In the debacle that we witnessed yesterday afternoon, Arsenal were robbed.
If that ‘tackle’ by Paul Robinson on Theo Walcott had happened anywhere else on the pitch, it’s a free kick. But why not a penalty? Because he had his hands down? Do me a favour.
Officials have conspired to consign Arsenal to their third defeat of the season. Frankly, it’s becoming a joke. Arsenal were clearly the better team yesterday. An offside goal and a fortuitous own goal by Alex Song made the difference in a game that the Gunners really should’ve won.
These freak events sometimes happen, and you can’t legislate for them. But yesterday, right at the death, we should have had a reprieve. Robinson comes charging out, Walcott squeezes his shot off, Walcott is sent crashing to the ground. Apparently, a late tackle isn’t a foul when it’s in the box. Especially when it’s against Arsenal.
Rewind a few weeks to the Newcastle game. Joey Barton assaults Gervinho by yanking him up off the ground by his throat. A foul, in the box no less. The referee has to stop play. But do Arsenal get a penalty and does Barton get a red for his violent play? No, Gervinho gets a red for pawing at Barton, who in turn gets a yellow.
These are two incidents in recent games that have shaped Arsenal’s season so far. Even forgetting the offside goal scored by Blackburn during a crucial passage of the game, we should’ve got a point yesterday. If you were to add three points to our tally and things don’t look so bad.
There will be inevitable calls for Arsene Wenger to be sacked. I don’t concur with this though. He’s just not getting the rub of the green at the moment. Hardly a sackable offence.
The problem for me is with the linesmen and the referees. Nowadays, all too often, refs and their officials are affecting results. These officials are supposed to be watching over games, not deciding them. Every season the sport gets faster and faster, and refs can’t keep up. Unless they’re given help they are going to keep making massive mistakes, then the wrong teams are going to keep getting results they don’t deserve.
Last season, in an independent study, it was shown just how much inept decision making cost certain teams. Have a look HERE To see just how different the league would have looked if referees didn’t make costly mistakes.
Even with video help and a fourth referee, you are never going to erase human error from the game. But in this day and age, with so much riding on results, how can the greatest, most popular sport on the planet still be living in the dark ages when it comes to officiating?
I’m getting bored of it now, because more and more often results are being unfairly handed out. How are we, as supporters, supposed to maintain our enthusiasm for a sport that is not only corrupt, but deeply unfair?
Like what you read? Then follow me on Twitter – http://twitter.com/TheLateTackle
Visit and Join our Facebook page, click HERE to do so.
Gunnersphere is currently looking for new writers to join the squad. Contact via twitter or at Gunnersphere@snack-media.com for further details.
@davi, untold fair? Dnt make me laugh. After yesterday’s match the article was about the poverty of the food @ ewood park.
Do the refs have anything to do with arsene wenger pennypinching in the transfer market, or his panic buying so late that the players hadn’t enough time to gel? If so they must be crucified.
1) If Barton got a yellow for what he did in the box against Gervinho, HOW was that not a penalty kick?
2) Arshavin had a perfect tackle against the Blackburn player, which the ref gav a BS free kick to (resulting in the Song OG that crushed their confidence)
3) Seriously, how does Walcott get hammered and the keeper not be given a yellow and a PK handed out? If Song gets retroactively carded, so should the keeper for Blackburn
4) The POS from Blackburn who made an obvious dive (as seen in the replay) in the 80-something minute (Ramsey got warned for it) should also be retroactively carded.
We can all see that the refs have a different rule book for when officiating arsenal matches. Look back to
Last years fa cup match against man utd, when both rooney and scholes should have been sent off. Look at the forest derby game where a pretty similar thing happened to the walcott incident. What happened? A red card and a penalty. Now look at what happened when walcott was cut down? Nothing.
The officiating in this league is a joke especially when it comes to arsenal.
It is infuriating because if man utd had played EXACTLY the same way as arsenal they would have won 4-2 (assuming the resulting penalty had been scored) and be hailed as true champions as they ground out a win even though they didnt play well.
Whereas arsenal get piss poor decisions, lose 4-3 and people are calling for wenger to be sacked.
Do i need to mention man utd first goal vs chelsea? Offside.
The Officials stopped us from winning the title last season and have shafted us for 5 points so far this. It has nothing to do with luck but it does explain the lack of confidence in the team. How would you like to be punished every time you look like winning a league game? The evidence is there. Funny how we do better when we play in Europe (unless we look like beating Barca!!!!).