Category Archives: Arsenal

Another day, another referee…

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English referees being awful is not exactly breaking news.

VAR was supposed to make on-field decisions more consistent, but all they have done is add further decision makers which leads to even more inconsistencies.

Now we did not fail to score against Newcastle United due to the referee. The 0-0 was because they defended gallantly with 11 men behind the ball, and we could not break them down.

But on another day, we would have had a penalty. And this is my issue with inconsistent decision making.

Throughout the game Andrew Madley penalised players that pulled back opponents – both Eddie Nketiah and Martin Odegaard were booked for pull an opponents shirt in and around the half-way line.

Once the referee sets a precedent during a game that any pull on an opponent is a foul, he needs to stick to it. And this is also where VAR needs to become more advanced.

The VAR should mimick the style of the ref in the middle of the pitch. Whilst the man in the van might not give a foul (or yellow card) for a minor shirt pull, he should follow the lead of the on pitch ref. If the on pitch ref is penalising those things, VAR should.

Likewise, if the on-field ref is letting things go,the VAR should adjust accordingly.

Once Madley has begun penalising players (with yellow cards) for a shirt pull, then he has to give a penalty. And if he misses the pull, VAR should award it to keep officiating of the game consistent.

Time wasting in the game is also one of my biggest bugbares. And the inconsistent punishment of time wasting is even more annoying.

Apparantly the ball was reportedly in play for a total of 43:17 seconds in Arsenal vs Newcastle. Yet no one was booked (on the field at least) for time wasting.

Against Brighton, Gabriel Magalhães was booked in first half injury time for time wasting.

Also during that game, Aaron Ramsdale was being given the “hurry up” by the referee at goalkicks from the first minute.

Meanwhile at Newcastle, Madley did not speak to Nick Pope despite him taking over a minute at times to take a goalkick. Nor did any player get a booking for time wasting.

Referees are inconsistent when it comes to punishing time wasting. And it always seems that those “backs against the walls defensive teams” are allowed to time waste more. Almost as if refs “accept” that it is part of their game and allow them to do it.

Meanwhile it is your top teams who often get penalised for it. Refs punishing them for not continuing to play their free flowing game and just doing what their opponents have probably done for 70 minutes.

The amount of times I have seen a keeper at a lower team time waste for 80 minutes, does not get booked, concede a late goal, and then the keeper of the leading team time wastes once and gets booked.

All fans ask for is consistent refereering – whether that be fans of Arsenal or elsewhere.

Between now and the end of the season, Gabriel or William Saliba will make similar to contact as to Dan Burn on Gabriel and the ref will point to the penalty spot. Likewise Aaron Ramsdale will be booked for time wasting, despite taking less than half the time over a goal kick than Pope did on Tuesday.

We somehow managed to keep 11-men on the field Tuesday, despite Madley giving out cards like he had realised the ones he sent before Christmas were still stuck in Royal Mail’s back log.

He lost control of the game for both teams. And you always know when the ref is bad when players of both teams are continually surrounding him.

We can take the influence of the ref out of the equation by creating more chances – and scoring those that we create. But this does not make inconsistent decision making by the man in black any less frustrating.

Even if we won Tuesday, I would still be unhappy with the refs performance.

Keenos

So Toon pegged us back. It’s no nail in the coffin.

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In the aftermath of our admittedly disappointing draw to Newcastle, some have wondered whether our apparently fragile and temporary table position has started to slip. Having missed a chance at going ten points clear, we now sit just eight above City pending their match at Stamford Bridge after which our lead may have shrunk to as little as five. Clearly, we should consider looking to the heavens to see if the sky is falling or, alternately, if pigs are flying. 

It’s easier to suspect the former idiom after we’ve dropped points for the first time since 23 October and just third time all season. Is this then the first wobble that portends a deeper fall? From our point of view, it’s easy to let those old feelings of doubt creep in. After all, for as high as we’re flying, we’ve spent the last decade or dreading what felt like inevitable collapse, be it an unfortunate early goal conceded, a horror tackle, or an epic, disastrous defeat. We’d watch as players on the pitch let their shoulders slump and chins drop. We’ve only had a few precious months to exorcise years of existential dread; it’s normal to feel murmurs of that same dread.

How to dispel them? Let’s drag out that latter idiom. Ever since we rose to the top of the table, various pundits (especially of the Mancunian variety) have held that Arsenal will win the Prem when pigs fly. However, they’re trying to have their cake and eat it while talking out of two orifices at once. On one hand, they’re touting Newcastle as a serious contender for a top-three finish at a mininum. On the other, they’re crowing about how this draw strikes a fatal wound to our own campaign. It can’t really be both. Sharing a point with a top-three rival is…normal if not preferable. If it had been, say, relegation fodder like Everton that came in and snatched a draw, that would be a different story—but that’s such a laughably unimaginable scenario that one wonders why I’d even mention it. 

The reality then is that  this result does offer some legitimacy to Newcastle’s status  but does not much away from ours. Only one club have beaten Newcastle, and that was away to Liverpool. This draw marks the sixth straight clean sheet Newcastle have kept, and they barely did so on Tuesday. Had we been just a bit sharper, especially in those first 15 minutes, or if Madley had remembered that he liked punishing shirt tugs (which he booked Nketiah and Ødegaard for in the first half), we might have come away with a comfy win.

Newcastle played like they were Pulis-era Stoke with a bigger budget. Those are the kinds of tactics that used to intimidate and unsettle us. This squad, however, is made of sterner stuff, greater conviction, and deeper desire. For as young as they are, these players rise to challenges. Conceding a goal seems to anger them. I suspect that dropping points at home with inspire them that much more. It’s almost a pity that we have to wait almost ten days to properly show how we react to setback.

Jon

Jon Shay manages his own blog, Woolwich 1886, and you can find him on Twitter at @LeftLegOLiam

Keep calm and trust the process

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The fact the third best team in the Premier Lesgue this season turned up to our gaff, put XI behind the ball, defended their 18 yard box and played for a draw shows how far we have come under Mikel Arteta

It was not too long ago that the likes of Wolves, Brighton and Swansea would turn up to Islington and think “we can get a win here”. Those days are over. And with that comes another problem.

“Low block” is one of them newish buzzwords in football to describe a team that sets up 451 and defends deep. The better you are, the less interested teams are in attacking you.

As the second half of the season roles on, less teams will become interested in attacking us, and more will defend deep. And it is up to Mikel Arteta and his players to work out how to unlock a stubborn lock.

The Newcastle result was by no means a disaster. Some (as they always do) have gone OTT with their negative analysis.

I have seen some pundits say “the top teams work out how to win these games”; insinuating that Arsenal are not a top team.

This season, Man City have drawn with Newcastle, Aston Villa and Everton, lost to Brentford.

Last season, City got 93 points, they drew 0-0 at home to Southampton. They also drew away to them. They lost 2-0 at home to Crystal Palace., and drew 0-0 at Selhurst Park. They also drew 2-2 away to West Ham. You can not expect a team to win every game.

Newcastle are the 3rd best team in the league this season. They are a strong, well built, highly organised outfit. They set up to firstly not lose games, and the try to take their chances to win. You can see why they have lost just once this season. And the drew against us was their 8th in 18 games this season.

They have taken points against Manchester City, Man U, Spurs and Chelsea. Liverpool are the only team to have taken 3 points against them – and they needed a 98th minute winner.

I saw them described as “Burnley Arabia” which made me chuckle. Maybe a little too much. They are better than that. But Howe certainly has them playing in an efficient manner, doing what they need to do to compete. Probably closer to Atletico Madrid than Burnley.

So 0-0 at home is not a disaster. But it also does not mean that we couldn’t (or can’t) improve.

The game highlighted our lack of attacking options.

With Gabriel Jesus and Emile Smith Rowe out injured, Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka played the full 90.

In games like this, it is often a substitution that changes things. A pair of fresh, fast legs in the last 20 minutes that finds that gap. It is clear why we are chasing Mykhailo Mudryk.

You also have to ask whether Arteta could have been braver with his substitutions.

He made just one change – Ben White for Takehiro Tomiyasu. Fabio Vieira was an unused sub on the bench.

Could Arteta have thrown the Portuguese on for Granit Xhaka with 20 to go? See if he can create something?

I do think Arteta missed a trick. And he showed last season that he does not always trust those on the bench to come on and make a difference. I would say game changing subs when we need a goal is something he can improve on.

Of course, football is easy in hindsight and had we been given that penalty, or Eddie scored when one on one, we’d be celebrating a hard fought win – “the type of games champions win”.

It ended up 0-0. There will be some over analysis. But we are still top of the league. Won 14 out of 17. And that Newcastle game was the only one we didn’t score in.

Our 100% home record is now over, but we move on.

Oxford United in the FA Cup next (I expect a hugely changed team) before Spurs in a week.

Man City are still favourites and the result on Tuesday is just a little reminder of how tough this league is.

Keep calm. Trust the process.

UTA

Keenos