Arsenal made to rue key incident.
Arsenal kept their unbeaten status intact on Saturday afternoon with a hard-fought point against Brighton at home, this was in by no means the result we wanted or needed but we were made to make do with a draw due to the dismissal of Declan Rice early on in the second half. After starting off brightly the gunners seemed to let their opponents into the game in the first half before taking the lead against the run of play when an error at the back allowed Saka to set up Havertz for a sublime chipped effort, this meant that we went into the break one nil up.
But were soon down to ten men after the break when Rice received his second yellow for kicking the ball away( the slightest of flicks), this meant that we had to retreat and play on the counter from there on however Brighton equalized shortly after the red card. We had a few chances on the counter, but everyone knew what a tough ask it would be to win while being a man down.
There is no doubt that that incident reduced our chances of winning drastically. When I first saw Rice getting kicked in real time there was no doubt in my mind that Veltman would be the one sent off, only for me to be left perplexed when Rice received a second yellow.
Looking at the replays however Rice clearly kicked the ball away but in his defence he wasn’t looking back and couldn’t have known Veltman was about to take the freekick, even though I think Veltman knew exactly what his was doing when he hacked Declan down. Eventually, though I think we fell victim to the law, the referee’s willingness to follow the law to the letter, in particular given how that could have been overlooked in another day.
The refereeing throughout the game was inconsistent, in a game littered with incidents of double standards being showed by the Referee, one moment in particular in the first half when Joao Pedro kicked the ball in frustration while out of play, this was not punished however Rice’s slight flick of the ball was, this has left me and many gooners feeling cheated but could have been easily avoided by Declan.
With our midfield being light ahead of the visit to Tottenham, who will be replacing Declan Rice in that game?
KENNETH BENJAMIN.
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Couldn’t Timber fit in there? If not I suppose it’s most likely that Zinchenko will get the job, unless Jesus it fit to start then Kai might be drafted in. We’ve fortunately got options.
Timber & Zinchenko were the two that sprang to mind for me as well.
Last year Arsenal lost the trophy by conspiracy of POGMOL referees; Joelington foul on Meghale led to Arsenal’s loss of 3 points to Newcastle. There were apologies to Arsenal for deliberately bad officiating. This season again, the referee in Aston Villa vs Arsenal didn’t see any reason for a card when Villa player nearly strangled Havertz back on the turf. In the Arsenal vs Brighton, the referee showed he swore to provide for Arsenal’s defeat with serious of wrong decisions that made fans boo him until the Rice red-card climax. Apologies of POGMOL will not return stolen two points to Arsenal. Experience shows that not only a point difference but goal difference can win the trophy. This makes apologies not enough for the deliberate grave disservice to Arsenal. The conspiracy underscores what we make out from Klopp’s vow never again to coach English teams and erodes confidence on the EPL as a real transparent game-sport. It’s shame!!!
Didn’t in the run in Spurs feel they should have had a penalty , Cherries had a goal wrongly ruled out and there’s a handball in the build up to our winner against Everton
If there was a conspiracy surely all of those gp against us ?
Odegaard handball against Liverpool .
Man Utd’s offside goal.
I believe we had a good rub of the green last season .
Things even out over the season ,all this talk of bent officials is just laughable.
Looks like our managers whining as rubbed off on some of our fans .
Yeah simply look at Man United winner In Manchester Derby two years ago and there’s deffo not a conspiracy to help City
God I Arsenal fans and their infinite desire to blame their own team even when referees make ludicrous decisions that cost us points.
“it evens out” – no, it fucking doesn’t. There’s is absolutely no statistically proof this happens.
“everyone gets given bad decisions” – there’s a huge difference between a 50/50 pen and someone getting a red card for something that happens 10x a game without any punishment, including IN THIS SPECIFIC GAME. How about that time Martinelli got 2 yellows at the same?Has that literally ever happened in the PL before? Nope. How about when Tomiyasu got a 2nd yellow for time wasting a throw in only to discover he took the exact average time it takes for a throwing. How about Havertz getting strangled this season to no red or even yellow. Jesus gets sexually assaulted, nothing. Tomiyasu gets a studd directly in his face, nothing.
These aren’t bad decisions. They’re decisions that should see the ref go back to training and out of the PL to relearn how to referee properly because incompetence shouldn’t be reward with constant unjustified backing.
Conspiracy theories? Really? It only happens to Arsenal, does it?
Yes, bad decisions are made – the one regarding Rice is an example – but they are made across the EPL. It’s because football is a game involving (all too) fallible human beings – players and referees. They get it wrong, badly so, sometimes. What’s new?
Whether it’s deliberate or not I couldn’t say – but not a “conspiracy” since they’d be bloody daft to be taling to each other about it they were up to something.
If there’s a preference for some teams (or players) in individual referees’ minds then it’s hard to tell, but I would definitely say that decisions affected the outcome of the PL last season, among others.
When 1st/2nd is decided by 2 points with their GD the same, then all it takes is one draw becoming a win for the 2nd placed team to win the title (in theory – if one thing changes then of course everything after that changes as well).
* talking to each other
I think Arteta will go with someone who has actually played in the left 8 and that is Havertz. I thought Havertz looked good there in pre season;much better than last season.
Trossard plays upfront-we’ll need his finishing and he works so well with Havertz. When they swap positions between midfield and attack as they did against Liverpool,it’s a nightmare for defenders.
Martinelli on the left because we’ll need his pace. That leaves only Sterling as a senior attacker on the bench which looks really light. Anyway, I hope Jesus comes back soon.
I think we’d really struggle with havertz in midfield for this game. While I agree, the interchange between trossard and havertz can be a deadly weapon, I don’t think we’d be able to keep control of the midfield, which would prevent us from really using it.
We can still control the midfield if we invert one of the fullbacks to add to the numbers. Besides,Trossard and Havertz both like to drop into midfield,further adding numbers there,like they did so well in pre season against Leverkusen.
That said, I doubt Arteta will go to Tottenham with the aim of controlling the midfield or the game generally-that could work in Tottenham’s favour. I think we’ll be diligent in our defensive shape,soaking pressure and hitting them on the counter.
Timber is the man with Califiori at LB. Spurs were the better side yesterday but their high line once again proved vulnerable to the counter attack .Hopefully we can exploit this weakness.
Timber would be my choice, but if jorginho is available, have a feeling we might go with him – if so, the lack of energy in midfield might hurt us.
Are you aware that there was an online campaign to stop referee Chris Kavanagh from refereeing Liverpool games. They suggest he is corrupt. He was born in Manchester….do you think he may be BLUE?
My choice would be Havertz, with Trossard up front and Martinelli on the left. Tottenham have physical midfielders and we’ll need to try and match that. Partey and Jorginho have both lost some of their physicality and having them in midfield with Odegaard could unbalance the team.
Arteta has all of two weeks to think this over and fashion out the right solution. That’s why he is paid such huge wages!
I use JustArsenal because it does what it says on the tin.
What happens at other clubs with refereeing decisions, although it possible might highlight an individuals bias as Sean William’s post above indicates, has no relevance to the outcome of my club at the end of the season.
What I witnessed in the Brighton game, was simply a referee not knowing the basic rules of football (moving ball, blowing whistle, ten yard rule) while allowing one side to get away with infringements, while penalising the other side.
It wasn’t disguised, or done in a subtle way, it was blatant, continuous and done knowing that there would be no repercussions from the PGMOL.
Let’s not forget that these are so called “professional” referees, are earning in excess of £80,000 a season, with no real threat to their livelihood, no matter what they do.
It’s so easy to say we benefitted from this or that decision, but what that statement is actually saying is that there is a corrupt system that we can’t do anything about, so let’s just shrug our shoulders and accept the mediocrity.
Imagine if that was how every profession was viewed and allowed to continue.
There should be no hiding place for the display that Kavanagh produced on Saturday and he should be available for the media to answer questions.
The very fact that another Premier club is activally pursuing the possibility of Kavanagh not to be allowed to referee any more of their games speaks volumes.
I don’t know how many of the contributers within JA were actually at the game, I was one of the (un)lucky ones and I cannot describe how the level of decision making favouring Brighton was so blatant.
The reception he received at the end of the game was justifiable, yet he doesn’t have to explain it to anyone.
As some will know, I was a referee many years ago and know how difficult the job is, but to not understand the rules of the game, to make such a decision based on a simple flick away, while ignoring a punt into the stands, is staggering.
Is the PGMOL trying to tell us that no referees south of Manchester are suitable to referee in the PL?
Why is there such an imbalance across the country?
The problem is, we’re not given the opportunity to ask these questions, as the PGMOL answers to no one, governs itself, protects it’s members and, by doing so, leaves itself open to the accusations of corruption, favouritism, croynism and downright incompetence.
Surely at £80,000 plus a season, we the paying fans, deserve better?
I agree wholeheartedly re the referees not knowing the rules – or at least, they are making decisinos that do not align with the rules, for reasons unknown.
Not sure how you can say that refereeing decisions affecting other clubs don’t affect Arsenal.
Mathematically, as an example, if a bad decision gave City a win when they would’ve otherwise had a draw… that would have seen Arsenal champions last season.
A think knowing there will be no repercussions from PGMOL is the crooks of the matter