Is time really up for the good old-fashioned English referee?
According to Keith Hackett, the former chief of English referees, the Premier League currently only has three world class referees.
He identifies these as Mark Clattenburg, Michael Oliver and Mike Dean. Prior to the recent Chelsea v AFC encounter, Hackett had previously included Martin Atkinson in this list. The solution, he suggests is the wholesale importation of ‘foreign’ referees to save the English game from the “shocking decline in correct decision-making which is ruining big games …”. (Source: Daily Mirror http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/premier-league-only-three-world-class-4443385 ).
Here on PA we have long discussed the issue of referees wrecking games and it’s not my intention to (entirely) rehash previous posts on the subject.
I would say, however, that one of the big changes for me in the modern game compared to when I first started watching, is the degree to which my emotional reaction to a match is, as often as not, dictated by the activities (or non-activities) of the day’s match referee, the collective failures of his linesmen, and the seemingly evident non-participation of his so-called Fourth Official. I can even pinpoint the game when my absolute faith in the fairness of the supposedly neutral referee was steamrollered flat out of existence. It was, of course almost ten years to the day and Mike “Blimey O-” Riley’s horrific display in Arsenal’s infamous 49th unbeaten game at Old Trafford on the 24th October 2004.
I now only enjoy partial faith.
Interestingly, back then in 2004, as after the recent Chelsea match, off-pitch unrest was widely attributed to the performance of the man in the middle. And significantly, then as now, ‘Pizzagate’ successfully deflected attention of many from the referee’s performance and the ‘Battle of the Buffet’ dominated the headlines in much the same way Arsene’s more recent – and infinitely more enjoyable – square-up to Mourinho has done. One recalls discussion of the failure to dismiss Rio Ferdinand in Manchester that awful day was as conveniently thin on the ground as contemporary coverage of Gary Cahill’s murderous assault on Sanchez.
Ever since Old Trafford – as unforgettable ten years on as it remains shameful – I’ve been as likely to have been enraged by the ‘under’-performance of an official as I have by any cheating or other dubious activity on the part of opposition players.
And that’s a pretty sad state of affairs.
Admittedly, my own partisan, biased and hugely impressionistic take on the game has inevitably coloured my view of proceedings and, acutely conscious of this, I routinely make the effort to not believe the ‘evidence’ of my own eyes, at least in the cold light of the post-match day.
For a more dispassionate coverage of the lamentable state of our unloved refereeing stable, trawl your way through our friends at Untold Arsenal’s outstanding contribution to the subject. They created http://untold-arsenal.com/referees in order to more objectively investigate the questionable but largely unaccountable performance of the nation’s most senior referees.
Eye-opening, hair-raising, anger-inducing and ultimately, depressing reading it makes, too.
To my limited knowledge, Keith Hackett’s comments are the first and most damningly critical assessment of the state of our referees by one who, in theory at least, knows exactly how difficult it is to take charge of a match and has the seniority of his past roles to back up his comments. In other words, whilst few would be well-advised to listen to my take on any game, most would do well to sit up and listen when Keith finally blows his fuse on the subject. Or at least recommends a thorough purging of the English ranks.
But whilst Mr Hackett points towards the continent as the possible saviour of our refereeing woes, is it perhaps worth asking the question – why are our own home-grown referees apparently so bad at their jobs as to effectively be in little less than an ongoing unending collective crisis?
Is there any truth in the suspicion of a long-held north (refs) v south (clubs) bias? If so, if held for so long, why does it appear particularly noticeable now?
Is the Premier League, which is now one of the most watched leagues on the planet, also the most critically scrutinised? Are we simply finding more because we are looking more?
Has the current fashion for referees to ‘manage’ the game rather than simply ‘apply the rules’ come back to bite them? Players generally know they won’t get sent off for the first few tackles, no matter how outrageous or dangerous. They also know most referees appear to have no knowledge of the devastating impact on their opponents of the practice of rotational fouling. The bizarre habit of repeatedly warning some players and electing to book others for a first-time offence is one of the most infuriatingly unfair features of the current game.
Is there actual corruption in the game? Are certain teams getting more of the rub of the green than others due to the power of their club’s limitless budgets which enable them to literally buy off referees? Or is it the presence in greater depth of the best players in those apparently favoured sides being given more of the benefit of the doubt than opposition lessors? Prior to his retirement Howard Webb was long seen as favouring Manchester United, but Martin Atkinson’s record for Chelsea (23 wins, 4 draws, 1 defeat) is just as impressive. That neutrals find this so suspect isn’t proof in itself of any wrong-doing and if anything, it’s a reflection of too small a pool of the same individuals refereeing the same teams. But it just looks awful.
The bottom line is that regardless of actualities, the integrity of the game in this country is challenged on a weekly basis by the plethora of decisions by seemingly biased referees that can, at best, be described as ‘odd’.
And it is this fractured integrity that lies at the heart of a refereeing crisis that has been brewing for so long and which adversely affects so many.
Is it really time referees from abroad took over?
I personally think overseas footballers have largely enhanced the game (despite the downsides to the national team and certain other factors) so why not give overseas referees the opportunity? Assuming their grasp of the English language is as sound as many of our home-grown players (‘basic’ should suffice accompanied by plenty of arm-based mime) then that shouldn’t be an argument for not doing so.
But fundamentally I believe the problem isn’t with the passport but rather the pace, the power and the passion of the English game.
In other words, the very factors that make it an invaluable export to the rest of the world.
It is this that renders the game vulnerable to problems for the men running the matches and their colleagues running the line. The game, fuelled by immense fiscal reward is just so competitive, so prone to gamesmanship, diving, the dark arts and other forms of what we once called ‘cheating’ that it has been rendered largely beyond the control of genuine, consistent and fair rule by the men in black. And this, I venture, would be as true of a top, top referee from a Swiss Alpine village as it is of anyone emanating from England’s north west.
For me, Keith Hackett’s intervention is simply the latest step towards the recognition of the need for and the gradual, phased introduction of technology. Even Blatter’s blathering on about it these days (http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jun/11/sepp-blatter-video-challenge-managers-fifa) so whilst nothing is likely to happen overnight, it is, it would seem, inexorably creeping towards us.
By all means welcome the best refs from sunnier, non-English climes, but the long-term answer is likely to be digital in nature as opposed to anything more internationally exotic.
Not all will agree and concerns I know are genuine. Implementation is likely to prove challenging.
But this is something for which I personally have longed for almost ten years and for the sake of the reputation of our home-grown referees (who I understand are said to be broadly in favour of technology), as well as my personal sanity and enjoyment of the game, it can’t come a day too soon.
To once again have football conversations that centre on the skill of the players rather than the mistakes of the referees would be a marvellous thing indeed.
Positively Arsenal 
The PGMOL is a disgrace. No London refs in FAPL, only one south of England ref on the list. Inept refs keep getting games, as long as they are inept in favor of certain clubs. I have little doubt that some of the refs are corrupt. It is funny that no one in the mainstream media will even consider that refs are corrupt in England, especially when same journos will tell us how there is match fixing in other major European leagues, and also considering how much money is involved in the FAPL and how so many of the Club owners corruptly gained their wealth. Why is it that blue Roman and others are alleged to have struck corrupt deals to gain their vast wealth, but it does not cross a journo’s mind that they would use corrupt means to have success at their football clubs.
Sky, BT and the written media are all making vast amounts of money off the back of FAPL coverage, and they know that to even bring up the possibility that refs are corrupt, or games are fixed would kill the golden calf that is making them so much money, so none of them will raise the possibility, even though its clear something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
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Deep down I’ve little doubt that the rotten state of Denmark and the painfully slow moves towards deployment of video technology and other levers of transparency within the game are not entirely unconnected …
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Great stuff Andrew,we shouldn’t even know the referees names. The football ramble were discussing Steve Bruce last week and commented on how his approach to referees has changed,since he no longer goes apeshit at terrible refereeing and sympathises with the tough job they do,his sides appear to get the rub of the green,anyone remember those 2 stonewall penalties we should have had in the Cup Final?
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Agree Mel, the refs should be more anonymous than the current semi-celebrity fame they seem to enjoy these days.
I do remember those penalties and I also remember Arsene going nuts about referees, maybe five years ago after a particularly appalling game v Everton (I think); we then didn’t get a penalty for what seemed an age, certainly many months.
Bruce and Wenger illustrating two sides of the same refereeing coin, I think.
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Let he who is without sin cast the first whistle
I reckon referees are about as average as they ever were though probably a bit fitter than in days gone by.
Given that it is the 14 camera angle in slo mo that usually identifies all these shocking refereeing decisions – again I very rarely get it right live or first time on the box – it seems a pity refs are denied the technology that would make them as all knowing and all wise as Lawro and me.
The day approaches I am sure.
Ps good piece AA – as you know I am not a great fan of referee bashing but the balance was there
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A stunningly well written Post AA. [envisage a large beaming mouche as I type that.]
My gut feelings are not very different to those you write above, but perhaps there are some important interpretational differences, and let’s face it, observation and interpretation are the only tools we have to help us understand how some decisions are made.
Anyway, getting back to my own take on things, my instinct is that the majority (as a math man I could never give a 100% yea or nay) of referees are basically honest, and the reasons for their clearly wayward decisions lie elsewhere.
Incompetence is part of the problem, and that is induced, I suspect, by the sense of occasion engendered by a ‘huge’ game at (say) Manure in Fergie’s day, where the intimidatory atmosphere generated by 70,000 Manure fans and the certain knowledge that any ‘wrong’ decision will result in Old Red Nose publicly slaughtering and ridiculing the ref as an incompetent, cheating, Manure hating, no good, son of a gun, will make most if not all refs thinks twice (in nano second terms) before deciding in favour of the opposition.
Equally, a bad decision – against the opposition – would have been warmly greeted, post match, by the Rouge Proboscis as an excellent piece of work by a top quality ref, and any comments from the other manager expressing anger for the shameful decision, will be sourly dismissed as whinging, and the unfortunate manager would have been pilloried as a bad loser and worse, such that the refs part in the upset would be quietly forgotten, under the shield of Ferguson’s patronage.
Now what referee would not be affected by this type of pressure? Decision (a) would receive opprobrium, career threatening ridicule and sneering innuendo about supposedly cheating decisions, or decision (b) where he would receive the support of a manager held in high regard, pleasing comments regarding his qualities as a ref, and no frighteningly threatening comments from many of the 70,000 fans.
So, not corruption, and not really incompetence either, but a form of self preservation kicking in to emerge relatively unscathed from a hugely scary occasion. How else to explain the dearth of penalty decisions against Manure, compared with those given in away games?
Fast forward to todays era, and the same methodology is being adopted by the odious one at Chelsea, and I find myself having a sneaking sympathy for today’s refs, while not condoning their lack of backbone.
I guess I could go on, but suffice to say I do not think the three refs mentioned by Hackett are top quality, I think each are as bad as the others. Neither do I think bringing in ‘foreign’ refs is the answer, because the intimidation they would experience in a ‘foreign’ country, i.e. the UK would be, if anything worse than it would be for a British ref.
Technology will never, in my opinion, be allowed by FIFA, for a number of reasons, and the forth official in Premier League games and the 4th and 5th assistant referees in CL games are pointless, ineffectual, without authority and merely sops thrown to us by Bladder to head off calls for said technology.
I am going to stop there Andrew for fear that I will detract from your great article with my inconsequential ramblings. [PG is not looking – so another beaming face – not of humour – but as an apology for being so long-winded!]
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The PGMOB is a disgrace. As is the FA, which I understand bears some responsibility for the inferior quantity and quality of English referees. Add to that that the job of a referee is basically impossible, the answer to the question in the headline is a resounding ‘both’.
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Excellent post. If you really want to be depressed look up Football is Fixed website.
The other point about reffing MU in days gone by is that a referee who got on the wrong side of old rednose would mysteriously be absent from MU games for an extended period. I can see why refs want to do games at Old Trafford – so this kind of sanction was a major factor. But it is Riley, or powers higher than him, who are to blame for this. How many years did MU go without a penalty or red card against them in the PL…?
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There is no rational or reasonable explanation that can be used to explain the absence of video replay tech (exactly the same format as used in field hockey for the last few years) in football over the last period.
Ignoring the refs you’d get rid of most types of simulation in one fell swoop.
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Anyone hoping to use the logic that the purity game should be kept free from such things is simply adopting the ostrich posture. Considering that we have observed officials do use replays and such technology when they feel like it, such as during the 2006 WC final by adopting such logic you are asking for trouble. Bear in mind that final was eight years ago now!
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Fins – if it were up to me I’d introduce technology to take over offside calls thus freeing up two qualified referee to concentrate on running the rest of the game.
I’d also abolish the ludicrous ‘technical’ area and get a member of the home team staff to hold up the ludicrously over-engineered and hopelessly inefficient number board, thus freeing up a fourth qualified referee to either monitor the technology or join in with the running of the game.
If managers want to fight each other in a future non-technical area era let them but let them also be sent to the stands and banned from the touchline for three games.
None of this is exactly rocket science, after all.
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Given that in at least some of the PL grounds the referees room has a tv showing the footie at half-time, one could validly argue they are already being influenced by what they can see of the first half.
I think I’ve noticed some benches with handheld video screens so no doubt those managers are screeching into the ref’s ear and the ref will know they have seen replays.
So little by little, we are already getting closer to technology than we might realise.
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Giving the fourth official a stopwatch may also be appreciated by the main official, definitely if I was the (not very good!) referee. It’s not like holding up a board is the most taxing task in the world…
The problem is the whole structure of the PGMOB is designed for failure.
In my humble opinion you need a judge as progressive as those in Italy to clean up the whole mess, otherwise they’ll just keep on taking the piss as they have been doing. Problem with that is that many choose to believe that such things don’t go on in dear old blighty, even though we have seen MPs using public money to build themselves duck ponds etc. of late. What can you say?
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Really excellent piece Andrew and very balanced. I accept it is a difficult job, but the mistakes are too frequent and too loaded in favour of certain teams to just be coincidence. Or maybe they are, but why not introduce technology to help them out, thus removing the suspicion of bias? It has not hampered tennis and other sports.
I don’t think foreign refs are the answer as I have seen some shocking decision making in CL games with referees who are clearly way out of their depth. It’s a tough job and it needs a big personality to be able to resist the bullshit around the game. Sadly, not one of them is up to the challenge. ‘Managing’ the game rather than applying the rules in an even-handed manner was the death of the essence of the referees job.
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Well said Passenal: “Managing the game rather than applying the rules in an even-handed manner was the death of the essence of the referees’ job.”
Spot on; again, it’s a key part of why they are struggling to do the job.
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Well worth checking out the following link to a new piece over at Untold Arsenal; they highlight in more detail the nature of Keith Hackett’s recent comments and relate his remarks to their own conclusions dating back several YEARS …
http://untold-arsenal.com/archives/38438
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Do these revelations on bent and entirely corrupt/incompetent refereeing go back to the YEARS that Arsenal were winning Doubles, league and FA Cups ?
I’ve looked but I can’t quite make it out.
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Fascinating to see the particular shite that Martin Atkinson picks up from Hackett (allegedly as I still can find where all these quotes come from)
Fascinating as lucky Mr Atkinson found himself in the black in charge of the Serbia v Albania game this week – a real corker for any football referee I am sure
The drone, the flag, the 600 years of ethnic hatred, the fighting on the pitch, the invasion by Serbian fans, the abandoning of the game, the dash to the airport, the international incident – a right larf for any referee I am sure.
Clearly me and Lawro would have handled it better.
Yes Martin UNTOLD ARSENAL and Keith Hackett reckon you are rubbish
I wonder if video technology might have helped the officials in Belgrade ?
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Btw it’s Roger East this weekend with the whistle – very few game so not many convictions
Stoke hate him though – fair enough
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The interview is in the Mirror, link at the bottom. My 12 year old son, who plays for an academy (and has never met a ref he liked), saved up for a gopro camera and wants to get a drone helicopter for it. Yes this is a real thing. His idea is to have 6 manned drones covering the field with two additional watching offside. Three officials would watch the feed from these drones and call the game from just off the pitch, no on field official to get in the way. I have to say it’s very far fetched but could it be any worse than what is going on now?
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/premier-league-only-three-world-class-4443385#ixzz3GJmkZn6i
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Sorry folks, I buried the link to the ‘alleged interview’ in the original post (second paragraph, bright orange lettering).
Looks like the next time Mr Atkinson is polishing up his pro-Chelsea stats, all a team has to do to retrieve an inevitably losing position is launch a drone trailing a cheeky message on a banner (something about thieving Russian gangsters should suffice) and prepare their handbags for the scuffle.
Video technology to be used to determine if any handbag was deployed from an offside position.
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Blaisehayest – I think your son’s (unmanned) drone idea not so far-fetched, his point being that offside (amongst other matters) would be monitored off-pitch using cameras with an aerial perspective. There are already grounds (not in the UK) with overhead cabling installed for fast mobile cameras to provide overhead footage, and very impressive it is too.
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I’d have to disagree with Andrew Nicoll. Not something I’d normally want to do.
The problem with PGMOL is it’s lack of accountability, it is run by Mike Riley and now assisted by Howard Webb.
We have long suspected that Riley is a closet Man Utd. Fan and in my opinion his Turning up on sky TV or Itv cameras at the MK Dons Vs Manchester United League Cup round 2 match last month nails it on the head. He can’t have been there for work reasons? That level of game is way below PGMOL’s remit. Webb was beside him, faithful to his boss as always.
Riley is in charge, he selects all the refs and probably assigns them, he has a preference for northerners, especially from Lancastershire if he can get them, the statistics are incredible. He has been interviewed on the bbc boasting about how he likes to create a rough and tumble brand of English football experience for the TV audience. Soft southern poofters watch out! Even UEFA and FIFA refs are now caught up in the same ridiculously ‘game management’ way of running a match. Keep everyone on the pitch, no matter how much Kung-fu they use. We don’t want to upset the sponsors, now do we.
Riley is the cancer, remove it and things may improve.
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There is clearly something wrong when Arsenal fans look forward to getting Mark Clattenburg to ref a game.
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Terrible thing, desperation, DC.
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A question that was never asked in Sir Red Nose’s time was in what precise way could he make life a misery for non-compliant referees at Old Trafford? What influence did he have with the FA or PGMOL? beyond what I would accept that it is normal for all home teams (Arsenal excluded of course) to get a slightly better rub of the green from the officials, who wants the grief from 70,000 home fans, linesmen just yards away from the baying crown, 4th offices getting it in the ear from Red Nose all match long? It would take brave men (and in particular an exceptionally good female assistant ref) to stand up to that level of intimidation.
I have noticed last season, the aura of intimidation and the typical home decisions just were not coming at OT the way they used to. Penalty appeals were not instantly given, offsides were called back and the last minute winners seldom arrived as the clocked ticked to 98 minutes. It looked to me that the Gods of good fortune had moved on to City and Chelsea’s efforts.
It’s an amazing coincidence that their owners are filthy rich immoral bastards, isn’t it though?
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The bottom line is that the way the refs treat Arsenal costs us lost points, early player suspensions and more injured players every season.
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AA The “alleged” interview comment relates to the 1 minute and 19 seconds of Hackett produced by the Mirror during not a single one of the tasty quotes that appear elsewhere in the article are even mentioned.
Compare what Hackett says on his own blog this week with what he is supposed to have said to the Mirror about Aktinson
Hackett’s blogs says ” Taking into account the recent history of events involving Martin, what would I do if I was still in charge of the PGMOL?
I would be in contact with him as soon as possible and suggest to him that he should take a few days away from the game to re-charge his batteries.”
The Mirror says ” “Martin Atkinson is a colleague and we respect him as an individual, but the game requires top-class performances week in, week out by referees.”
“He argues that foreign referees may have to be imported to arrest a shocking decline in correct decision-making which is ruining big games like the controversial clash between Chelsea and Arsenal last week.”
Hackett said: “Given the standard of officiating at the moment and the fact we only have three referees who are world class in Mark Clattenburg, Michael Oliver and Mike Dean, and until recent events Martin Atkinson, we need to replace the quality and to do so we may need to look elsewhere.”
“Because of the quality of the league and the projection across the world they have to now start looking at importing referees from overseas.”
So according to the Hackett blog Atkinson needs a weekend off
According to the Mirror article Atkinnson is no longer capable of refereeing important matches and should be replaced by “foreign” referees
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i.e. “Anything but video replay tech”
Unfortunately for those of us who have seen the likes of Grand Master Busacca in action it’s not a reassuring proposition. It sounds like a stupid suggestion, because it is! And that’s because there is no rational or reasonable explanation that can be given to explain the lack of aids for the officials at the top level of this sport. Yet some, like the Mirror, they will insist on trying!
Bless ’em.
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Imagine a judge at the 100m Olympic race:
“Cameras? Replays? Fark orf! I trust my very own two eyes compared to any camera on the finish line”
It sounds ridiculous. Because it is a ridiculous place for these officials to be. Yet that is the most common reason that is given to explain the current structure behind them.
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Blaise – has your son been trying out his drones ?!?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-29645580
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Good piece AA.
I’m still in a state of self-denial about referees. Can they be so poor or biased, surely not in the EPL?
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I think the whole state of refereeing in the FAPL is one of the reasons why AFC suffer so many injuries. AFC this season get a player booked for every 3 fouls committed by the team, the lowest amount per booking in the FAPL, yet Arsenal get kicked from pillar to post, for over ten years now, 6 broken legs to show for it, and refs go along with allowing this as media and pundits have everyone convinced that AFC don’t like it if you get in their face. As Liam Brady said on RTE last season, can anyone name one team that likes to be kicked, or any team that can play its game if the ref allows them to be kicked all game long. brady also pointed out how quick refs are to book or send off AFC players. Refs be it on purpose or by accident actually have much to answer for in the number of injuries AFC get.
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ArsenalAndrew- Far fetched in the sense that it would not be allowed to happen. I would love to see the power that one individual has over the outcome of a match be diluted as much and as quickly as possible. The more cameras, the more decision makers and the more transparency the better.
anicoll5- Unless my son has some secret money making scheme and is able to afford intercontinental drones he is innocent. I swear. Interesting article though.
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On my day off and only briefly checking the Gooner world on Twitter, in just 5 minutes, I read two totally stupid articles. Numbskulls abound. They wouldn’t write such tripe if they had to defend their shite in public…..
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Consider all of your comments liked.
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By liking my comment about liking all your comments you liked all other comments as well with just one click. And here I thought I was the lazy one.
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…thanks Andrew,good timing what with UA posting a similar article, cheers!
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Similar articles but the Untold piece is well worth reading (link above at 10.10pm) as it links Hackett’s recent comments to arguments they have been propagating for a few years now.
Interesting stuff.
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Eduardo, I should have written Arsenal Times? Sorry about Arsenal insider!!
AA, I would refer you to the EPL Handbook 2014/2015, Page 133, para K.32, wherein it is stated:
“No person shall use or have assess to a television monitor or like device in or around the technical areas during League matches.”
Can this edict, be circumvented by a supporter, seated right behind the technical area?
Sure, with 1 referee, 2 assistant referees, a fourth official and a match assessor, 5 people of sound mind and standing, must concur?
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Just got back from the U21s, no Hayden or Bellerin so we can assume they’ll both be in the squad tomorrow. Apart from that Theo, Serge both looked sharp and Abou continues to look class during his rehab. All three came office from HT onwards but as the game wore on it was the tiny Daniel Crowley who had more and more influence on the game so much so Blackburn brought a sub simply to man mark him. The game finished with Blackburn becoming increasingly defensive and just trying the occasional break. All in all a good workout for the youngsters and those Coming back from injury.
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Thanks for the report from the under 21’s Ian
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Great article and great comments. The question that wont go away for me is why should refs etc be so anti arsenal. Delighted to hear that the Under 21s went well. I saw a game that was shown on the Arsenal player earlier this season and Crowley stood out in that too. Im working in Milan today so relying on you guys to secure three points this afternoon.
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I’ve always thought that Daniel Hynter of the Guardian was not very simpathetic toward Arsenal and Arsene Wenger. Here’s a quote from his latest offering:
“Andries Jonker, Arsenal’s new academy head, said in September that the club’s “scouting must be restructured all over again”, while Gazidis has noted that “analytics makes decisions more robust”. To put it another way, they might make them more comfortable. It is unclear how Wenger felt about the acquisition of StatDNA, given his love of control and his general resistance to change, but he appeared to have caught the stat-bug at the AGM.”
If you have read as many biographies of Wenger as I have you will know that Wenger is quite a competent statistician. Why would he be resistant to change when using cutting edge knowledge distinguished him from the pack?
On how many fronts do these hacks try to attack? Their options are so limited with most other mangers. Certainly, poor old ‘Arry is dyscalculic, well, that’s not his fault!
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GP, you are 100% correct on Arsenes appetite for stats and indeed his thirst for the most up to date sports science. I think sometimes people forget how much of an an academic he is and how he has always sought the lastest advantages the world has to offer. Adrian Clarke ‘s lastest breakdown http://player.arsenal.com/ at the training ground is really interesting and is another nnail in the coffin of the myth that Arsene is stuck in the past.
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Wouldn’t be remotely surprised if Arsene the catalyst for the acquisition.
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Eduardo – when referees allow teams to ‘get in our faces’ with their rotational fouling or ‘statements of intent (eg Cahill on Sanchez 2 weeks ago) then the whole Arsenal team need to get in the face of the referee. Cahill should have been off (Alexis could so easily have been off to hospital, let’s face it) and the remaining 10 players should have been surrounding Anicoll’s favourite referee. Instead, too often in these situation we have one or two players making a protest that is all too easily waved away by the referee. Fight fire with fire.
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I agree Andrew, it’s time for us to stop being the ‘nice guys’ as it is getting us nowhere. We are just seen as a soft touch to be pushed around by opposition and referees alike.
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Interesting afternoon ahead. A few weeks ago the Groaners were groaning about the number of defenders in the squad, ignoring the presence of Hayden and Bellerin. But well, looks like Bellerin is chalked in for his third start of the season today unless Coquelin sneaks in. So unless I am mistaken, he’s definitely in the squad! I hope. Opposite Ben Arfa today? Should be an entertaining contest.
CB? Nacho man had a decent outing in the charity shield, I guess that he’ll get the nod over Hayden. More interesting will be the composition of the rest of the team. Alexis to get start off the bench today because of travel etc. he’ll start the next two matches IMO. Not only does AWlove a stat he also consistently has made selections and subs over the years based upon fitness levels, such as during the FA Cup final (Sanogo for plodders was tika-tactical) that’s why it’s possible for someone like me to predict that Sanchezwill get looked after, shame the Redzone experts keep ignoring this obvious care shown towards the athletes at AFC.
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Managing a referee is a skill that every professional footballer and every professional football club should practice and sharpen.
For any players who are lacking in inspiration look at some old films of Paolo Maldini, a master of persuasion
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Among current footballers in the PL Lampard is still in a class of his own in slipperiness in his handling of officials.
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And within 7 minutes of my comment referee Moss duly obliges as Frank tumbles in the box. No theatrics, no yelping at the ref as he goes down, in fact he barely looks at the official.
50/50 decision for most referees but not for Frank.
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