Blue dippers A Sat 5th April KO 1230

[Limerick Gooner]

True that Steveo and I was actually going to mention that incident (stonewall red and shocking call) but the reason I didn’t was because as poor a decision as it was it didn’t massively disadvantage Liverpool. Sure it would be easier to play against 10 than 11 but they didn’t come out of that decision severely weakened.

Contrast that with -

Rice delaying the restart - down to 10 men
Trossard delaying the restart - down to 10 men
Saliba Bournemouth- down to 10 men
Saliba Brighton - penalty against us
MLS Wolves - down to 10 men
MLS Everton - penalty against us.

The wolves game was the only one we came out of unscathed, the rest we dropped points in. Those are decisions that massively hampered us in games and as bad as the Liverpool one was the other night I don’t think it can be put in the same category as the above.

Don’t bother mate. SteveO reckons it has all evened itself out because Havertz won a penalty in the FA Cup.

[Bradywasking]

Out of absolutely nowhere, for reason, TNT always have to bring up some historic stat about a time we had a heavy defeat.

Like the 8-2 at Old Trafford in 2011 has ANY relevance to today.

Perhaps, just once in a while, they could bring up the 39 Juventus supporters that the dippers murdered at Heysel.

Didn't happen...never happened...Cockneys on a ferry planned it all...but it didn't happen...Liverpool fans were well behaved and delighted the police, the locals and the opposition supporters with their legendary wit.

[Limerick Gooner]

Yep. All three pundits on MOTD say no pen. Doesn’t matter a jot but clear as day we are getting woeful decisions on a consistent basis. Add them all up and it is minimum 10 points they have cost us. Scousers have had nothing go against them.

[falkirk goon]

Early in the season when Rice was red carded for kicking the ball away and being assaulted It was obvious the season would pan out like it has..Although I thought it would be Cheaty running away with it again at the time,I knew we wouldn't be winning it.I think the authorities have deliberately set out to knobble us at various points of the season..whenever it's looked like we might get a head of steam..bang a dodgy decision..then follows the dropped shoulders and shite performances..The dippers* will win it at a canter but they've not been asked any questions all season,the media darling arseholes* that they are.

[Ray C]

zzzzzzzzzz !. Waste of time bringing on Saka & O'gard. Both did fuck all . The team did OK in the first half even with the replacements. Should have left it as was until later. MLS is NOT a full back !.

[Bradywasking]

All football supporters suffer from a degree of paranoia. I have been told by an otherwise intelligent Liverpool supporter that both the media and the authorities hate them. He was at Anfield on Wednesday and uses the failure to send off Tarkowski as an example.
Yes, we all.agree it was a shocking foul and decision , or lack of decision, by the ref and VAR, but ultimately it didn't cost Liverpool points.
In that game Jota should also have been sent off for sarcastically applauding the officials immediately after being booked. Not a word about that, Mike Dean said it was a sensible decision by the referee to turn a blind eye. Well it wasn't because here is the difference, an Arsenal player would have walked for that.
That is not paranoia, that is a fact. The Rice sending off against Brighton is one that still hurts me,..the question was asked " what choice did he give the referee?"....Well logically the referee had a choice, he could have told the Brighton player to take the free kick from the correct position, and with a stationary ball as the law said. No drama required.
Trossard at City, the question was asked " what choices did the referee have?",.Well maybe apply commonsense and think, Tossard kicked a moving (not dead ) ball in less than one second of the whistle being blown he kicked it towards a colleague, not up the pitch in anger or to waste time..Again no drama required..Cost to Arsenal was two suspensions and a possible four points.
I didn't think yesterday's decision with MLS was correct, I can't understand how that can be reviewed by a professional referee and allowed to happen.
So am I a paranoid Arsenal supporter for saying those type of decisions don't generally go against other teams ? Or is there a bigger picture and there is orchestrated bias against Arsenal.?
It isn't new either, before VAR we had the 2001 FA Cup Final and the " 50th " game of the Invincibles. Certainly at Old Trafford we were not getting a result and no one can say otherwise, it was a fix.

[rodders999]

All football supporters suffer from a degree of paranoia. I have been told by an otherwise intelligent Liverpool supporter that both the media and the authorities hate them. He was at Anfield on Wednesday and uses the failure to send off Tarkowski as an example.
Yes, we all.agree it was a shocking foul and decision , or lack of decision, by the ref and VAR, but ultimately it didn't cost Liverpool points.
In that game Jota should also have been sent off for sarcastically applauding the officials immediately after being booked. Not a word about that, Mike Dean said it was a sensible decision by the referee to turn a blind eye. Well it wasn't because here is the difference, an Arsenal player would have walked for that.
That is not paranoia, that is a fact. The Rice sending off against Brighton is one that still hurts me,..the question was asked " what choice did he give the referee?"....Well logically the referee had a choice, he could have told the Brighton player to take the free kick from the correct position, and with a stationary ball as the law said. No drama required.
Trossard at City, the question was asked " what choices did the referee have?",.Well maybe apply commonsense and think, Tossard kicked a moving (not dead ) ball in less than one second of the whistle being blown he kicked it towards a colleague, not up the pitch in anger or to waste time..Again no drama required..Cost to Arsenal was two suspensions and a possible four points.
I didn't think yesterday's decision with MLS was correct, I can't understand how that can be reviewed by a professional referee and allowed to happen.
So am I a paranoid Arsenal supporter for saying those type of decisions don't generally go against other teams ? Or is there a bigger picture and there is orchestrated bias against Arsenal.?
It isn't new either, before VAR we had the 2001 FA Cup Final and the " 50th " game of the Invincibles. Certainly at Old Trafford we were not getting a result and no one can say otherwise, it was a fix.

After the MLS red at Wolves there’s zero point in analysing decisions that go against us anymore. If you’re looking for logic, or some kind of explanation you won’t find it. VAR looked at that and agreed with the on-field decision. A total farce.

Only on the back of widespread universal condemnation of the decision did if get overturned and even then PGMOL were sticking to their guns saying they can understand why it was given as a red.

Cheating in plain sight -

Referee: "I’m going to go red card, mate. Red card on the ankle. Red card, serious foul play."

VAR: "Just checking the red card for serious foul play. OK, it’s for serious foul play, not DOGSO (Denying an Obvious Goalscoring Opportunity).

“OK, for me the contact's on the top of the foot."

Assistant VAR: "I think he catches him on the side of the ankle first. It glances off the side of the ankle down onto the foot. So the first impact is more that Achilles area."

VAR: "So first impact is on the Achilles, on the shin."

Assistant VAR: "With no chance of playing the ball."

VAR: "So, it’s high up above the ankle then it comes back down. OK, just get me the number please."

Assistant VAR: "It’s number 49, Lewis-Skelly."

VAR: "Michael, confirming the on-field decision of red card for serious foul play for Myles Lewis-Skelly. Away, 49. Check complete."

Check complete indeed

[Red Army 2]

Early in the season when Rice was red carded for kicking the ball away and being assaulted It was obvious the season would pan out like it has..Although I thought it would be Cheaty running away with it again at the time,I knew we wouldn't be winning it.I think the authorities have deliberately set out to knobble us at various points of the season..whenever it's looked like we might get a head of steam..bang a dodgy decision..then follows the dropped shoulders and shite performances..The dippers* will win it at a canter but they've not been asked any questions all season,the media darling arseholes* that they are.

yes won it under no pressure...and no challenge..

[SteveO 35]

Lineker summed it up perfectly well on MOTD - "that's why VAR will never work in its current format, as he has to decide if it's enough of a penalty"

Precisely my point all along - the whole clear and obvious concept is the entire reason it won't work and is blindingly obvious. Ask yourself why it has been set up that way?

If 3 VAR 'judges' just voted their outcome regardless of what the ref's decision was there's a possibility it might have been overturned in the way Lineker and Murphy would have done. When their decision has to be whether there was enough evidence of a clear and obvious error you are asking them to guess something completely intangible

The whole system is a total and utter mess.

[Limerick Gooner]

If you watch the penalty decision yesterday closely there is actually zero contact in the box. One angle makes it look like MLS touches him in the box. But actually from a different angle there is zero contact. You can see the clear daylight between the two of them as Harrison just flops over under no contact at all. VAR doesn’t even review the incident properly. This is ignoring the fact the contact was so minimal in the first place it was never a foul. Not when he let Sterling get fouled with impunity in the entire first half. That decision yesterday was scandalous and for VAR to back it up was a joke.

[Bradywasking]

If you watch the penalty decision yesterday closely there is actually zero contact in the box. One angle makes it look like MLS touches him in the box. But actually from a different angle there is zero contact. You can see the clear daylight between the two of them as Harrison just flops over under no contact at all. VAR doesn’t even review the incident properly. This is ignoring the fact the contact was so minimal in the first place it was never a foul. Not when he let Sterling get fouled with impunity in the entire first half. That decision yesterday was scandalous and for VAR to back it up was a joke.

Think back to the 0-3 defeat to Tottscum at the Toilet Stadium a few years back. There was a penalty given against Cedric which a camera angle behind the goal showed there was actually no contact between, the admittedly useless, Cedric and the Tottscum player.
Just watched SSN , they showed the penalty incident once with no comment on it, apart from Arteta in his post match press conference. If Arsenal had got a dodgy penalty they would have have experts in analysing it.
Script gone to Dermot Gallagher for tomorrow's show.

[SteveO 35]

Suppose that the conspiracy theorists on here are right and supposedly there's an anti-Arsenal bias from officials. What should you propose that the club does about it?

According to the many on here the evidence is supposedly overwhelming. In any other walk of life if that was the case you surely would present your case to the relevant authority or governing body? I remember talk a couple of years back about how we were supposedly presenting our evidence etc but didn't hear much about it really

[Limerick Gooner]

Suppose that the conspiracy theorists on here are right and supposedly there's an anti-Arsenal bias from officials. What should you propose that the club does about it?

According to the many on here the evidence is supposedly overwhelming. In any other walk of life if that was the case you surely would present your case to the relevant authority or governing body? I remember talk a couple of years back about how we were supposedly presenting our evidence etc but didn't hear much about it really

The more evidence we present, the worse it gets. There is no solution to it. Why does there need to be? We are just pointing out what is happening in plain sight.

I can literally go back years for strange and odd decisions. Do you remember in the Emery season, we got a goal disallowed against Palace where Sokratis scored the winner. Literally nothing happened. Nothing at all. Brentford equaliser. Clearly offside. Bruno elbowing players with impunity but apparently it was a forearm not an elbow. Which would also be a red but was actually used an an excuse to justify a yellow. I remember Xhaka jumping in at City away and missing the ball by about a yard. Straight red given and yet Martinez At United regularly tried to two foot people but if he misses by an inch it’s all ok. We then have Luiz straight red and pen away to Wolves for someone brushing his knee as he ran behind them. Martinelli two yellows in one move. Tomiyasu sent off for a slow throw in and then a ghost second yellow dive. It’s an endless litany of shit. I keep a memory of it and it is beyond coincidence or due to shit reffing. We are reffed differently. The crowd/media/pundits frame Arsenal as cheats or as dirty and the refs are bought in to it. Subconscious bias whatever it is. It is costing us and other teams are getting away with the same and worse.

[IW8Goalmachine]

I can literally go back years for strange and odd decisions. Do you remember in the Emery season, we got a goal disallowed against Palace where Sokratis scored the winner. Literally nothing happened. Nothing at all. Brentford equaliser. Clearly offside. Bruno elbowing players with impunity but apparently it was a forearm not an elbow. Which would also be a red but was actually used an an excuse to justify a yellow. I remember Xhaka jumping in at City away and missing the ball by about a yard. Straight red given and yet Martinez At United regularly tried to two foot people but if he misses by an inch it’s all ok. We then have Luiz straight red and pen away to Wolves for someone brushing his knee as he ran behind them. Martinelli two yellows in one move. Tomiyasu sent off for a slow throw in and then a ghost second yellow dive. It’s an endless litany of shit. I keep a memory of it and it is beyond coincidence or due to shit reffing. We are reffed differently. The crowd/media/pundits frame Arsenal as cheats or as dirty and the refs are bought in to it. Subconscious bias whatever it is. It is costing us and other teams are getting away with the same and worse.

The one rare time we agree on something

[augie]

Suppose that the conspiracy theorists on here are right and supposedly there's an anti-Arsenal bias from officials. What should you propose that the club does about it?

According to the many on here the evidence is supposedly overwhelming. In any other walk of life if that was the case you surely would present your case to the relevant authority or governing body? I remember talk a couple of years back about how we were supposedly presenting our evidence etc but didn't hear much about it really

I think the cone boy (or someone above him) should have taken the team off the pitch and refuse to complete the game the day lewis skelly got sent off v wolves - a massive balls up like that needs a serious gesture to shine the spotlight on the referee's and var so that the whole world is watching them