Postecoglou proves he wants sacked but ‘assault’ overlooked by referee amid Arsenal discourse

Editor F365
Tottenham players and Ange Postecoglou look dejected after a loss
Tottenham players and Ange Postecoglou look dejected after a loss

Ange Postecoglou is a dead man walking but Daniel Levy is not exempt from criticism in the Mailbox, while the Arsenal red card debate rages on.

Send your views to theeditor@football365.com

 

Ange wants out, we want Levy out
Don’t think I’ve ever seen a more obvious ‘please sack me’ plea than Ange taking Richarlison off straight after going 2-1 down.

Levy and the muppets need to make some signings. But I suppose they won’t because they can still sell a nice lot of concerts and go karting.
Dave (F*** Levy), Winchester Spurs

 

Ange out…mate
In 30 years of going to Spurs, I’ve never felt the urge to leave before full time until today.

In 18 years of having a semi decent hit rate writing into this mailbox, I’m almost certain I’ve never written in to advocate a managers sacking.

But after today, it’s Ange out. It’s so, so bad. The players clearly don’t agree, and at times they look like they don’t know what they’re doing, despite being Premier League footballers. I don’t share Jason Soutar’s confidence that unless we act soon we will be in a relegation fight because the truth is we are. Chelsea, Liverpool, Bournemouth, City (despite the weirdest hoodoo in footballing history) will take 12 points from us.

And whilst I’m fairly certain it’s not Levy’s fault that Kings Cross was closed tonight, I am not 100% sure that it isn’t.
Jon (I am usually much more pithy than this when I write in), Lincoln

 

Spurs madness
Please, please let this be the end.

Levy is far from perfect. Far from it. But Postecouglou has taken us as far as he can.

Unlucky with the injuries for sure. But he’s an emotional, stubborn guy who’s out of his depth. The pressure has gotten to him.

Didn’t Ferguson say something like the worst thing that can happen to a manager is another manager being complimentary about you. They’re all complimentary about Ange, and he basks in it. He’s the patsy in the group.

How can you only make two subs in that game? It’s madness. He keeps doing the same thing and expects a different result. That’s what we’re all living through.

The game was f**king crying out for some fresh legs. With 15 minutes to go, and Spurs showing no signs of improvement how is he not making a sub to try and change things?

He is breaking players. The shot of him consoling Archie Grey after the Everton game gave me the ick. The whole thing is giving me the ick. His prickly over sensitivity in press conferences is giving me the ick. The latest of which came on Friday where he clearly had the hump about press reports of him falling out with the previous head of sports science. You know the one – Kiwi guy, was at Spurs 20 years, first responder when Fabrice Muamba had a cardiac arrest. Knows a thing or two about player welfare.

Please call time on it Levy.
Andrew

 

Time up for Ange?
Surely the end for Big Whinge…
rojapy

 

VAR – we’re the problem
Apologies in advance to Arsenal Fans. I’m using you as an example, not because you’re wrong in your anger, but because you serve as a recent example for my point.

​The MLS red card was ridiculous, and the second yellow should have been a red. Agreed. But did you notice 2 other decisions yesterday? The assault on Endo? Silva escaping? See, the problem here is us fans and our clubs.

​I’m a Liverpool fan, we all had the opportunity 18 months ago to address this when “Oli” had his post Dubai trip monumental f**k up and ruled out Diaz’s goal. It was the time where as fans we should have united against what we’d let the PGMOL become. Instead Arteta said “…they are trying to make the best decisions. We need to understand that mistakes happen.” I believe a week later he was fuming at VAR.

Clubs could have supported each other, but nope. Rivalry means we a collective shrug of shoulders when it’s not us. Rivalry means idiots buying the excuses from PGMOL because it’s Liverpool, or Arsenal or whoever. We twist logic to defend bad decisions that benefit us. To this day, Arsenal fans will provide angles and slip reports to defend Odegaard’s handball last season against Liverpool, even though Howard Webb said, “…this one did not reach the right outcome…”

​Again, not a dig at Arsenal, this is all of us. We all get screwed (…well apart from City), we all lose points or players due to bans and injuries, managers lose jobs. But we can’t even get together and agree it’s become a sh*tshow.

​And it’s our clubs, why aren’t the clubs getting together to address this? Again we had the perfect opportunity after the Diaz incident, but it was more important to revel in another’s misfortune than try and address what was beyond incompetence. Arteta would have had far more of an impact a week later at Newcastle if he hadn’t waved off the Diaz incident.

​These things don’t even out. The lack of red for the tackle on Endo gets barely a mention because we won and would have won anyway, so it seems inconsequential. But a few saw it happen in front of him and VAR got to see every angle in slow motion. They spent longer looking for offside against Gakpo for his second when the instant you saw the replay you could see he was a mile on. But now, out come the lines.

​VAR has to be taken away from PGMOL. It needs to be independent. No offence, but it’s not that difficult to learn the rules of the game, nor operate the VAR applications. They don’t need to be refs or even ex-refs. But none of this will happen, because of us. Right now Arsenal are the loudest and they are right to be annoyed, some of those decisions are a disgrace. But where were you last year when it was us? Don’t forget “Oli” was the VAR for Diaz, he was also the ref who thought the last minute foot in Mac Allister’s chest against City wasn’t even a foul. Where you joining us in our cries last season?

​It has to change. But so do we. Let’s stop defending obvious incompetence (the alternative is a much more serious accusation) and start backing each other up. That’ll be a start. Let’s put pressure on aour clubs to get something done. Last season, the Spurs game, the Arsenal game and that City game cost us massive points. In seasons now where a couple of draws is seen as blowing the league, one or two of these decisions can brick a whole season. It’s no longer a case of “evening out over the season” when margins are so slight. Plus we ignore the bad decisions like against Endo yesterday because we would have already won the points.

​So that’s it. Nothing will happen unless we stop being blind to the decisions that benefit us and we actually start collectively addressing this blatant incompetence and VAR existing to defend refs rather than fix their errors.
C. Dublin

 

Oliver – it’s not just red cards
Following on from Sundays mailbox, which I contributed to, I’d like to expand on the red cards with something else pretty shocking.As I said, I don’t think it’s a PGMOL conspiracy, but I do think that Oliver either hates Arsenal, or he is just corrupt. We know that there was a ref who hated Liverpool and clearly favored other sides vs Klopps team so this is not exactly an outrageous accusation.

This makes for some pretty grim reading, the penalties:

Michael Oliver awards penalties against Arsenal at a rate of 0.24, for other sides, the closest is Tottenham at 0.18 with slightly less games referreed. The others are at 0.15 or less from the data I can find. So more reds, penalties, and yellows per foul.

Oliver is pretty much the same age as me, he supports Newcastle ), perhaps he was at Wembley for the 1998 final and we ruined his big day? This is tongue in cheek of course, but at this point, it’s pretty clear, Michael Oliver should not be permitted to referree an Arsenal game ever again.
Strevs, AFC, Canada

 

VAR and referee support
I know people like to laugh at the ‘you’ll never see that decision again’ brigade and to be clear I absolutely do not believe there is a conspiracy against Arsenal but sometimes we are right about certain things.

The only way I will agree that the Lewis Skelley red card decision was correct is if it sets a precedent. If from now on these kinds of fouls are punished with a red card I will hold my hands up and say fair enough. That won’t happen though will it? We know it won’t and we know referees will continue to be backed no matter what decision they make.

I genuinely wouldn’t hold it against Oliver if he just admitted he made a split decision mistake. At speed I can see why it may have looked like a dangerous challenge, but for VAR to not even bother sending him to the monitor was just ludicrous. By backing him they are actually throwing him under the bus because it puts all the onus on him to justify the decision. If they truly want to support officials then they need to stop this ridiculous approach of saying they made the correct decision when they very clearly didn’t.
Andrew

 

It could have been worse for Arsenal
Just a quick one on the Arsenal red, in real time I thought it a clear yellow, nothing more, a cynical foul. But when it’s slowed down, which I know isn’t how it’s seen in real time, it is a bit nasty, rakes his studs down his leg. I don’t think Michael Oliver should be in the Premier league with his pro city bias (still pissed Joe Hart went heat to head with him and got nothing, Herrera taps him on back to get his attention and got sent off).

But question I wanted to ask was, are you allowed surround the referee again? Cause I saw the entire Arsenal team around Oliver after that red yesterday, and only 1 person got booked for it. He could have booked more. So maybe he went easy on you lads. But I don’t think arsenal fans will see it that way.

Cheers,
Anto, Dublin

 

Time for change
I have written in many times slating the incompetency of match officials and even worse, the incompetence of VAR’s who have a much better chance of reaching the correct decision.  I have slated the PGMOL and the likes of Mike Dean and Dermot Gallagher, who, due to their particular place in the media, always do their best to justify, often hilariously, on field decisions which 100% of “outsiders” know are incorrect. It is no surprise that the only criticism made by ex-officials is by those without a paid position within the media.

The Lewis-Skelly sending off will be/has been justified, if the rules were different I could understand this, there is no attempt to play the ball, it’s cynical and Lewis-Skelly cannot know the outcome of his challenge, but the cheating “tactical foul” has never been dealt with in this way before.  The pathetic “above the ankle” justification would only make sense if it was applied on a consistent basis and VAR had stepped in on numerous occasions previously to apply it.  Fouls happen, the Gomes challenge is a foul but it isn’t a DELIBERATE one and there is a difference. What odds an Arsenal appeal is turned down (surely not)?

The outrage from Arsenal fans is understandable but ALL football fans should be outraged, tribalism however taints all fans, where was the outrage when the David Coote story broke? “It’s just them moaning scousers again” was the mantra, David Coote was corrupt. so much so that even the PGMOL had to act, Michael Oliver is as well, how else can his consistently horrendous decisions be explained.  And it’s not just against Arsenal, who do have a bigger back catalogue than most but non as ridiculous as the Doku kung fu kick on MacAllister.

Change is needed and if fans of all clubs were to put pressure on their boardrooms and demand that they come together to demand a change in the administration and application of VAR then it could happen. Appoint an independent body as VAR officials with no affinity to the PGMOL, disband the “police policing the police” situation which currently exists.  Join together effect change, it can only be to everyone’s benefit or are you happy to laugh at other team’s mis-fortune whilst going apoplectic when it’s your own.
Howard (down with the bourgeoise) Jones

 

…MLS only meant to trip him. Doherty’s forward momentum combined with the angle of his leg makes Skelly’s leg go/slide/roll downwards.

Even if MLS meant it, there’s no way his reaction time would be so fast to first trip and then stamp on him in the same motion, especially how fast Docherty was moving at that time.
Franco (Feltham)

 

Bizarre refereeing
Apart from the Arsenal red that shouldn’t have been…. that’s already been written about a bit.

Over the weekend, an Everton player got booked for flapping his arms by his side after he scored.

Mings was allowed to catch the ball and walk off breaking up a West Ham attack with no repercussions.

These are truly bizarre decisions that the referee has randomly decided to make up their own rules. Similar to the goal kick that was picked up earlier in the season, the “schoolboy” error that was allowed to happen for…. reasons.

Whilst we will always see interpretations of the rules we disagree with(see the Arsenal decision), why are we seeing more and more situations where the referee just randomly decides to make up their own rules?

There was not a doubt Mings deliberately handballed it(he caught the ball stopping an attack!) and there is nowhere that states flapping your arms like a bird after scoring is a bookable offence.

Why are these things not being questioned/investigated? How can someone whose sole job is to enforce the rules…. just. make them up as they go?
Liam

 

Blind co-commentators
Dear Editor,

I am utterly dismayed and annoyed by the continual and absurd inaccuracies by co-commentators.

A most recent example of many is the chap who co-commentated on the Liverpool v Ipswich match on 25/01 on Sky.

For the Ipswich goal he decried Liverpool’s defending howling that ‘the smallest player on the pitch marking arguably Ipswich’s biggest player – incredible’. However what the scouse accented commentator failed to notice was that the Ipswich player had his head about knee height when he nodded in. Now unless the Liverpool player marking him was Sammy Lee’s midget offspring it was a fair contest.

He also remarked that the keeper got ‘nowhere near’ the first Liverpool strike as it went in. Yet the ball passes just a whisker beyond the keeper’s outstretched hand.

How are these people in a job and where can I apply?
MG

 

…Phew, that home loss to Bournemouth doesn’t look so abject now, eh? Iraola looks set to overtake Espiritu Santo for MotY.

I didn’t think Newcastle were terribly good in beating Soton 1-3, but Isak was just about enough on his own. He’s become lethal, and I was a bit surprised he didn’t get his hat trick long before he was substituted.

I’ve talked about Jacob Murphy here before. I love him for the same reason I love Miggy and Dan Burn (whose shirt I failed to wear against Bournemouth; I did today). They’re tryers who have provided lots of moments of surprising quality. Dan Burn did so again today, after losing out to Walker-Peters and allowing the cross for Southampton’s goal. Hall probably should have been defending that cross, so Burn could be on the six.

It appears to be a point of fact that Murphy’s statistical output this season is entirely based on passing the ball to Isak. That said, nobody in the squad is doing it better than him. It’s a trope of television coverage of US sports to say (it’s best in John Madden’s voice) that “if you wanna beat the [Chiefs], you’ve got to contain [Patrick Mahomes].” It might be true of Jacob Murphy, and that’s just a funny idea.
Chris C, Toon Army DC (Sandro Tonali is purring like a Rolls right now,)