Tag Archives: She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

Arsene Wenger sent off for standing up to thuggish Burnley

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So Arsene Wenger got sent off at the weekend (or asked to leave the touchline, why do referee’s no longer show manager’s the red card?) and I for one was delighted. It showed there is still life in the old dog yet.

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From the 1st minute, Sean Dyche and his assistant were harassing the 4th official Anthony Taylor. I do not think there was a moment in the match where one of them was in Taylor’s ear. Screaming at him, trying to influence him. A lot of the time the Burnley coaching staff were double teaming him.

Wenger, full of class, barely moved whilst this was going on. Some will say it showed a lack of passion, but it is more that Wenger has often been able to rise above this sort of behaviour. The behaviour Jose Mourinho has shown over the years, the behaviour Dyche showed at the weekend. You could easily argue that Wenger, at times, makes it easy for referees to side against Arsenal as he gives them such an easy time.

Everyone has their snapping point, however, and Wenger snapped in those closing minutes.

He had sat there watching Dyche and his assistant moaning at every single decision that went against Burnley. Meanwhile, referee Jon Moss was giving the Northerners everything, ignoring their thuggish behaviour whilst punishing Arsenal at every opportunity.

In the opening 2 minutes, Olivier Giroud had been thrown to the ground twice by Burnley defenders. It seems there is an unwritten rule in English football that defenders are allowed to pull and push Giroud around how they deem fit without punishment, but as soon as he lays a finger on them, it is a foul.

So Moss was ignoring the thuggish behaviour on Giroud, and then in the 2nd minute blew up for the 1st free kick. A challenge by Nacho Monreal which saw the Spaniard win the ball was incorrectly called as a foul.

As soon as the tackle went in, Dyche and his assistant were in Taylor’s ear, shouting, screaming, clearly demanding a booking. It was not even a foul, let alone a booking.

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The press used to love saying Arsenal do not like it up them – labelling the side as soft. I believe this actually led referees incorrectly officiating games against Arsenal. It caused them to not give blatant fouls against Arsenal players because, in their mind, Arsenal were just being soft. This was highlighted most in a game I remember against Stoke City a good 7 or 8 years ago.

Arsenal lost 2-1 and the same rhetoric went up, Arsenal are easily bullied. But the press ignored the fact that Stoke went above a beyond simply playing hard.

Arsenal ended the game with 10 men as first Bacary Sagna and then Emmanuel Adebayor were taken out in crude fashion. The Adebayor one particularly sticks in the mind. The ball was out of play, Adebayor was off the pitch, and a Stoke thug came in taking him out. The ref did not reach for a card.

The game ended up with Theo Walcott being stretchered off the field with a shoulder injury. Like Adebayor, he was caught late and hard. It was a foul. Nothing given. But of course, it was not Stoke’s fouls that was highlighted, but Arsenal being weak. The referee should have stopped the behaviour in the first minute, but allowed it to continue. The ref was as much to blame for injuries as the Stoke players.

We had not seen this kind of behaviour against Arsenal for a while, but Burnley clearly went into Sunday’s game with the mantra that Arsenal are soft as they tried to kick us off the park. Luckily no Arsenal player was badly injured, despite a lack of protection and fairness from the referee.

Arsenal players were pushed and pulled, they were elbowed, they were stamped on, but Jon Moss turned a blind eye to it all. Stephen Defour stamped on Granit Xhaka twice. Alexis Sanchez pushed out of the way as he headed within the area. A blatant penalty . And still Dyche and his assistant were screaming at the Taylor. Trying to influence him and Moss. And it clearly worked.

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Why at no point did Taylor tell Dyche to sit down and shut up, or threaten to send him off, is beyond me. He was probably intimidated by a thuggish Northerner. Scared to tell him to be quiet for the fear of a verbal volley and getting covered in spit and bile.

Then we had the penalty incident. The fact that Jon Moss waved this away showed just how biased he was throughout the match. It was a blatant foul on Mustafi. Of course, Dyche was straight up, in Taylor’s ear, probably demanding that Mustafi be booked for diving.

We then had Granit Xhaka’s red card. Was it a foul? Yes. Was it a red card? borderline.

I have seen players get away with a lot worse this season, and am sure the reaction of the Burnley bench, lead by Dyche, and the Burnley players surrounding the referee, influenced the decision.

Not too long later, Mesut Ozil was bought down by a crude challenge.

Dean Marney went in on Ozil, from behind, studs up, thigh high, and ended up scissoring him. It was a disgusting challenge, much more dangerous and filled with intent than Xhaka’s. The ref reached to his pocket and pulled out a card. It was yellow rather than red.

Maybe had the Arsenal fans made it a hostile atmosphere for the ref, maybe had Wenger whinged, bitched a moaned to Anthony Taylor for the duration of the game, Marney would have got the marching orders he deserved, but Wenger has more class than that.

Marney actually injured himself in the challenge. Hopefully he will be out for a long time. The game does not need thugs like him in it.

Arsenal tried to take time out of the game, slowing it down at every opportunity. When sides come to Arsenal and do this, referees ignore it. They act like it is not happening. As soon as Arsenal started to do it, Jon Moss was on the players back. Telling them to hurry up. Pointing to his watch. Dyche still in Taylor’s ear, ensuring more and more time was to be added on. It eventually ended up as 7 minutes.

Wenger eventually blew his top in the 93rd minute when Francis Coquelin gave away the penalty which led to Andre Gray’s equaliser. Gray made a meal of it. It was less of a penalty than the challenge on Mustafi. After 93 minutes of being on the end of poor referee decisions, Wenger lost it.

He questioned Jon Moss for the 1st time in the game to Anthony Taylor and was promptly told to leave the dug out area. He went and stood in the tunnel area before being chased by Taylor like a school boy playing kiss chase. He then lashed out at Taylor, demanding to know why he was being asked to leave the stadium he built.

Whilst all this was going on, Sean Dyche was sitting there smugly, laughing to himself. He had got away with it all game. Abusing the officials, complaining at every decision, and here were Burnley, about to take a point away at the Emirates, it would be the greatest day in Burnley’s history. Dyche had got Wenger sent off, he had gotten Xhaka sent off. He was the master of Arsenal’s downfall.

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Jon Moss still had one more error to make. In the closing minutes Laurent Koscielny was kicked in the head by another Burnley thug. Moss did not even think it was a foul, where as it should have been a red card. Studs up to the face? Not a foul in Moss’s eyes.

Luckily the linesman made the right call, Arsenal got the penalty, and Alexis Sanchez slotted it away cooly. 2-1 to The Arsenal. Cheaters never prosper.

At the final whistle, Burnley players surrounded the referee, clearly questioning why he had given the penalty. They were probably confused that after 97 minutes of favourable decisions, Moss had given one the other way. Probably asking why, after Burnley’s equaliser, Moss did not reduce the time added on from 7 minutes to 4. Moss looked distraught at Arsenal’s winner.

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Wenger kept his dignity throughout and paid the price. Maybe next time we play a side of Northern thugs, he should rant and rave on the sideline from the first minute. Then we might actually get a favourable decision.

Burnley, Dyche, Moss and Taylor, we overcame you all to get the deserved 3 points.

Keenos

Steven Gerrard shows Thierry Henry how its done

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Yesterday Liverpool announced that Steven Gerrard would be returning to the club taking a full time coaching position in their academy.

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The former Liverpool captain only retired from football at the end of November last year, and within a couple of months has already agreed to rejoin his boyhood club as a full time academy coach. As predicted, this has led to a lot of Arsenal fans moaning that so many of our ex-players, so many legends of the club, are not on the coaching field of London Colney or Hale End.

This ignores the fact that the likes of Steve Bould, Freddie Ljungberg and Robert Pires are involved with the club. Lesser known ex-players like Giles Grimandi, Ryan Garry, Danny Karbassiyoon, Steve Gatting, Greg Lincoln, Steve Morrow and Kwame Ampadu also have possessions at the club.

Some people act like we can have hundreds of ex-players of coaches, and they should be coaching at the club, no matter how good a coach they are.

Of course, like anyone, I do wish the likes of Thierry Henry, Tony Adams, Patrick Vieira and Dennis Bergkamp were at Arsenal. But they have all chosen to take their post-playing career elsewhere.

Martin Keown, Lee Dixon, Ian Wright & Ray Parlour have all decided to take up a career in the media. It is a lot easier earning your money speaking once a week on Match of the Day, a few times a week on Sky Sports, or for a few hours every morning on TalkSport, than working 7 days a week, getting to Arsenal’s training ground at 7am to coach, not leaving till 5pm, and having night games.

Coaching is not easy, it is not well paid. You can get as much money appearing once a week on Match of the Day as you can being a coach at a top club. Less work. Same (or in many cases, more) money.

We do have many players who decided to stay in the game. Dennis Bergkamp, Marc Overmars, Gilberto & Edu decided to return to their home countries, Holland and Brazil respectively, to ply their trade. And some of the cases, it was also a return to their boyhood clubs that they supported.

Patrick Vieira was offered a big money contract when he retired for Manchester City, moving into an ambassadorial role with the oil-rich club. He is now managing Man City’s sister club in American – New York City, where he has a 40% win percentage.

Then we have Tony Adams. My first Arsenal hero. A 14 year old me in 2000 would have had him down as Arsene Wenger’s replacement at Arsenal. At that age, it did not matter that he might not be a good manager, he was Mr Arsenal. As it turned out, he was an awful manager who took both Wycombe Wanders and Portsmouth backwards. He was last seen in Azebaijan. Being an Arsenal legend does not mean that you should automatically become Arsenal manager.

Finally we come to Thierry Henry, and this is where we compare him to Steven Gerrard.

Henry was offered a job at Arsenal, similar to that which Gerrard has taken up at Liverpool. Involved in the academy, Henry was offered a full time job coaching Arsenal’s Under-18s. He turned it down as he wanted the role to be part time.

The reason behind him only wanting a part time role was purely a monetary one. In 2014, he signed a six-year deal with Sky Sports worth a staggering £4 million a year. £24million. It was impossible for him to work full time for Arsenal and full time for Sky. He was never going to break his Sky contract to take a full time job at Arsenal for a lot less money.

Instead Henry joined Roberto Martinez’s Belgium set up, on a part time deal, which did not affect any of his work with Sky.

Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville have also decided to take the big money on offer from Sky than return to coaching – Neville did it for a bit with Valencia but soon returned to the comfy Sky Studio.

Meanwhile, Steven Gerrard has shunned a media career. He could have easily have got a job with Sky Sport. A recently retired legends, an England captain, he could have negotiated himself a deal close to that of Henry’s. But he did not. He loved Liverpool, and clearly wants to coach Liverpool, even if it means harder work and less money then he would get sitting on a TV sofa.

And that is the difference between the two. Gerrard has become part of Liverpool’s academy set up because he loves the club. Henry turned down becoming part of Arsenal’s academy set up because he loves the Sky money.

Keenos

 

Alexis Sanchez, Pep Guardiola, Harry Kane

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Alexis Sanchez

My first thought when I saw Alexis Sanchez’s petulant display after being substituted against Swansea was grow up. 24 hours on, my opinion is still the same.

Yes, I understand the defence some are putting up for him. That no player should like being substituted, and that Sanchez merely showed that he wants to play, and win. But Sanchez’s behaviour showed he needs to understand the game situation a bit more.

On the pitch he is a selfish player. A remarkable individual talent. At the likes of Udinese, and for Chile, he has been able to do what he wants. At Barcelona he had to be a team player, and struggled. At Arsenal he has shown similar behaviour patterns.

He lacks respect for management and seems to be unable to understand decisions mde that ultimately were correct.

I doubt anyone truly thinks Arsene Wenger was incorrect taking Sanchez off at 4-0. And if you do think he was incorrect, this is likely more to do with your anti-Wenger agenda than the actual decision. Had Wenger kept Sanchez on, and he got injured, you would have moaned even more.

It was Sanchez’s overall behaviour that disappointed me throughout the entire situation.

As he came off, fans who had travelled for 4 hours, on the road, on the train, with a replacement rail bus service, sang out his name. At no point did he acknowledge those fans. He then failed to acknowledge Arsene Wenger. Highlighting he has little respect for management.

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He then sat on the bench, with a coat over his head, crying. Man up son.

Sanchez is a world class player. At 28 he is one that many of the youngsters at the club will look up to, try to be like, try to emulate. Some have spoken in the past about how he should be Arsenal captain. But this strop was up there with William Gallas sitting in the centre circle away at Birmingham.

He has a responsibility as a senior member of the playing stuff to set a good example. I wonder what the likes of Ainsley Natiland-Niles and Jeff Adelaide thought. Impressionable young players, sitting on the bench, Sanchez did not even accept their well done’s.

Over at Chelsea, Eden Hazard was taken off with 15 minutes to go, Chelsea were 3-0 up. He shook the hand, or high fived, every player, every member of staff, on the Chelsea bench when coming off. He understood the game situation. Realised the game was one, knew he had done his job for the day. This is how I expect a senior, talented player to act.

Sanchez showed he thinks he is more important than Arsenal. I admire that he wants to play every minute of every game, but as a senior player he should know that the team is bigger than him, that he does not need to play every minute of every game.

If Sanchez’s behaviour was due to him being unhappy at the club, wanting to leave, then he knows where the door is. I support Arsenal, not Sanchez. Players come and go. We have lost bigger and better players than Alexis Sanchez.

It is Arsenal FC, not Sanchez FC.

Pep Guardiola

Has Pep Guardiola been found out in the Premier League?

Yesterday Everton thrashed his Manchester City side 4-0. Guardiola sat there in his dug out, motionless. Helpless. Changing nothing tactically. Making substitutions that made no difference. It was a Wenger-esque performance from the Spaniard.

Guardiola and Wenger are kindred spirits. Managers who believe in a certain way of playing, and will rarely change that way. Both hold the belief that you do not need to prepare for the opposition, that if you play your own game, and play well, you win, no matter what.

At Barcelona, this philosophy worked. But when you had extreme talents like Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi, managing is easy. The Barcelona squad was filled with intelligent, talented players. Guardiola just had to sit and watch.

At Bayern Munich it was no different. Guardiola took over a Munich team who had lost just 3 times in all competitions the previous year. A side that won the treble. Scoring 151 goals and conceding just 33. Again, like at Barcelona, he had it easy. In Europe the cracks began to show, however, as his side were knocked out at the Semi-Final stage of the Champions League in each of the 3 seasons.

When Sir Alex Ferguson left Manchester United, the club fell apart. Ferguson was the genius holding the club together. Barcelona have won 3 of the 4 La Liga’s since Guardiola left, and Bayern sit top of the Bundesliga, having lost just a single game all season. Neither club has gone backwards since Pep left. Proof, perhaps, that Pep had little to do with the success of both clubs.

And now he finds himself in the Premier League, and he looks a broken man. He has previously spoken about struggling mentality at Barcelona and Bayern Munich, in two leagues where there is not a great deal of intensity. I think he is struggling with the competitiveness of the Premier League.

In Germany and Spain, 70% of the sides lie down and die. In the Premier League, every game (unless you are playing Swansea) is ultra-competitive, full blooded. And that is where Guardiola is struggling.

He is struggling to get himself up for a tough game every weekend. Struggling to get his squad up for every game. The fact that he left his squad with just one striker – Sergio Aguero – shows just how much he has underestimated the Premier League.

Last season, Manchester City were 4th, 15 points off top. They currently sit 5th (I am writing this before the Man U v Liverpool game), 10 games off top. Guardiola has not taken City forward.

I honestly think he will leave City in the summer. Managing in the Premier League is too tough a challenge for him. After only ever having success in his career, he will not be able to cope with failure.

He has spoken about how he is already thinking of retiring. He is clearly not enjoying the job he has at City. I think his bottle will go and he will chuck it all in.

Statistics

I love statistics. Always have done, always will. But the statistics have to be relevant. Yesterday I saw a statistic doing the rounds that was just laughable:

Spurs striker (Harry Kane) has reached 62 Prem goals in fewer games than Arsenal legend Thierry Henry

If anyone can tell me why 62 Premier League goals is relevant, please leave an answer in the comments section below.444

It is a statistic for statistics sake. Created to generate hits for the newspaper that produced it. To garner RT’s. Comparing Kane and Henry is laughable. Yes, Kane is showing himself to be a very good striker, but he has no where near the talent of Henry. Even the most die hard Spurs fan would admit that.

At 23, Henry had won the World Cup (where he finished his countries to scorer) and the European Championships. Harry Kane took a free kick that nearly hit the corner flag.

Kane is a good player, but lets see at the end of his career what he has won for Spurs before we compare him to one of the greatest players to have ever played in English football.

Keenos