It’s hard being a contrarian on Arsenal Twitter these days. Like any strict, self-regulated community, there is a stridency among a majority of posters that demands and enforces conformity. It punishes dissent via the block, unfollow and mute buttons for committing any of the following heresies:
- Not vocally supporting the new manager
- Criticizing any of the mooted new signings
Instead of summer hostilities between the former WOBs and AKBs, which usually reach boiling point during transfer season, both sides for their own reasons are currently wishing and hoping for the new manager, Unai Emery, to succeed, bigly. Obviously the ex-WOBs are delighted that their bête noir, the cheapskate, deluded, out of touch, omnipotent (choose your epithet) Arsene Wenger is now gone. Should Emery succeed, it will be a ringing endorsement of their long-held claim that the club was being held back by the former manager.
On the other hand, it seems to me, the so-called AKBs are on the defensive, not wanting to be seen as mindless acolytes of the old gaffer, fearing they will give credence to the years of repeated taunts by the anti-Wenger crowd that they support Arsene FC rather than Arsenal FC. They too are just as wishful and hopeful that the new manager, who seems to be as modern and progressive as the old, will be able to overcome all the external and internal obstacles that held the club back.
WOBs, AKBs and the Middle-Of-the-Roaders
Strange and as incongruous as it may seem, former WOBs and AKBs are now locked together, singing the same tune; leave Emery alone and he will succeed.
Let us not fool ourselves. While there appears to be two extremist camps in the Arsenal fanbase, there is definitely a large, if not larger, middle-of-the-road contingent which often takes one side or the other depending on results. It wasn’t that long ago, for example, we had the experience on the opening day of a new season at the Arsenal stadium, with the transfer window still open, that a majority were in uproar demanding the club spend some “facking” money as the club was losing to Aston Villa. The fact that Arsenal eventually came 3rd or 4th that year, qualifying for the Champion’s League, at a time when it was still struggling under the stadium-related austerity, stands in sharp contrast to the £200 million spent on transfers these past two years while coming 5th and lately 6th in the Premier League.
So conventional thinking has concluded that leaving Emery alone, rather than the relentless attention to the every move and statement made by Arsene Wenger, is now a guarantor of success. The underlying assumption is the belief that the Wenger years, particularly the most recent, were a failure which Emery must avoid. The problem is this hypothesis is not fully supported by the facts.
Note the “unbiased data”, on which we should rely, is diligently avoided by the mainstream media and most of its cohorts on twitter and in the blogsphere, who are now bloviating with optimism and goodwill towards Emery.
Take a gander, below, on some key performance metrics for the last 11 years of the Wenger era.
| Year | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | GF | GA | Win % | Loss % |
| 07/08 | 58 | 36 | 15 | 7 | 113 | 52 | 62.1% | 12% |
| 08/09 | 61 | 33 | 16 | 12 | 113 | 55 | 54.1% | 20% |
| 09/10 | 55 | 33 | 8 | 14 | 116 | 63 | 60.0% | 25% |
| 10/11 | 58 | 31 | 13 | 14 | 113 | 55 | 53.5% | 24% |
| 11/12 | 54 | 31 | 9 | 14 | 96 | 67 | 57.4% | 26% |
| 12/13 | 53 | 29 | 12 | 12 | 105 | 60 | 54.7% | 23% |
| 13/14 | 56 | 37 | 8 | 11 | 99 | 57 | 66.1% | 20% |
| 14/15 | 56 | 35 | 11 | 10 | 109 | 53 | 62.5% | 18% |
| 15/16 | 54 | 28 | 12 | 14 | 91 | 59 | 51.9% | 26% |
| 16/17 | 55 | 35 | 8 | 12 | 121 | 65 | 63.4% | 22% |
| 17/18 | 57 | 30 | 10 | 17 | 108 | 70 | 52.6% | 30% |
| Mean | 56 | 33 | 11 | 12 | 108 | 60 | 58.0% | 22% |
Main points:
- Wenger achieved an average win percentage of 58% across all competitions never falling below 51.9% and going as high as 66.1%.
- 52% was good enough to qualify for the champions league up to 15/16. But in 16-17 a 63.4% win rate and a FA cup was apparently not good enough for some in the club hierarchy as evident in Wenger’s 2-year contract, which in retrospect was putting him on notice.
- In 17-18, the win percentage was 52.6, not the lowest historically, but it was marked by the highest ever GA, a total of 70, compared to an average of 60 GA over the 11-year period.
- Wenger’s loss percentage while averaging 22% increased by a dramatic 8 percentage points between 16-17 and 17-18 coinciding with the highest ever GA of 70 in the latter year.
The GA seems to be the key. As Finsbury, a long-standing and frequent contributor to Positively Arsenal has repeatedly argued, Wenger’s biggest challenge in 17/18 was maintaining or recreating the defensive stability he had achieved during the four year reign of Mertsacker-Koscielny, which was one of the premier central defensive partnerships in club football. The 2016-17 season-long loss of the BFG and his subsequent relegation in 17-18 to a mere squad player combined with Koscielny’s well publicized chronic Achilles injury coincided with a growth in GAs from 59 in 15-16 to an unheard of 70 last season and the dramatic increase in losses from the average of 22% to 30% over the last two seasons.
Based on the facts as presented, surely it is reasonable and necessary for us to ask Mr. Gazidis and his rising number of busy-bodies (Mislintat, Sanllehi and a Marcel Lucassen who is to become Director of Football Operations on August 1st) the following questions:
- How will the signing of Lichsteiner, a 34 year-old injury-prone right back, improve and stabilize Arsenal’s central defensive partnership?
- In a world where a Virgil Van Dijk costs £70 million, how do Arsenal plan to replace the retired Mertsacker and an ageing injury-prone Koscielny?
At a time when mainstream media, Twitter, Facebook and Google are doing their best to censor and block non-conforming points of view, it is frightening the level to which Arsenal-twitter has engaged in self-censorship to not rock the boat during this transition to new management. Apparently Ivan and his team are now omniscient and omnipotent. They have free reign, without any challenge by fans, to give Emery any players they deem necessary, because, to paraphrase managerial genius Tony Adams, coaching is over-rated, what matters is the director of football and those who do player recruitment.
So “keep schtum”. Don’t rock the boat. It will all work out in the end. Hmm.
Positively Arsenal 
Meh just lost a comment before the goal, was hoping for England to pick up some momentum today. Their set piece record might even prove to be as good as the Arsenal’s over last few seasons.
I wouldn’t expect a top nation to stink out the yard three tournaments in a row, but neither would I find a discussion upon the record from the previous two to be offensive as that would be blinking weird. (The big national teams don’t often arse it up two tournaments in a row.)
Very much looking forward to the Belgium England game already! And also the prospective re-match between Germany and Brazil, wow what a game that’ll be.
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< I made a speculative prediction of QFs for England in this tournament but they could go further too. Wouldn't be surprised.
As long as Alli is not a starter, keep Young over Rose, this team should continue to perform well IMO.
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If the model being used for VARs is as Rich describes above with not every referral involving the on field referee consulting his monitor, then in the future as this system evolves then appeals as mentioned by someone else the other day would be one method of creating the level of reassurance and respect in the system that is required in the modern sporting environments.
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Yep. Just keep starting Lingaard, the player in the squad along with Sterling with a very high level of actual technique skill. who has been England’s best player as WWB described for the recent period.
Keep the pgmobs protected diving clogger on the bench and this is what you get. Eleven players on the pitch as opposed to ten plus one who spends 70 minutes falling over against the giants from Tunisia.
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I haven’t checked the draw but with Germany and Brazil likely to play one another it opens up the competition for some of the other teams.
For those of us expecting a good tournament from England (as a part of their return to their statistical mean when in tournaments. I appreciate some of you are allergic to such arcane stuff but it wasn’t me that bought Stats DNA) – a SF would be a pleasant treat this beautiful summer but not a surprise.
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Ruben Loftus-Cheek also has to stay in the side
Balance
Power
Technique
Imagination
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Stephan Lichtsteiner joins Switzerland team-mates Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka in dock as diplomatic row erupts over ‘eagle’ salute
Ben Rumsby
24 June 2018 • 6:58pm
The fallout from Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri’s Albanian ‘eagle’ salute intensified on Sunday night after Switzerland captain Stephan Lichtsteiner joined them in the dock.
Fifa announced it had opened disciplinary proceedings against Xhaka and Shaqiri’s team-mate after it emerged he had also performed the goal celebration in solidarity with the pair during Friday night’s World Cup grudge match with Serbia.
All three players will be banned for two games – missing Switzerland’s crucial last Group E fixture against Costa Rica – if they are found guilty of having provoked the crowd.
Serbia on Saturday lodged a formal complaint about the actions of Xhaka and Shaqiri in marking their goals in Friday’s game with a pointed reference to their Kosovan-Albanian heritage. It is understood the Football Association of Serbia was on Sunday planning to argue that the salute was in some way connected to the concept of Greater Albania, an expansion of Albania’s borders that would involve the annexation of parts of Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and even Greece.
The issue was threatening to break out into a major diplomatic row, with Kosovo’s ambassador to the UK, Lirim Greicevci, vehemently denying the salute had any “nationalist” undertones. “It’s not a ‘Greater Albania’ flag; it’s an Albanian flag,” he told Telegraph Sport. “The Albanian flag is used by the Albanian national minority in Montenegro, in Serbia, in Macedonia.”
Serbia fans
Serbia supporters displayed images of war criminal Ratko Mladic pictures on their jerseys Credit: GETTY IMAGES
He added: “Just like you in the UK. There’s the Union flag, the St George’s Cross, the Scottish Saltire. I would also argue that this should not be a provocation to the Serbs, because they use the same symbol – a double-headed eagle – if you look at their flag.
“A provocation is that the Serb fans and Russian fans, they chanted anti-Albanian slogans, like, ‘Kill, kill, kill Albanians’ and displayed [war criminal Ratko] Mladic pictures on their tops.”
Greicevci claimed Serbia’s complaint was motivated purely by the fact they lost to goals from two players with Kosovan roots, declaring: “This is bordering on racism.”
He added: “When did it become a crime to express your own identity by celebrating something amazing like scoring at the World Cup?”
Group E
Pos Team P W D L GD Pts
1 Brazil 2 1 1 0 2 4
2 Switzerland 2 1 1 0 1 4
3 Serbia 2 1 0 1 0 3
4 Costa Rica 2 0 0 2 -3 0
Fifa on Sunday also extended its disciplinary action against the FSS, opening proceedings against its president, Slavisa Kokeza, for suggesting the match officials on Friday had been biased.
It had already launched action against Serbia’s manager, Mladen Krstajic, for inflammatory comments about the referee, as well as their fans for “crowd disturbance and the display of political and offensive messages”.
Meanwhile Fifa, opened proceedings against two German officials for screaming abuse at the Sweden bench during their country’s dramatic win on Saturday. The Danish FA was also fined after its team’s fans threw objects and displayed a sexist banner during their draw with Australia.
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Ospina tells @VivaroNewsINT: “I know that #AFC have signed a new GK but my concentration is on national team. After the world cup I will think about what to do next.”
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Reading some , probably highly exaggerated reports on our signing , and intended signings, some making it sound like we are bringing in the Inglorious bastards. Hope they have cleared this with the PGMOL
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Sagna was no weakling. But two off the ball challenges, neither called as fouls (which is what they were in case anyone is befuddled), left him with the same leg broken twice (the broken leg is the clue to the “foul” part! Just in case anyone was holding on and gibbering in denial. And if the memory is playing tricks and deceiving you: The replacement RB got some of the same treatment .
Sagna inscribed himself into the memory of every single Arsenal fan with a glorious header.
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Too many of these gallant podcastateers and brave blaggers have every requirement to support their “contacts” and business partners. And therefore they have a strong desire to try and proclaim that everything has changed. And as everyone remembers that is simply because AFC are the only top club to have ever sacked a top manager for taking a bung.
We identified this blagger below as being a good “contact” of Chamberlain’s agent over two years ago during their season long plugs for his transfer. We understand, it’s big business, people are hungry etc.:
Clive
@clivepafc
I have some agent contacts who give me feedback on our position in the game
Chat is – Arsenal are back & working professionally
Emery is very much respected by ALL
–
Nuff said.
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< We understand, it’s big business, people are hungry etc.
As in I make no critisim here, or judgement. After all I am not a judge.
Just an easy observation. It's Modern Football i guess. AFTV is "for the fans" and these podcastateers are selfless lovers of the beautiful game. Hehe.
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finsburyp
I am not convinced that Clivepafc is the cause of the recent problems at Arsenal
farfrom it.
He is a youth football coach and Mentor and as such he is sought out by Agents and the like for advice now for player direction,which is fine as he does have player welfare at heart.
I know and have known a few agents some liked to stroke coaches and like to be stroked by people around football, so there might be a certain amount of trying to stroke Clive up a little .
I don’t always agree with him but at least you can have a healthy debate without it decending into nastiness.
Football business is changing faster than ever,there is now a new level of people who are making money out of the game, which is fair enough. What they adding is it positive or negative , which needs to scrutinised.
There are way worse people than he in the Podcast universe than him in the Arsenal podcast universe in particular
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WWB I never wrote he was the cause of AFC’s problems.
I simply wrote that he represents multiple interests and is not a mere “fan”.
“as he does have player welfare at heart.”
He certainly had Chambo’s interests at heart!
I think we’re on safe ground and can all agree upon a manager who put players’ welfare ahead of his often to his own detriment. A great strength and weakness over the. Years, as all lovers of AFC could observe.
That is not the case here!
In addition: Not sure I have much time for a coach that rated Tammy over Eddie. I hope that no one is offended by my opinion of that dumb opinion.
One can interpret the above as a juvenille condemnation of an entire unregulated industry, but that would be more a reflection of the reader then the text that has been written.
The simple record shows managers in the championship calling out the influence of super agents in the championship league last season. More then one. Spain just sacked their manager after they arrived in Russia. Agents have more power then most associations now even big ones like the word cup winning Spanish FA, I hope that we are allowed to discuss the impact and power of agents in the game and most especially within the media without anyone getting upset or feeling like they need to self-censor such topics?
Especially when we’ve logged visceral attacks by hacks on the club for the club’s values, and I can quote the BBc with citations here: “for being difficult for agents to work with”.
Contrast that tone from the bbc quote with the lines quoted above from the agents ‘pal’.
Self censorship at the Arsenal?
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WWB
I like Sterling, but the flock of hungry starlings that have nested in his shadow since he was about 12 years old: not so much.
They don’t have a great reputation as Mentors amongst the parents of the kids that have attended their schools.
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finsburyp
I hear what you say and agree with you on many of your points.
When I was coaching youth players, the landscape looked so different the agents were different.
Dealing with a young super talent is now so different .
When I was playing at school level there were no such thing as agents at school boy level, just pushy parents and overly ambitious coaches with agendas that at best self-indulgent, malevolence and pure evil .
Nowadays things have changed not sure for the better but they were terrible before and talent is not as easily blocked as before ,.although that can still happen.
The story of Sterling is probably one of the most complicated football stories.
Sterling was not the only boy of that group who had a real chance, but because someone put themselves in between him and some others he ended up going the right way.
That person is still there, so do you think he should get rid of them?
Trust me there are other players way more surrounded by it is difficult to say what because some of the people around one or two of these players are people the player has known and relied on for years to allow them to go into areas where the families are .
Sometimes the stories that go with the player is not something every person can appreciate.
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Cheating shit Cavani with leg across defender there to try get pen. Right up there with least favourite acts on pitch.
No doubt a page or two on it in Pochettino’s book but it’s Vardy doing Monreal with it that pissed me off most in our games.
VAR should be good on those ones, but plenty of pundits et al think pens like that Vardy one are legitimate.
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Thanks for the reply WWB. Should clarify none of the parents i spoke with whose kids trained with sterling complained about personalities or anything else ther then the coaches etc. prioritising the kids who represented their best interests. i.e.: a simple everyday critique of how they chose to run their business & not an emotive attack against individuals.
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so Elneny is finished at the World Cup today, so he should be back with Arsenal in 4 weeks time at the latest, meaning he should be available for start of the BPL season.
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finsburyp
Yeah , Youth football is very difficult and emotive subject, often very vunerable young men are left with sharks
.
Things that are happing around football at all levels behind the scenes.
You know about the World Famous premier league manager had a problem with a notrorious local gangster and a leading gangland figure from another part of the country had to travel to that city to sort it out?
Did you know that another big premier league club have had to arrange high level talks between two warring gangs because two prominent figures sons play on the same team plus another ‘Top Boys’ sons plays in the same league
.
Some of the players know ‘who is who’ and their seems to be agreement reached so far that seems to be agreeable to all.
This is the reality we live in.
As usual Football heals.
It is more than a game.
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Rob Harris
Verified account @RobHarris
No bans from FIFA for Granit Xhaka, Xherdan Shaqiri and Stephan Lichtsteiner over Swiss goal celebrations
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No idea how Pique stayed in the pitch after that 2 footed lunge.
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Bloody hell, what a tough night for VAR. Might have to resort to bullet points
– players and coaches have lost none of their power to make the officials job harder. There is even the possibility, with the wrong players, coaches,etc for things to be worse than before.
-VAR will not stop accusations and suspicions of refs : being biased; bottling decisions; favouring big teams
-VAR will not remove the possibility of any of the above things being possible, i.e a biased or even a corrupt official could still go about their business with VAR. Some old ways, some new.
-Subjectivity and fallibility still have a major role to play and cannot possibly be eliminated.
-The pressure imposed on officials, refs especially, is very similar to with non-VAR. For instance if you give one team a big decision, the other team will try their damnedest to add to the normal human pressure that places a ref under- for the next big call,etc.
-There is the alarming possibility that stress can be even worse for a ref with the VAR system than without. With either system there will naturally be matches which are harder than others, and rare ones which are exceptionally hard. The VAR version could be even more difficult- a ref with a scrambled head may be desperate to avoid big calls where he can- Ronaldo making some contact with arm for instance- before VAR well and truly puts them on the spot.
-Anyone operating under the belief that VAR could never produce the equivalent of game 50- a series of bad calls against you; outrageous officiating,etc- is surely mistaken. The possibility remains the same of both (1) a game where you absolutely believe you have been robbed by disgraceful officiating and (2) a game where that’s actually true.
-I’m still in favour of VAR. Though I have an ill-defined unease it is possible that everything will simply ‘shift’ with it. The human error, the pressures, the bad behaviour, any bias,etc, all of it (apart from offsides if the line machine works right).
– There will still be plenty to discuss.
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If you’ve 5-10 mins, this is a fantastic read, from Jorge Valdano, on Argentina, Messi and quite a lot more.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jun/25/argentina-what-is-wrong-lionel-messi-football
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Anyone expecting more than what has happened with the introduction of VAR has never taken the time to analyse Football as a whole, at the elite level. Most of the pundit echo chamber are interested in ‘Talking Points’ and often to make themselves relevant the promote the ‘Party Line’.
Rich Has has highlighted the major problem at Elite level of Football, that can not be solved by VAR.
The problem at all levels of Football , the general lack of respect towards the officials.
The lack of acceptence of reponsibility by Football teams and back room staff for mistakes, so as place fully responsibilty on match officials for a loss.
All this would not be solved with VAR .
What VAR should do is get the close Black and White calls more accurately
The subjective calls should not be and have not been (So far) adjudicated.
The pulling and the pushing in the box (IMO) should not be judged by VAR just yet.
There needs to be clear directives given by the whole of FIFA around ‘The penalty box Tussle’ . Implemented in EACH league, Referee monitors then asses Refs and train them in assessing and implementing the rule.
The Penalty box Tussle has been a thing to a greater or lesser degree in Football for as long as I have been interested in the game. It is always a ‘FREE’ Talking Point.
That is not VAR job, the Tussle should be the job of the Ref but he has lost the reverence of the players. The players are supported by partisanship.
But that Partisanship has a price a very high price, Sporting Clube of Portugal have players who can bear witness to that. Carlos Sanchez formally of Aston Villa whilst playing for Colombia has been adivised to use caution on return to Colombia .
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“that can not be solved by VAR.
The problem at all levels of Football , the general lack of respect towards the officials.”
WWB I disagree on this point above. Other sports had the same problem. VARs helped the officials regain that ground. Same will happen in football. Over time.
When was the last time you saw an international captain in football lead his team off the field because they didn’t respect the official?
This is just one more reason I spent years referring to the much respected and admired around the world English official, the cricket umpire Dickie Bird. When VARs was introduced to his sport he gave an interview (I can find the quotes if anyone is befuddled) where he said that this new introduction would further harm and reduce respect for the officials. However fortunately the opposite has been the eventual and apparent outcome. It’ll take a few years, but change is coming.
In fact it is already happening. The biggest bleaters and moaners ATM are the bleedin’ plundits! (the Serbian FA were not complaining about VARs).
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major controversy in GAA has arisen, there are four play off games this coming weekend, with the draw for these fixtures made yesterday, first out of the pot got home advantage, but somehow the GAA fixtures committee have found a way to put two of the game on in neutral venue Croke Park – the two fixtures SKY will show live to their paying customers. Cavan V Tyrone and the Kildare V Mayo games. Cavan have no objection as their main county ground is out of action at the moment due to upgrade work, but Kildare, who have had away fixtures in the last two rounds of the competition are refusing to move their game to Croke Park. The GAA claim Kildare’s home ground in Newbridge is not big enough for the expected crowd, but Kildare claim they have the agreement of the Gardai and that the game can be made all ticket.
Kildare say they will not turn up for the game in Croke Park, it seems Mayo will, and the GAA have said that no other venue will be allowed, and if Kildare fail to turn up on Saturday then Mayo will be awarded the game. By the way in the GAA when only one team turns up for a game, the match officials will start the game with that one team, they will go up to the opposing goals and score either a goal or a point and then the Ref will call the result of the game.
It seems most in the GAA agree with Kildare’s stance but much like FIFA and UEFA the GAA headquarters have the power to make unfair decisions and just push it through.
Many feel that its all about making it easier for SKY to show the two games they wanted, without SKY having to turn up at two different grounds. If Kildare had been allowed to have their game in Newbridge, then its almost certain that the Cavan V Tyrone game would never have been fixed for Croke Park, it would have been fixed for the much closer Clones, in fact Clones is roughly midway between Cavan and Tyrone, so should have been the place for the game.
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Fins
My cricket knowledge extremely low but were players really posing the same problems to officials and behaving as badly as footballers do?
I can’t picture that at all, though I can see an equivalency in pundit/media/expert doomsayers predicting technology would harm sport, make things worse,etc, though I’d imagine even that is a bit more civilised and better articulated than most of the football talk.
I agree with you that so long as VAR is here to stay, eventually there should be both improvements in behaviour and more justice in game/fewer errors, but it seems likely to be a long and at times brutal journey. I always figured it had to be but no amount of thinking can equal seeing it in action.
Pressure on the ref last night was near constant and often extreme. So little respite.
As it happens, think the process was right for first two big calls and maybe even the third, in that they were all rightly reviewed by VAR officials, then passed to him.
For me, they almost certainly should have made the decision themselves on the last one- particularly in light of fact it had become such a gruelling evening for ref- and told him original call correct and to stick with it.
That said, I have previously decried VAR not instructing ref to look at what are certainly close calls- Boateng, Pique last night, a number of others from VAR in England, i.e. Augero push, Jones on Hazard in cup final- as it seemed to me that was a central tenet of how it should work : if it’s close, VAR should advise another look, giving ref advantage of time and new and perhaps better angles.
In that case ,however, I thought they should have taken it upon themselves to effectively make the decision- stick with original call- instead of passing it back.
It would have still worked out okay, however, if ref had not then made what I think was surely the wrong call.
Anyway, that’s me conflating a few different issues there.
One of main things for me is to try separate how it should be- with better behaviour from all groups- players, coaches, media, fans even- vs how it is.
The whole thing would be incomparably easier if we could rely on a grown-up, fair-minded, intelligent approach from pundits, ex players, broadcasters,etc. Even if they were able to understand the very basic difference between the big picture of a single game, or one tournament, vs the much bigger picture of the whole game and its future.
Alas we have to instead watch the fight for it take place in a very different environment, where tentative supporters seem ready to abandon that support on the back of one tough night, and the vociferous critics like Shearer are primed to feast on such a night.
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Just came off the phone to Stew, had about a 2 hour chat to him. For those interested he is feeling much better and is very much on the mend. He has been so out of touch that he didn’t know who our new manager is or where we finished in the league.
It was great to talk to him and I’m very happy he is on the way back, all be it to a very different life.
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“My cricket knowledge extremely low but were players really posing the same problems to officials and behaving as badly as footballers do? I can’t picture that at all…”
Aside from the incidents usually in S.America where football officials are physically attacked more often then anywhere else (mafia and gangs involved with football and agents is a much much much bigger problem for Football in S.America then in S.London), things were quite nasty at one point with a split between half the cricket boards on side or the other with not just disrespect or abuse but full blown accusations of cheating and bias and worse being made not just by fans but by players, administrators and officials themselves. Imagine the English FA accusing the German FA etc. Therefore for me the answer to your question has to be:
Yes.
Some of those problems described above would continue, but in very small examples and overall the change and benefit was for not just the officials but for the sport too (such as with the LBW rule) is there for all to observe, and appreciate. We’re starting to see some of the same with the Neymar dive being picked out. Halleluljah! eh?
In my experience watching the downward then upward curve with what happpened to officials in the Cricket, the common denominator for decreasing respect for officials was robust defence of the indefensible, the old ostritch manouvre, and the most effective method of increasing respect has been the use of VARs. Which is why it’s a shame it has taken football twenty years to catch up but we’re there now and it’s a welcome and continuous evolution.
For me the discussion regarding ‘respect for the officials’ is as out of date as the discussion about VARs being good or bad (about twenty years past the sell by date).
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Or as a wise old carpenter once told me:
“Best not to use a blunt saw when trying to cut some timber.”*
A good craftsman or woman appreciate the value of the right tools, in the right condition.
Cowboys don’t care about such things.
*Any carpenter worthy of the name would give you the same citation, to be fair.
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Imagine some are sick to death already with VAR talk so apologies for banging on about it. (But here’s more!)
Few general things I’ve noticed with biggest critics
-Frequently say they were ‘promised’ no more big mistakes, less controversy,etc (disingenuous or stupid nonsense)
-Often use as proof of VAR’s failure decisions which would be the same without VAR (weird and illogical)
-Typically avoid discussing whether less mistakes/injutices with it overall, and very reluctant to answer that when put as a direct question (Dishonest or a failure of critical thinking) *
– Rarely correct in diagnosing where the bad decision was made, if indeed there was one. The Iranian pen, for instance- which ultimately was the ref’s decision.
– Struggle to remember details of the process- i.e bemoaning something being looked at or not being looked at when all decisions which meet criteria are looked at.
*Lineker did better than expected by putting that type of question to Shearer quickly after the game yesterday- something like ‘we’ve seen good decisions, now this bad one; is it a question of what works best overall?’
Shearer’s response was ‘not if it works like that, no’ Textbook Shearer and VAR critic, really. Massively and vehemently opposed to it, full of scorn, anger and contempt, but unwilling to answer the key questions- ‘will it make fewer mistakes overall? and does that make it better?’- calmly and directly
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Thanks for the update PG.
Come on Steww. Wishing you the best possible recovery.
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George
That’s good news. Had no idea whatsoever Stew had been unwell or had health issues.
Thought his absence from here was on account of having grown very disenchanted with the sport/ our fans,etc. I could understand and respect that.
Don’t know what’s happened but tell him his reports and writing is missed here or just wish him well if you could.
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Best wishes
Positive vibes Stew
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Para la ultima vez
Esta Copa del Mundo
Vamos Peru!
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Thanks for that update on Stew, George. I’m glad you got to speak with him. I think about him a lot, and hadn’t heard from him in a while. I’m glad to hear things are still getting better.
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Thanks, George, for that update.
Do get well soon, Steww; I’ve missed you more than most. Had no idea what the matter was but was certain you were away for a good reason.
Can’t wait to partake of your delectable delights once again!
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https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/world-cup-2018-argentina-inside-story-lionel-messi-simeone-whatsapp-jorge-sampaoli-next-manager-a8415956.html?amp&12249583885=&__twitter_impression=true
Broadcasters and FA’s?
Was this article in the U.K. Independent written by some kind of kooky ‘conspiracy theorist’? Or do such relationships only arise abroad?
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I see that the senile old has been who forgot how to coach defence or to coach young players is still holding back Iwobi.
Vengarrrrrrghhhhhhhhh!
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< most likely Iwobi will not enter the fray as a sub and bang in a crucial goal!
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Now > not
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Come back Stews ASAP you are well loved on here and you’ve been greatly missed.
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Even in the absence of VAR next season, hope the PGMOL are as tough as the WC refs on grappling in the box, some teams could be in real trouble if they continue their ways, and Stoke could find themselves in league 2 before they know it
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Should be an interesting half hour in the Argentina Nigeria match.
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Alex Iwobi finished at the World Cup, he should be available for the start of the BPL season
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Arsenal once again being linked with the Bosman signing of Fellaini, who said today that he will announce his new club on July 1st
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France v Argentina
Croatia v Denmark
Spain v Russia
Portugal v Uruguay
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Get well soon Steww.
Bless
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Portugal v Uruguay will be a total shitfest. I can already imagine some using it to say VAR is useless because invariably it will be applied inconsistently. They will ignore that when it is applied, it only helps get the decision right.
The comparison with cricket is a little difficult. Mainly because decisions in cricket are not subjective. They are like line calls. Hawkeye took away the only major subjective decision (The LBW) and so there is less to complain about.
But, for all the talk about respect for umpires in cricket, they go beyond talk. There’s a match referee (something like a refs assessor) who not only files his reports on the game, but also gets match reports from both teams who also give an appraisal of the umpires’ performance and behaviour.
Rugby, hockey or basketball also have subjective calls. And all replays have done is allow the refs to reassess what they (think they) saw. Not sure about hockey, but the other two also use technology to reach out to the public and explain why a decision was made. Miked up refs or refs at the replay centre. By the way, this process isn’t ‘perfect’ either. But it largely works.Respect for officials is paramount for the game to exist. And they understand that the respect has to be earned before it can be demanded. Football chooses not to abide by this. Well, in England at least. One of the only countries to have ‘professional’ refs. Bow to the masters!
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