Liverpool bias of Paul Tierney irrefutable ‘considering the data’ as PGMOL urged to act

Paul Tierney’s Liverpool bias is irrefutable and Arsenal are ‘mentally weak’ with ‘no plan B’.

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Mentally weak Arsenal
As much as it pains me to say it, I fully agree with everything Stewie said regarding Arsenal. They are mentally weak. Clearly had no plan B. And cannot keep going on like this without a proper goalscorer.

Arsenal’s build up play has been very slow recently. This allows the opposition to defend in numbers. They know Arsenal will try to play through them but sheer weight of numbers in the box (especially from WHU last night) meant there was no room.

I’m not sure, but I think Arsenal like to play mostly down the right and use Saka and White. Then Saka will cut inside on his left foot. Then he will be crowded out.

We need a proper goal scoring centre forward. Trouble is, from where? Even if a top quality name is available in January, he’s gonna be very expensive. That even assumes he wants to play for Arsenal. Top level CFs are few and far between. I think even Stewie knows that the Chris Wood example was stretching it a bit…

Kane from Bayern??? He’s not doing much over there.

And unless Arsenal start to move the ball quicker again, the CF will have no room in which to operate anyway.

I agree with Stewie. We haven’t kicked on this season. Still looking at a top 4 finish and if taken in context then that is progress compared to a few years ago. But this season feels like an opportunity is going to be missed.

Oh, well. We’ll probably win the Champions League at least!
Stu (we won’t…) Frustrated Gooner in France 

A Stewie challenge
As an Arsenal fan it was always natural – following one of our oh-so-typically lame performances at the most vital time – to avoid the mailbox next day so as to avoid the man. Perhaps I’ve matured with age (which would make me very mature), perhaps he’s just gotten a little more astute, but I now quite enjoy dipping a toe into ‘the Stewie’ come the dawn after tragedy visits.

This week’s inevitably scathing rebuke did not disappoint.

There was some pointed remarks about our centre forward, who seems to do a lot of jobs really well excepting his main one, a restrained pile-on for Arteta (with the rather curious appendix suggestion that he’s a decent manager after all), the undeniable yet hardly original nugget that Zinchenko cannot defend even if you give him a trench and covering artillery barrages, and a couple of references to a transfer policy that failed to bring in (or even seriously target, for all we know) a top striker. Most of it fully deserved, well-delivered, and worth the price of admission.

Well almost. The trouble, as implied, is that I have now become an aficionado of ‘the Stewie’ – he has become my new ‘Colbert’ in many ways – and like any fan, I demand more. I require more biting ripostes. I expect something weightier than just well-organized bile. Something funnier. Sharper. Perhaps even some tactical insight once in a while? It doesn’t have to be J Wilson, just a reference to the fact that the sport is highly technical and requires practiced choreography, planning and preparation on an expert-level.

And, if possible, less of the nonsensical stuff we can get elsewhere, like the derisory suggestion that Chris Wood never misses a sitter (which is just a documented untruth) or that the aura of Wenger somehow permeates the mentality of players who never turned out or even trained for the man? Also, mentioning the 200 mill twice with only a bracketed non-reference to Rice seems a bit like kicking a toddler, doesn’t it? And ‘Brazilian Rebrov’ is a decent gag, when used once…

As with the Arsenal – indeed, as with most things – we can all do better. Well, not me, of course; I’m near fucking perfect. But you, Stewie…we’ll all expect a significant improvement from you in the future.

Love to Johnny Nick, and to the f365verse in 2024,
George

Pep wouldn’t put up with Jesus?
I’m not an Arsenal fan so I don’t really have a dog in this fight, but Stewie using Pep as an example of a top coach not putting up with Gabriel Jesus made me laugh. He kept him for more than 5 years and Jesus played in well over 200 games for City including more than 150 league games. He made 28 league appearances (21 starts) in the season before he moved to Arsenal! Sounds like Pep did put up with him after all.
Turiyo Damascene (Kigali, Rwanda)

The Tierney bias
Just to be clear I used conspiracy title as a joke and made it pretty clear that I was simply pointing out a bias in Paul Tierney which is kind of hard to argue against considering the data.

But what I missed out was that I’m not saying it’s a ref wide bias against Liverpool. I feel very confident if you analysed it you’d find similar very strong biases against other teams too, I just picked up on tierney because it caught my eye last season and happened again this season so I got interested and looked it up.

What I’m saying is pgmol has a problem with their referees acting on bias (who the bias is against is irrelevant) and that shouldn’t ever happen. They’re supposed to enforce the rules to ensure a fair game, not influence the game in one sides favour.
Lee 

What is the point of Celtic in the Champions League?
It won’t go away,it’s like the player who suffers a leg break at the hands of an opponents nastiness,works his socks off with rehab to get back a year later and breaks said opponents leg upon comeback.Some people would call that revenge,I would call it character.Which brings me nicely along to the the man city fan who signed his mail off with what is the point of celtic in the champions league several weeks ago.Celtic brought the first European Cup to these shores in 1967,the Lisbon lions,they were all born within a 30 mile radius of Glasgow.All born and bred local players who would die for the shirt and what it represents.Legendary.That is what football is about.Celtic lost out to porto in the 2003 uefa Cup final and sadly have since been unable to compete properly in Europe as footballs ever growing financial gulf cripples them.A gulf which has been created by these super rich clubs inflating transfer fees and wages beyond their reach,clubs that are diluting our game,footballers are now paid so much,so young that they now have a distinct lack of character,example mufc have a crop of players who most fans would drive to the airport themselves due to lack of said character.The timescale of Celtics lack of competitiveness in Europe ties in with the man city take over in the 00s.Clubs like city and paris st germain are a skidmark on the underpants of football slowly dragging us to oblivion with their greed.Not one proper football person I know puts an ounce of credibility into city’s European triumph,it was bought with dirty money and to be honest I had forgotten city had won it untill some idiot signed off with “what Is the point of celtic in the champions league” Celtic are a worldwide football fraternity.Celtic are everything that city can never be.

And if you know your history…
Kevin CFC

Honours system
I imagine in the many years of women’s football there must be a long list of worthy women (And men I suppose) who deserve some honours. Years of hard, selfless work from a lot of people.

Seems to me, they would have just been better off telling a foreginer to F*** Off and sticking your tounge out at them in order to gain some recognition.

Such is our honours system.What a joke.
IronsMan

XI of the half season
Interesting XI of the half season based on the crunched numbers. What’s great about football is that you can totally argue the stats. For example, Maddisons chance creations per game are great but should they be based on games he has played or games in the season? We can call that the Reece James effect, formally the Ledley King effect. Romeo has great numbers but that’s because he missed 3 games that they lost due to getting himself sent off. I imagine he’s insulated from all the goals conceded as a result of that sending off too.

Much like the keeper for some reason. Long gone are the Schmeichel days of screaming at your defence when you even concede a shot. Now a keeper can concede the most goals of their peers but it isn’t their fault apparently. I assume the Diaz goal also doesn’t count in that. Football really is easy if all the goals that you concede don’t count.

But it’s the Saka vs Salah on the RW that’s interesting. Saka is a wonderful player but he’s not the heir to Salah’s throne just yet. Salah is pulling Henry level numbers and Saka is not. This, and I’m sure I read another article on here, talks about Saka’s propensity to make tackles. Now Salah does track back but he bags the goals. It seems that Saka, Arsenal and England would be better off if he swapped a few tackles for goals.
Alex, South London