Can the ref pull this one back? Sure he can, but is Gabi M stupid? You cannot deny that. First of all, why are you pushing him on the throw in? Whenever you put your arms out, you are asking for it, then you make another foul? Ultimately it didn’t cost us, but, just think about it, we’ve gotten 4 red cards in 2022 alone, and it’s February. I guess that special “no more red” kit really irritated our players. The manager even said in a press conference and we still got a player sent off.
I’m just worried about our discipline. With 15 red cards under Arteta I can’t just ignore him. For me those red cards are a result of a team that is not comfortable in controlling the game, as well as a manager setting a bad example. Xhaka cost us in multiple games, yet the manager supports him and allows him to get away with it. What is the example for the youngsters set here?
The points are absolutely massive. Man Utd drawing Burnley and Spurs losing to Southampton meant we just had to win, and somehow we did it as Gabriel pounced on a Laca touch just before their diving keeper from a corner.
But concerns for me remain. Laca missing a 1:1 with their keeper, seriously? We don’t have a striker – period. Imagine if we had someone who could’ve put that in and it’s 2-0. I’m hearing calls for Pepe to be played up front and I feel sorry for him. Arteta doesn’t give him many chances but those red cards are making it even worse.
We’ve scored two goals in 2022. Goals win games and I’m not sure Laca is cutting it. I don’t trust Eddie and the other options are experimenting with Gabi M or Pepe up front. Hopefully we learn something from the Auba situation and don’t offer him a contract.
The Gamble of Edu and Arteta not signing anyone, is hanging on a knife’s edge. It’s just hard to believe we couldn’t find an upgrade on Laca. And it’s not just today. Remember the miss against Liverpool or Burnley? Sadly the last number 9 who actually scored goals for us regularly was Anelka about 20 years ago.
it’s obvious that a champions league spot would probably allow us to sign a better striker, and I’d be amazed if we don’t sign at least 2 with the way both our strikers will leave in the summer. But I’d just like to boost our chances, when none of the other top 4 contending teams is particularly stable in their form.
Remember that games in hand are not points and those fixtures are Spurs, Chelsea and Wolves again, not the easiest of matches. The goal is top 4 for me. There’s no cups, no Europe, no excuses. We play again in 9 days. No excuses for not picking up the points.
Konstantin
Ramsdale IS the signing of the Season in the PL….Reminds me of Wenger earley signings when we seemed to touche gold on every New player….Add B White and it’s like Van dijk/Allison pair which made Liverpool almost unstoppable….Frankly if Arteta get Too four then the process is on….
Top four sorry
Here’s my view on the red card
-out of the ordinary certainty
-was Martinelli fouled before, definitely
-rarely if even has happened
-were both challenges yellow card offences, I’d say yes
-was is called correctly according to the law yes
-does it need to be applied to all teams, of course
The issue I see now is if they decide to change the law and stop the game for a yellow card then that means there can be NO ADVANTAGE played anymore which would ruin the game.
I’ve seen it quite often where a player takes advantage of the situation and just flies into a second tackle because they know a yellow card is already on the way once the game stops…so why not put in a terrible tackle then?? This can lead to injuries and it’s just not good sportsmanship in my opinion.
Players/managers/coaches all need to be aware of the law(that’s their job) and understand that what happened can happen again….so don’t just commit stupid fouls because you think you can only be penalised once for 2 clear offences.
I’m sure I’ll get a lot of moans on this comment 🙂
@ PJ SA, you don’t need to say you will get a lo of mourn, what Martinelli did, a lot of players have done it several times but only a yellow was given, I was watching copa Italian ( inter vs Roma) a lot of challenges happened and the ref allowed the match to flow without given room to any players to pretend….
In fact I said that if this were to be in England, a lot of irrelevant yellows and reds would have happened….. Nobody said what Martinelli did, didn’t deserve cards but the situation at that point in time didn’t warrant two yellows at the same point in time…..
I am very sure as the season proceed, we will see a lot of it…
Let me say a few here, when Xhaka injured man city player and was sent off, we were all blaming him for doing it as if there would not be anybody that would have made that kind of foul again, but not too long, Kane did far worst than that against Liv but was only booked…. Do you remember Auba last man fouled against Burnley and the Burnley player was only booked but at the same moment and the same period of time, Ruben Dias(man city) was given straight red card against Zaha( Crystal palace)…..
The truth and the fact is that English fa and refs are always bias and against us since Arsene Wenger last moment….
As I said in my message, see my last point:
“does it need to be applied to all teams, of course”
Would you care to comment on the clear yellow card that Cedric should have had earlier in the game but didn’t received?
If the first was afoul, why was the game not stopped? The ref tried to get us to lose the match, poor officiating.
It’s called advantage, if you had your way then no team would ever gain an advantage from “play on” when possible?
Or should we get rid of playing advantage?
Dude the call was shít, the law clearly states you can’t book a player for a previous foul play you chose to stop if the said player commits another foul play to stop the play.
Really? Didn’t know that….can you post the law here Eddie so I can have a look please?
Eddie. There are indeed laws governing football in which fouls are punishable by yellow cards and red cards. But referees also have discretion on some level of punishment. There is a verbal warning. If you meet a ref who has a bad day, you could be on the wrong side of his judgment. If it’s the referee’s happy day, you could get away with some behavior.
Not all fouls are bookings so why would that get rid of playing advantage???? On a few occasions yes but only when a booking is deemed necessary.
Real question been reading this site for years. Are you really an Arsenal supporter? Just never seen a positive post from you and you seem to want Arsenal to lose and take glee from it.
Obviously my comment is in relation to yellow card offenses that advantage is given, not all fouls. Let’s be logical please.
Well I have an Arsenal poster and a shirt, guess I’m a fan.
So I’ll ask you Robbie, should there never be advantage after a yellow card foul?
This is your words – if you had your way then no team would EVER gain an advantage from “play on” when possible? – what else am I meant to logically take from that?
In your mind that makes someone a fan? have you ever written a positive post?
I think it would depend on the situation, if the ref decides to give the advantage you shouldn’t be able to receive 2 yellows in the same open play. So would depend on the chances of scoring/where on the pitch the foul happens etc.. on if the ref decides to play advantage or stop play to produce yellow (like what happens alot already and has done for years)
Use logic man, I’m obviously refering to yellow cards…the topic at hand.
Yes I’ve written many positive posts firstly, about our great talents like Martinelli Saka ESR Ramsdale ect….feel free to stalk me further. Watch this space. Are you done trying to make things personal.
Players, managers and fans all want advantage to be played and that’s what the ref did as Wolves had a genuine chance at attacking as we saw.
I think a big part of it was all our time wasting which definitely added to the reason why Oliver didn’t stop the game for the first yellow.
It was a completely out of the ordinary decision no doubt but it was reffed within the laws. Common sense would have said a stern final warning I completely agree but at the same time it was 2 deliberate fouls from Martinelli so I understand the thought process.
Like I said earlier, it just needs to be applied for all teams.
You post (negative) comments constantly on a website I read alot.. I can assure you im not stalking. It honestly was not personal at all, I was genuinely asking the question as was not sure if you was a fan or just a troll.
Let’s use my original post here(February 11, 2022 at 8:17 am) as an example…what did I say that’s negative?
A lot of people will call things negative just because it doesn’t match their own views…which is essentially what cancel culture is all about.
good on you PJ for sticking to your guns…it’s clear that some can’t seem to differentiate between making negative comments just for negativity’s sake and holding this organization to a higher standard, which was once a given, by providing an honest account of all things Arsenal-related…have a good one
As long as we can’t dominate the opponents in their own half, our defense will always suffer, those cards will keep coming and we’ll lose more points. After replacing Giroud and Sanchez with Lacazette and Aubameyang, we keep losing the ball unnecessarily in the opposition’s area and Arsenal chose not to fix it in January
I believe it was Kroenke who decided to sign no one last month, instead of Arteta and Edu. Kroenke has spent a lot of money in the summer and he’d likely be prepared to replace Arteta/ Edu if they can’t make a progress in May
We’ve actually blown our top four chance with that transfer decision and by not scoring against Burnley, fortunately our rivals aren’t consistent either
No surprise on the line up
No surprise in the way we set up
And no surprise in the result TBH
Pretty poor from the all important eye test but got the 3 points so cannot complain .
Strange red card which I’ve never seen anything like before .
All in all just another typical Arsenal result .
Onwards and upwards as they say.
My prediction was a draw, because of our squad’s condition. I agree we should be grateful for the three points, but our DMs are like ticking bombs
@ Dan kit, at least you accepted and agreed about that red card that you have never seen it before…. Likewise me to and I believe that a lot of players have done what Martinelli did but were not given red ….
Gentlemen
We have all been around long enough to understand in this game he gets two yellows and a red in this game and in another he just gets a yellow but the rules are the rules and one ref will act differently then another …frustrating
The thing I have not seen from many people mention is that he got sent off for the desire to track back and get after the player. How often have we all.moaned about players and especially ours in the past where players don’t chase back and hunt down the player. I will take GM In my team all day long
Ps AW red cards were up there with the best and he done ok for us didn’t he.
Understand A lot of us want free flowing football . Lots of goals in our favour but let’s be realistic. We see not city. We can’t play a high line like pool. We don’t have a bench full of stars like chelski. Jan is never a good period to sign players no matter how badly we need them. I was totally deflated after the window. Not sure why we let so many go but some needed to go. We are where we are with the squad.
We are coming to the business end and points on the board is what counts not style. I do t want to look good and come away with nothing.
It’s been many a year now where we are still able to say we are in the mix for a top 4 in Feb.
Onwards and upwards as Mr kit said 😀
GAI, I wonder, how do you evaluate our chances, in terms of concrete percent number, for finishing in top 4 at the end of the season, from the perspective of the current situation?
I’d say we have only less than ten percent chance to finish in top four
I have no problem with the red card for either the player or the ref.
Sure you wish Martinelli didn’t make the second foul given also since he ran the player down with no problem so you feel he could have gotten in front of him and defended. But he is young and he needs to bring intensity. So I forgive him. It was not a Xhaka like red card.
The ref is a wanker but was within the rules of the game. The problem with football is that a different ref might not have given red but just a single yellow. Refereeing is an art, not a science. So there will be similar situations that receive different penalties. I don’t see a way around that.
Massive 3 points. I did not expect that. So happy!!!
We have a terrible discipline record under Arteta but I notice when any player gets a red card it’s not a big deal and people are very quite unless it’s Granit of course and it will be turned into the cause of all our misery.
Firstly it’s not just red cards but point losing errors from Xhaka as well. So it’s easy to say he’s only got 4/5 reds but that’s not the full picture is it? Or do you prefer half truths?
Then you need to take into account what the player gives to the club vs what they take away…you can do the maths.
Lastly repeat offenders will obviously get a harder time than a player that makes the very odd error.
Apologies for ruining your Friday with logic.
The point is red cards so the other factors are for another discussion but since you insist, for a team that has finished 8th two times in a row and out of all cups in the early stages for two seasons in a row I find it very strange that the whole squad and their manager bar Granit (who already has a lifetime stock of blame) should be spared the blame.
For a team to have those terrible results a lot of players and their manager have to have made a lot of point and game losing errors.
But it’s easier to just blame the mark isn’t it?
Where did I say no-one else is to blame? Player like Gabriel is also starting to look like he might be more likely to pick up a card than others in our squad, he is young though and also in a position where you are last man as a CB. If he persists with getting red cards he’ll also start to get a hard time.
I said it’s more likely that Xhaka will get a harder time and not be forgiven because he has a proven track record at doing these things whereas Martinelli doesn’t.
And my point is merely that under Arteta the discipline record as a whole is very bad and Granit (or any other player) should not be singled out.
Having Granit as a discipline scapegoat contrary to the evidence and facts (because he is Granit) take away attention from the real problem.
It is something that Arteta should seriously working on (instead of paying our players to play for other clubs). You never know a reckless red card in the future might be the difference between us finishing 4th and 5th.
Positives.
A massive 3 points.
An away win against a top ten side.
We held on to a lead.
No goals conceded.
Great fighting spirit.
No more injuries.
Spurs and Utd drop points.
Xhaka Partey and Gabriel stayed on the field and all are available for our next match.
Cedric filled in well at RB.
Holding did ok when called upon.
VAR decisions were on our side for a change.
Concerns.
The strike force is still weak. Defence and midfield are scoring the goals.
Arteta seems to really only trust 12 players. Leno Cedric Holding Tavares Lokonga Elneny Pepe + Nketia only play when injuries hit or when the team is totally desperate.
Top four would be fantastic but top 6 will be great. Arteta will get that extension soon.
Just sign da ting 🙂
OT:
From a South African.
Ramsdale is England’s number 1 goalkeeper.
There, I said it!
A fellow Saffa….howzit
A single yellow card and a verbal warning would have been enough tbh. A yellow card is meant to caution a player and so giving Martinelli 2 yellows in quick succession does not allow him to exercise that caution. So what would have happened had this happened in the box? Would the referee have awarded 2 penalties?
Your logic is flawed….so in a normal game when advantage is given for a foul outside the box and then a second foul happens in the box does the ref give a free-kick and a penalty? 😂
If the first foul is in the box then it’s a penalty immediately or advantage then a penalty if no advantage follows.
There you are contradicting yourself. So if one of the two is giving, why does Gabriel M get the two punishments? Accept, if its a red card, its strange.
A free kick/penalty and a yellow card(punishment) are 2 separate things completely so no I’m not contradicting myself.
Example:
If advantage is given for a yellow card offence and the attacking team then scores you have the scenario where there is still a yellow card given(punishment) but no freekick. So they are not directly linked as you are suggesting.
Every foul is not a freekick/penalty.
Hope I explained that alright?
PJ-SA…
I have followed your logic, and I completely understand why you agree with the referee’s decision… However, laws are subject to change or amendment, particularly when potential legal loopholes are exposed…
Yellow cards, in my opinion, are given for offenses committed in the present time and space within an action. This means that two fouls committed within a time lag of 5 seconds are no different from two fouls committed within a time lag of 20 minutes, 30 minutes, or an hour. If you say they are, then you make the law subjective. Thus, if Martinelli is carded for an offense committed in the present (second foul) as well as one committed in the past (first foul), it means that in the future, players can be carded for an offense committed in the past and then for another committed in the present, regardless of the time lag between them (which is absurd). This creates a new dilemma for the law that was not anticipated at the time the law was written, necessitating a change or some modifications.
As a result, while we can all argue that the referee acted within the laws, and I assume that this is your argument, I am not convinced you can defend the action as logical, or else my preceding argument must stand, which is that players should now be yellow carded twice for events committed in the past and present, regardless of time lag.
I suppose that because the red card did not cost us anything, it has become a highly interesting intellectual food for thought…. And it’s fun exchanging ideas in this regard, especially since a massive 3 points were earned.
Cheers! And I hope you are having a wonderful summer in South Africa.
@Mat
You put your finger on the right spot.
The meaning of a yellow card is to caution a player. You can’t do, what the ref did last night, 2 yellows in the same play sequence.
He should have given a direct red, if he thought the offence waranted it, and I ssupect most will agree, it was never a red card.
You can show two yellows and a red to a player at the same time if you have verbally warned the player before.
Else the first Yello card is a warning card that should be given for the first offense before the player commit the second.
In this case, the ref played advantage instead of stopping the play to award a card then the player commit another offence.
The logical thing to do for a fare rule, is to give the player a yellow with a strict verbal final warning.
In conclusion, if what the ref did is within the rule then the rule need to be reviewed for fare judgement.
Naivety and indiscipline are killing us every game. Arteta is supposed to be installing his regime, well, it is letting him down big style. We play like a bunch of fools sometimes.
We are also playing with more passion and desire than for years.
“Weak Arsenal” may be history soon.
You are right, it will be “indisciplined Arsenal” instead.