Good afternoon Positive Arsenal fans,
A fine game of football between two high quality sides, both sets of players underlining the professional aspect of their trade, with a display of concentration and controlled physical aggression over 94 minutes. Clearly defeat at the end of the contest is a sour result but I’ve no serious complaint. 1-0 did not flatter them.
Of our brave lads I thought it was an excellent defensive display. Admittedly we were clinging on at times as the Totties cut into us, ragged in the opening ten minutes of the second half which cost us, and Cech made 2-3 good stops. Some of Petr’s footwork was a little alarming today but nothing the matter with his positioning , handling or shot stopping. Bloody hell that 200th clean sheet is proving an albatross for our stopper though. Our defensive unit of Kosc, Shkodran, and Nacho gave 110% and Hector, in my opinion, was our best player.
Further forward was probably the difference between the teams today. It was always likely to be difficult to control the ball, hence our set up in the first half to hit them on the breakaway. But we just did not make enough of the possession we had. It was c. 70 minutes until our first shot or header on goal I think ? That is just not us !
Of the midfield personnel Jack was our most creative player, Granit dependable and did not waste the ball, and Mo made 50 blocks, tackles, half tackles, nudges etc. I thought Mesut had a poor game today by his formidable standards, though he had little time or space to work in as a white swarm settled on him.
The last fifteen minutes we just began to get a modicum of control, and for the first time in the match seemed to have more possession At last we huffed and we puffed a little. But even then the home’s side seemed steady, and held us at arm’s length.
I had probably settled for the defeat by the 90th minute, to everyone’s surprise the 4th official popped up 4 additional minutes. And being football of course we then created two clear cut chances, both of which certainly should at least have drawn a same from Lloris, but neither of which were on target. What a different mood I would be in if either strike from the Frenchman had gone where they should have. I suspect Lacazette feels worse than I do about those two disappointing efforts, but he is a hard man to read, facially speaking.
So there we go – gritted teeth – beaten on the day by the ………….bbbb… bbbbeee….
No I just can’t do it.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Positively Arsenal 
I still rate Xhaka highly.
Bet you could put together a nice little sequence of him doing plenty of good things yesterday, as on nearly any day. It is of course an incredibly unforgiving position to play in. Mistakes are costly and stand out. Our fans meanwhile are hyper alert to a single misplaced pass etc.
The difficulty level in our team in particular is as high as can be at times. Teams get in the groove of pressing us high up pitch, we might be wobbling but still persist with playing out. There seems no alternative. The demands are extreme.
In the Euros, Behrami was clearly tasked as being the legs man to track any runners. Now they’ve brought in an impressive young player of Viera proportions to do the same or a similar task.
So with them he’ll always have someone who helps combat any defensive weakness he has, and the team play differently to us, with a lot less passing from back, especially against strong opposition.
I’d like us to be able to flick a switch, in recognition of spells where the danger level has risen, their pressing is getting on top of us, etc, and stop playing balls into people facing our goal or under heavy pressure. Just a five minute spell of safer football to try and reset before re-evaluating.
I have to conclude this is much harder than it sounds, maybe even impractical, as we don’t really have players suited to it- clearing lines, playing safe, chasing everything, closing down fast, increasing aggression.
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Tried to sleep it off but to no avail. I can’t remember Arsenal being caught so many times in possession. Truly it was a day for “Lucky Arsenal”. But still we nearly pulled off the highway robbery of the century…a bad lino call in the first half and 2 pathetic efforts from Laca late on.
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Rich, we already did that for most of the first half yesterday. Every Cech goal kick I counted went long, and there were quite a few.
There’s a masochist on Youtube who compiles touch by touch compilations for Xhaka. They’re not very impressive. I’ll leave them to people’s own interpretations, but the thing I noticed is how inhibited he becomes when somebody closes him down front on.
A commentator noted that the bulk of his passing is done in straight lines; no smart reverse passes. Put him under pressure head-on and you render him ineffective.
There are lots of drawbacks to Tottenham’s wild pressing style. What I’d like is a deep midfielder with time on the ball, to use a cliche, who can anticipate a press with a clever turn or deft pass and make players think twice about committing to closing him down and sacrificing their position.
These players exist. Creativity or inspiration, in any field, is a funny thing; it’s hard to identify a lack of it but it smacks you in the face when you do see it. Which isn’t to say that I’m more attuned to these things; far from it. I just feel that we’re settling for less.
that really is it
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There seems to be a 15 min spell in every game where the team seems incapable of any coherent thought or action, no matter how well the team is playing. Often first 15 mins in each half, but can randomly drop in the middle of a half . At the monent the team have some uncertainty around away fixtures.
I suspect and hope in the next fixture against a top 6 side (The Final) the team play tight again but execute those passes in the final third and finish better.
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Gosh, had we tucked away the two chances at the end what would we be saying?
“An unlikely win despite new players bedding in, old regulars now departed, three dodgy offsides against us, Kane using a defender as a ladder for their goal?”
On the whole I didn’t think the refereeing was all bad by any means but anything marginal seemed to go in Spurs’ favour. Not sure where the extra 4 minutes came from at the end, so had we scored two after the 90 Spurs could legitimately have questioned that particular outcome.
Overall, Spurs were better than us but let’s not forget this is Spurs’ best 11 in half a century versus Arsenal’s ‘worst’ (or least settled) side in 21+ years.
And yet we ‘only’ lost 1-0, not 5-1.
Away from home.
Grim enough, admittedly, but let’s have some perspective here.
The tsunami of cash that has hit the PL has led to the likes of Jonny Evans achieving an unlikely valuation of £30m. The retention of favoured stars such as Ozil is clearly costing an arm and a leg. And another arm, probably.
Our newbies WILL find their feet (and shooting boots) but safe to say the season’s gone and the best we can likely hope for is a decent effort in the cup and entry to the CL via the much derided back door.
Unless you can ride this particular wave as City currently are, simply competing is going to be a big call for most clubs.
As the ‘monopolisation’ of the league continues apace (as has already happened in Spain, Germany and France), the reality is that for non-Manchester clubs, it’s the scraps that the rest of us will be left tussling over. And that may prove true for some years ahead.
And as Paddy Power are memorably remarking in recent advertising –
“…success is bought, not earned eh, Manchester clubs?”
Farewell football, farewell.
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Interesting points earlier this morning Shard. Wenger is certainly not like most coaches now, as you say, doubt very much whether there is obsessive drilling , especially on defensive tactics, I do wonder if perhaps the modern player, more so than say the invincibles, needs more of that over coaching process? Sadly, it seems to be working better for our neighbours than wengers more free form approach.
We need better defending from MF in away games, Xhaka is not really a DM and as pointed out, does best with a true DM alongside him. For whatever reason, philosophy I guess, Wenger in general seems reluctant to indulge in such players, although there was a spell when coq worked so well with Cazorla, sadly, that was not to last.
Shard, I believe the club have every right to review and assess, what up until now, really has not been a vintage season, hopefully a trophy or two might make things better, but regarding league form, it would be remiss of them not to look at things a conspicuous failure to do so would play into the hands of those who believe Stan just keeps Wenger on no matter what. Like you, I have no desire whatsoever to see Wenger leave, but if the season carries on as it has been, we will finish 6th, below two rivals on what we believe are similar or lesser resources, with our stated ambitions, that should prompt all kinds of questions, and in a professional outfit, nothing should be off the table to improve things, including those held sacred. I personally don’t think we need to be as drastic as Wenger leaving, but do wonder if freshening up coaching, certainly on the defensive side would not go amiss if we are to improve and build confidence in the team, as basically, we can be a defensive shambles away, and that should not be tolerated at this club
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I think a lot of the frustration among the Arsenal fan base is the teams jekyll and hyde level of performance, from home to away, at home we have 1 defeat in all competitions and away we have 5 wins in all competitions, 9 defeats. We go from magnificent Wengerball football at home to Everton a week ago, to dull as dishwater football away to spurs, and don’t try to explain it away as the level of opponent, we have seen similar v , swansea, Bournemouth, Nottingham Forrest, West Brom, West Ham, Southampton, Cologne, Watford, Liverpool, Stoke. In some of those games we have had moments or patches of very good football, but overall its like watching 2 completely different teams.
3 clean sheets away in the BPL this season, in 14 games. 5 in all competitions
6 clean sheets at home in the BPL this season in 13 games, 10 in all competitons
8 games this season we have failed to score in, 7 of them away games
we have now gone 9 BPL games without a clean sheet. picking up only 12pts of a possible 27 in those games.
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@Arsenal Andrew
Dont know about your comments later part but agree with the earlier one.
We lost only 1 nil to a spurs side which was organise at home. They missed a few chances but so did we in the end.
Also the refs were surely biased when they sawAuba clear at goal on 2 occassions.
I agree we need a new defensive dimension but we have always outscored our opponent to cover up our defensive fratalities. coyg.
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I suspect the high-press, high intensity approach is not sustainable for a whole season unless aided by some kind of enhancement – and I am always suspicious of those who employ it on a regular basis. At times I have to say we look as if we have been got at in quite a different way!
But being serious for a moment the only player we currently have with anything like that Santi skill set is Wilshere, and I don’t think he yet has the discipline or nous to play in that deeper role. Only a few weeks ago everyone was excited about Maitland-Niles, and there were suggestions that he might play more centrally – but since then he has hardly played at all! I imagine we will need to wait a few weeks before seeing how well and in what role Mhikitarian will play and I wouldn’t be on a rush to condemn him, or the team given that it is not yet two weeks since the dramatic signings of him and Aubameyang and the loss of Sanchez. Aaron being injured before yesterday is another issue and one that will be a factor in negotiations and planning: we are a much better team when he plays, but all too often his very best performances are followed by a spell on the sidelines. Almost as if it is not possible to maintain that athletic intensity when running clean.
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Arsenal’s next 6 fixtures:
Östersunds Away
Östersunds Home
Man City Wembley
Man City Home
Brighton Away
Watford Home
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AA on the subject of 4 minutes of stoppage time, 3 minutes of it came from 6 subs being used, its 30 seconds for each sub. so only 1 minute of any other stoppage time. There was no stoppage time at all in first half. Both stats very unusual
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Birdie/Andy Nic: I always liked Dembele. Never could understand why he was the 1st midfielder jacked by Pochetinno. He is skillful, intelligent, and physically strong which makes him very effective in that deeper midfield role. One of Dembele’s weakness however is not being very good at picking up box-to-box runs by MFs and once he has to chase he picks up cheap fouls. Absent for us was a player who could have negated Dembele’s strengths, i.e. none other than Aaron Ramsey.
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Top, top post by ArsenalAndrew.
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Imho Xhaka is suffering from mental comparisons to predecessors who rank among some of the greatest deep lying midfielders in the PL: Mikel Arteta and Santi Cazorla. The dude is only 25 and learning his trade in one of the most unforgiving leagues in the world. For heavens sake give him a break.
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Re your 10.02 eddy you are right about the ‘afford’ comment – that begs the question though as to why, if one player is not affordable are there no other players who might have fitted the defensive bill ?
What baffled me is that in the course of two transfer windows we have shipped out Debuchy, Gabriel and the Ox, all of whom could play (and did play) right back or right wing back.
Did we bring in a replacement or am I missing the point that one of the youngsters we have is being groomed up for that right back slot or at least a good stand-in for the young Spaniard ? Or is it just Bellerin !
I don’t understand what the plan is if Hector gets crocked ….
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The four minutes extra was interesting to say the least. That Tottingham’s defence appeared to crumple like a damp paper bag in a monsoon during those 4 minutes even more puzzling. Had this been any old game the words “Malaysian bookmaking syndicate” would not have been far away – but surely not !
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for back up right back surely AMN is he prime candidate, he is right footed and has shown when at left back he can do the role. Also wenger mentioned recently that he has high hopes for Jordi Osei-Tutu our u23 right back/wing back
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on the affordable defender thing, there were reports on deadline day, in France, that Arsenal tried to hijack Crystal Palace’s failed move for Lille captain Ibrahim Amadou, who can play DM or CB. the lad had even traveled over to London on deadline day to try and get his move, but Lille refused to sell him to anyone in the end.
something I have noticed on Arsenal transfer spending is that we seem to have a spend big, spend little, spend big, spend little cycle from year to year. which if that continues we will are due to spend big this summer.
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also for right back, Chambers can play there, as has Holding in the past, at Blackburn.
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Fair point we have two central defenders who could play there, my recollection about Rob and Chambers at right back is a bit fuzzy, and in the future AMN and the other lad might be able to fit in. But between the four of them they have maybe 4 -5 games at right back at PL or serious competitive level. If Hector breaks his ankle falling down the aircraft steps in Sweden then one of them is in for a steep learning curve.
But I don’t see why Debuchy was allowed to go out on loan, the Ox was never replaced ( at least for his right wing back qualities as he was a shite full back, and Gabby not replaced. Gabby I think was probably the best stand in right back we had.Could we afford nothing ?
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Thinking about it I may get the answer to my right back question if Hector gets the night off on Ostersund
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Anicol
it will be surely Arsenal reserves at Ostersund.
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Hmmmm – I don’t know – we have a fortnight to the League Cup final and if we had a good go in Sweden, and put the tie beyond doubt before he second leg on Thursday week (crosses fingers) it would make the run up to the Sunday final easier.
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Shotta you cheeky scamp!
I remember you voicing reasonable concerns over whether Xhaka could/would hit the progressive curve that he needs to, last season! Hehe.
Yet to have read anything by any of the arseblaggers out there that acknowledges that Xhaka and Mustafi, given their relative age and PL experience were clearly not bought in to be like for like replacements for the Big F’ing German Legend or the nous of Arteta.
may be neither will make it? Vermaelan was the best of all these Belgium CBs but his super unfortunate ankle injuries did for him (still playing for Barcelona, when he can?), so who knows how they’ll progress?
Nevermind the Football, just more of the drip drip “shambles” memes to attack a club that they apparently support.
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makes more sense to put out our strongest team in the first leg and try and get it over and done with, and then rotate in the second leg, at home, resting all those who will start v Man City in the CC final.
in the event of Bellerin getting injured, AMN the most likely to be used at Right Back, even though he has not played there, with Chambers the most likely second choice.
Any long term injury to Hector might mean going back to a 3 at the back, making AMN or even Nelson at right wing back less reliant on defensive play.
by the way anicol, Debuchy has not been loaned, he has been allowed leave on a free transfer. In essence terminated his contract by mutual consent
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Tim
“I suspect the high-press, high intensity approach is not sustainable for a whole season unless aided by some kind of enhancement”
Nevermind a whole season last week Liverpool showed all who were watching that you can’t do it over 90 mins! The Liverpool players all dropped around about the sixty minute mark or earlier. Thrash bang and then walloped by the arbitary use of vars as the pgMOB have been doing this past decade
(I apologise if mentioning this undeniable record brings one out in a emotive rash and the expression of proven to be irrational beliefs such as ‘it all evens out’)
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A free f****** transfer !
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I do wonder if our lack of spending has much to do with not being in the CL, seemingly it costs us something like £40M in revenue difference directly from CL to EL, and then sponsorship revenue goes down a bit too.
Wenger hinted last week that our transfer policy, or should I say squad building policy has gone back to a model we went with when we first moved to the Emirates Stadium, although with a much bigger budget, but with the transfer market and wages gone mad, it has to be. And that is a highly talented, even costly first 11, but a big difference in the level of the back up players, be that cost wise or experience wise, or both.
we shipped out Gabriel, OX, Coquelin, Alexis, Walcott, Giroud, Debuchy, cos we can’t afford to carry lots of experienced players on big wages who are not playing enough.
our best players will get the big big wages, we will make big money signings, but we will rely on our academy providing a lot of the back up players, even if this means a real lack of experience if first choice players are out.
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Ainsley Maitland Niles is the the second choice RB
Though many would be curious to see him as a first choice CM, the performance against Southampton last season is remembered by many. but it’s a tougher league now and the legendary achievements of the three teenagers in central midfield from several years ago can’t be repeated.
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with our transfer dealings last summer and in January it is clear that those on biggest wages who are not starting games will not be kept, nor will those who refuse to sign new contracts.
Gabriel, OX, Coquelin, Walcott, Giroud, Alexis, Debuchy, 2 contract rebels, and rest not starting games,
so I would suggest that this summer Ramsey, Ospina, Chambers, Holding, Welbeck and Elneny are the most likely ones to be possible leavers. would also say, depending on how rest of season goes, Kolasinac might be a one season wonder for us.
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Mustafi was the back up RB when Germany won a WC?…
Yes, I think he was.
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An interesting debate is whether Mustafi is a better at RB then CB
Haven’t heard or seen any discussion on that amongst the many Experts and selfless podcastateers and all those who parrot what they read and hear, but it’s a simple conversation I’ve had with friends and I’m more then sure that we’re not the only ones!
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Yep.
The only game Mustafi started during the incredible World Cup winning run by the German team (in difficult humid conditions) was that memorable game against Algeria.
Memorable because for that match that Algerian squad had clearly been snorting red bull before kick off. (I am not sure but I think that Red Bull is Austrian not Malaysian).
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ah fins the “expert” fans can not lower themselves to have that conversation as they have long ago decided that Mustafi is “shit”, so how could his merits be discussed, RB or CB, just does not come into it for them.
Iwobi is getting the same treatment from them now, no acknowledgment that he had a fine game last week v Everton, or that we improved when he came on yesterday, or that it was his outstanding through ball that gave lacazette that last minute chance. No, Iwobi is shite, so it has been written, for God’s sake Ramsey still gets this treatment, so no hope for the lesser mortals at our club.
isn’t it telling Jack that he has been gifted the free pass from this lot.
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< he picked up an unlucky injury and missed the rest of their matches, unlucky as with the BFG being dropped after the Algerian pharmacists had ran around and around him he would have most likely started the rest of their games.
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Eds
Maybe as someone who wants to be a CB, Mustafi no longer wants to play there, but he’s certainly an option in an emergency.
Ideally there’d be a junior back up for Bellerin, I’m sure we’d all like to see that, but between AMN and Mustafi I think there’s some decent cover there!
The problem is at LB and with this injury that Kolasinic had, the drop in his form as he played through it and as he hopefully works himself back up to his usual levels
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wenger after lacazette’s late miss, and we are told by some that he don’t care
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Wenger: “Football is about scoring goals and you can say we’re not strong enough defensively but if you look at the numbers and compare them to the top six we do not score enough goal away from home as well. Add the two together and this explains it.”
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Arsenal Fixture News🎗@AFCFixtureNews
3h3 hours ago
Thursdays game at Östersund will only be in doubt if the weather falls below -15 degrees; the current matchday forecast for is -5.
TV Sports Presenter & Reporter @MattCritchley1 took these photos whilst on a fact finding mission to Östersund last week!
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I was upset that Laca didn’t knock Iwobi’s pass past the keeper and then take a tumble.
If Welbeck getting blatantly hacked doesn’t get given, then, well…I think that we can understand why he didn’t bother!
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Iwobi had another of these beautiful inside right area passes for Bellerin the other week.
If he played for yesterday’s opponents they’d be declaring national holidays every time he makes one of these passes or at least having six o clock specials on the bbc as we saw with Harry ‘look mum I can pass a football’ Winks.
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I’m assuming that its an artificial pitch the guys will play on this Thursday
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So the media have gone into full froth after their team won the football match 1-0.
Imagine their reaction if they’d have matched the Arsenal’s comfortable 2-0 from the reverse fixture!
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FP, it’s to your credit as an Arsenal fan that you believe there’s a refereeing conspiracy, but it all evens out.
Often poetically so, like Alexis Sanchez blocking the ball with a raised arm against Chelsea for the opener in the Cup Final, just a few months after Marcos Alonso had fouled (assaulted) Bellerin for a goal at Stamford Bridge.
Sometimes you bite the bar, and sometimes the bar bites you. Jay Rodriguez was denied an obvious penalty at the Ems earlier in the season, and West Brom are awarded a dodgy one against us at the Hawthorns.
We get a borderline offside call in our favour in the NLD at home, and get one against us away. It all evens out.
–
SG, let’s not go too far. Arteta was a very good, but miles down the pecking order for Spain who obviously had a surplus of excellent mfs at the time. But even in the days of Ruben Baraja and Marcos Senna he was well out of the picture.
And I don’t think there’s any evidence of anti-PL because Cesc was in the national frame absurdly early.
I think Arteta had all the ingredients for the kind of player we need in that position, and don’t doubt for a moment that there are players of his calibre out there.
On Dembele, he’s absurdly good, but Pochettino seems to be very system-oriented and likes to start players young and sort of mould them. Which might explain why Winks got games after Dembele came back from injury. I don’t much like fawning over Pochettino or Spurs. I think he’s got them over-achieving, even without silverware and look forward to Real Madrid swooping in the summer.
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bk
You are certainly entitled to your opinion. Even if it means you have to ignore the referees making it up on Iive TV.
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Urgh, that decision by Pawson just now to deny Newcastle a penalty.
One of the rare occasions I feel sure I’ve seen an official not do the right thing because…they really don’t want to.
That doesn’t mean anyone instructed them beforehand to do this or that, nor that he told himself beforehand anything, just that in the moment itself…he saw the foul, saw it was in the box, and didn’t want to make the decision. You could almost hear him go ‘oh shit’ in his mind.
I’ll never forget the grey-haired ref (?) in a Chelsea game a while back, who eventually booked two of their players for diving, had already booked Cahill and at least one of the divers, and then was right on the scene when Cahill did a worse dive than the others, mistiming it horribly. Cahill looked embarrassed and worried; the ref looked mortified and as if caught somewhere he didn’t want to be. Let it go because he didn’t want to do it. Left me disgusted and clueless about the why. Why would they ever be unwilling to make simple correct decisions? Why the fuck would he not want to send Cahill off?
Supposing he had a clear unobstructed view as the commentators said, an extraordinary decision not to give it. Foul was so clearly written over it in the instants before, as Jones stretched awkwardly and it was clear Gayle was getting there. Why did he not want to award Newcastle the penalty?
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Nevermind the record on pens. And the various referee assessing websites not just Untold, which you can’t debunk anyway.
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Bk
You can get back to me when the broken legs, the bruised bones, the dislocations from off the ball two handed shoves to leading players all evens out (or just get called as fouls). Certainty puts that comical list published by City into a revealing perspective. Cheers.
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guys great site a rare bit of light in allot of darkness online. But without talking about managers who i love and players who i think we’ve got v good ones. our away record for a 1.5 seasons is beyond bad. why and how do we try sort. i know we not managers but this is ahuge huge problem. Yesterday was a much better team beating us. lower wages lower spend. what to do?
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One has to admit the comment above listing (as in a list of data) that which evens out is pure comedy coming from someone who has argued against sets (of lists) of data.
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