Manchester City receive same referee protection as Man Utd when they stopped the Invincibles
The Celebration Police are taken to task but of more concern to Arsenal is the ref protection Manchester City enjoy. It brings back uncomfortable memories.
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Ingerlund
Hey F365,
It’s been a while since I’ve written in, but I’ve just a couple of thoughts following the Women’s World Cup, England vs. Nigeria game.
While Nigeria were probably the better team, despite playing 10 vs. 11 for the last 40 mins or so, England were very impressive despite their numerical disadvantage. Genuine commitment to win the game.
Penalties are a lottery, regardless of who you support. England hit the target and deserved to win.
What impressed me the most however was the humility of the England players consoling the Nigerians. Absolute class. Winning with dignity and compassion isn’t something you see often, living in Australia.
Thx,
Gavin
That penalty by Chloe Kelly in the shootout was truly one of the best I’ve seen taken, and was also a rare example of a stutter-step routine seeming like it would be genuinely offputting to the goalkeeper (as opposed to the routines we’ve seen from Zaza/Ronaldo/Pogba/whoever else).
Oliver Dziggel, Geneva Switzerland
Officer Ferdinand of the Celebration Police
Just want to say that I make Rio Ferdinand right.
I mean what are Arsenal thinking celebrating a penalty shoot out win over a team that beat them to the title and haven’t been overcome in 9 games like it meant something or could help cure some mental fragilities.
It’s not like they’re sitting in a studio watching Ronaldo score a late equaliser to salvage a draw in a group game of the champions league against a team who finished 8th in the Serie A that year!
That’s really worth jumping out of your chair celebrating like a 12 year old and calling inhuman. (Feel free to add the clip)
Saw him in an interview before the game brown nosing Zinchenko and lording Saliba. Then goes and takes the P out of them for enjoying winning a game.
Shows the type of child he is.
Derek – AFC
READ MORE: Arsenal over-celebrate yet again and Postecoglou makes shock Kane claim as Spurs striker ‘lingers’
What a joyless place football would be if the celebration police had their way. According to them, the only thing worth celebrating is the Champions League and the League itself. All other instances of success or joy is worthless. Last minute winners, why weren’t you winning already? Against which team? Pah! Saved from relegation, why were you in a relegation battle in the first place? FA Cup? Carabao Cup? Pah! Waste of the metal they are made from.
For the record, I don’t think the Community Shield is a ‘proper trophy’ but it was a match between the two best teams of last year to kick off this year. A match up which Arsenal had lost the previous 8 games against. So pardon us for actually enjoying the result, especially after we ‘bottled’ the league last season.
I think the celebration police, in this instance, aren’t actually annoyed at the celebrating, they’re annoyed that Arsenal look like they are finally amongst the big boys after a decade of not being there. They hate to see us invest in quality players, and they hate that the process Arteta asked us to trust seems to be bearing fruit. That annoys them more than anything else.
John Matrix AFC
Are Man City the new Man Utd?
No no it’s not what you think. City are better than United ever were, their dominance is unparalleled in the league.
No, the reference is about how protected their players are, as were United’s when they decided to only way to end the Invincibles run was to kick them off the park.
City are clever enough though not to use such archaic tactics and their niggly players like Silva and Rodri, surely the winner of the league’s “best duo you hate but love to have in your team”, must have some sort of invisibility cloaks that refs can’t see through. They grab you every opportunity to gain an advantage and only the worst examples are called. Card? You must be joking.
I’m not biased. Partey deserved his yellow, he should know the new rules. Havertz deserved his yellow for a cynical trip. My question is why that is different from pulling someone down?
The incompetence of refereeing in this league is now a joke. Gabriel got booked for running back towards his goal in a straight line. Where in the rules does it say he has to run away so as to give the keeper a clear line to kick? Oh wait, maybe he has to wait till the keeper has kicked before he can start his run?
Sure you can say that was a little bit of gamesmanship but when did they become a yellow card offence? How fast do you have to retreat from a dead ball before it becomes a yellow card offence?
Tired (of PGMOL) Gooner
Overspending
How can you possibly know if you’ve overspent on a player until the end of the contract?
Forest were the first English team to spend £1m on a single player. That player, the late Trevor Francis, would score the winner in the European Cup final.
There are more obvious bargains such as David O’Leary, who Arsenal signed as an apprentice 50 years ago and stayed at the club for 20 years – leaving the club after that Cup Final win against Sheffield Wednesday who were managed by Trevor Francis.
Dennis Bergkamp cost a record £7.5m but do Arsenal attract the likes of Overmars and Henry without him? The jury’s out but one thing you cannot argue is that Dennis was a bargain as he joined aged 26 and would stay at the club until the final year at Highbury more than a decade later.
So yes, some may already say Arsenal have overspent on Declan Rice. It’s a heck of a lot of money in outlay. But we won’t know if we’ve got a return on our investment until the end of his contract.
P.S. I once watched a League One Brighton play at the Withdean. They’ve come a long way and are entitled to ask what they want for their players – good luck to them.
Graham Simons, Gooner, Norf London
Added time
Having seen the fuss around added time in the community shield, my problem with the approach being taken is that adding more and more extra time doesn’t really deal with the true problem of time wasting at all.
Teams don’t really waste time solely to keep the ball in play for a minimum amount of time, though that’s part of it.
In my opinion, it’s less significant whether you get the ball in play for 60 minutes vs. 70 or whatever, but more significant that time wasting ruins the rhythm of the game and makes it harder for the wronged team to do something effective with the ball when they do have it.
I’m all for adding the bigger numbers (or even for switching to a 60 minute match with a stopped clock for major stoppages like in rugby), but if that is the extent of it, then the bigger problem goes unsolved, and you’re just left with agonisingly drawn out stop start games that last 98 minutes rather than the old 93.
In fact, I expect that it could make time wasting even worse than before. All that will happen is they’ll switch from unscientifically sticking a finger in the air and saying “feels like three minutes” to saying “feels like eight” but now they won’t follow up with bookings because the extra extra time is the remedy. Apparently Newcastle topped the time-wasting league last season and averaged having the ball in play for 55ish minutes. Unless they start adding 35 minutes to Newcastle games, it won’t solve the problem.
What will solve the problem is booking players straight away when they time waste. Newcastle may end a few games with seven outfield players while the message sinks in, but they’ll soon learn.
Separately, I have similar feelings about the dissent clampdown. In principle I get it, but I think it cuts both ways. People asking the ref why Rodri didn’t get booked were right to be annoyed, and they should have a right to ask the question. There’s asking the question and there’s crossing a line, but for this one to work the quality of refereeing decisions needs to be consistent in the first place. We’ve all seen how much of an influence a screaming home crowd can have on the ref (or how much the aura of Pep Guardiola and tiki-taka lets his teams get away with an absurd number of professional fouls), if away teams aren’t allowed to voice their dissent and create a bit of counter-pressure in the refs’ minds, those sorts of situations will get completely lop-sided.
Andy (MUFC)
Dennis the menace
Don’t usually do this but got to pick up on something in the email from “Person McPerson.”
He lists Bergkamp in “smaller, technically gifted players” with Zola and Silva, I don’t know how common this misconception is, but Bergkamp was 6 foot and, according to many who played him, not afraid of mixing it physically.
He was technically gifted to an absurd degree, but in his case he also had the stature to go up against anyone. Similar to Cantona, only less likely to stand on your chest.
Zola and Silva do show you don’t need those physical gifts but having them puts Bergkamp a level above them, for me.
Adrian
We’ll get the devs to look into it
Hi F365,
Just wondering if you could add a new feature to your website, a filter to hide any article that Gabby Agbonlahor is in. Good Christ I thought the ‘Pundit’ level was low but the man speaks only nonsense.
Cheers!
Will