Robin, no point pleading in front of a deaf douche.
I hear Alex Ferguson has recalled Howard Webb to his squad for the game against Chelsea on Sunday! In all seriousness though, the whole world knows how referees are biased towards the elite clubs in the world. You can’t see why someone in charge of FIFA or UEFA has not done anything about it. Watching the ‘El Classico’ on Tuesday night made me very frustrated at the blatant cheating from the Barcelona players. People talk about the infamous Eduardo ‘dive’ against Celtic in the Champions League a couple of years back and then Javier Mascherano goes down under the slightest challenge from Cristiano Ronaldo like he had been shot, when really he just scraped him and denied Real Madrid a goal which would of changed the game completely.
Another few facts for you:
- 2009: Chelsea should have had at least 2 penalties against Barca in the champions league semi final.
- 2010: Thiago Motta sent off after Busquets pathetically dived.
- 2011: RVP sent off for not hearing the whistle and then kicking the ball away under 2 seconds after!
- 2011: Abidal should have also been sent off for aggressively holding RVP from the neck.
- 2011: Pepe given harsh red card, Mascherano, Pedro and Busquets dived throughout the match as well, not to mention Barcelona players surrounding the referee for every decision like a pack of dogs.
- All of these decisions have influenced the game and in the end all of them apart from one Barcelona have got to the final of the Champions League. You could say from UEFA’s point of view their laughing as the bigger teams get to the final to create a more glamorous final which will bring in more money for them.
- We now are set up for an intriguing final, United vs Barcelona, the two teams that will always get decision’s from a ref so how is the final going to go because the ref can only be biased or neutral and I can’t imagine it been the latter.
Onto Manchester United, I will start with the ‘Fergie Time’ that seems to appear every time united are in need of a goal. What should only be 2 minutes of added time turns into 5 minutes of added time and most times United will go on and get the goal after playing 7 minutes of added time.
After the Arsenal game, Ferguson was quoted ‘We never get the big decision’s in games’. Bollocks to that; Nemanja Vidic practically turned into superman to stop Robin Van Persie getting his head to it and the ref or linesmen (who had a perfect view) failed to spot this amazingly and that’s just one of the many decisions that went against Arsenal in that game.
The image sums it up.
In the Carling Cup final, United vs Villa when Gabby Agbonghlahor was clear through on goal as was mowed down by Vidic and the ref didn’t not give a penalty or the red card again, yet Mr. Ferguson thinks they don’t get the big decisions.
The English FA continuously promotes this FA Respect Campaign and tries and urges more referees into football but why would anyone bother respecting ref’s when they constantly give the wrong decisions. People might criticize me for slagging off the ref’s by saying they have a hard job. I ref myself and know how hard it can be when you have everyone on your back, that’s why I have to do my job properly so this doesn’t happen.
Bias towards Arsenal, I can’t think of too many reasons why referees don’t like us or reasons for the FA not to like us; we consistently finish in the champions league spots and usually play with good sportsmanship. The FA they might not like us because we lack English players and know that if they give decisions against us they won’t lose any English players to play in their pointless friendlies against poor nations and then get injured. But that’s racist right? Discriminating against someone/something because of their ethnic/religious background and yet they promote kick it out of racism projects. Hypocrites.
Mr Van Persie’s red card in Barcelona, seriously it’s the most pathetic red card I’ve ever seen given and I watch a lot of football. Kicking the ball away, 2 seconds after the whistle has blown and that’s before your ears and brain register the noise in a noisy cathedral like the Camp Nou, like the man himself said an absolute joke.
The goal that was denied against Sunderland on 5th March 2011. The linesmen flagged Andrei Arshavin offside when he had run from behind the defender and finished the ball, the man was nowhere near off side and ironically he wasn’t booked for kicking the ball away(unlike MR Van Persie, 3 days later in Barcelona!). The two points Arsenal would have got from that victory would have put them 1 point behind second and 4 points behind Man united at the top, that’s without the confidence booster this result would have given the Arsenal players to go on a win more games in the coming weeks.
In August ’09 when Van Persie scored an injury time equalizer against United that was ruled out for offside when he wasn’t (oh look who we were playing against!) and the Arsenal ended up losing the game 2-1 (also ill say it again van Persie wasn’t booked for this incident)!
So you make up your own minds on everything but in reality the refs are Manchester United or Barcelona supporters in disguise and while corrupt governing bodies are in charge who knows what good happen!
So all in all, referees these days need to be properly tested and make sure they stick to the same principles not changing their policies to suit one particular player or club because they may have more money than the other club or might have won more trophies. The next time you see someone get booked in the Camp Nou for kicking the ball away please let me know. To end, some ref’s need to take a long hard look at the way they officiate game because in all honesty it is ruining the game we all appreciate and love dearly.
Thanks to 11Gunners for allowing me to write this and displaying it and Thanks to all those that took their precious time to read it!
Keep Supporting the Gunners and keep the faith through the good and bad times.
Victory through Harmony
James (Find him on Facebook here!)
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Note: If any of you want to share your views/opinions on the club from N5 (read: Arsenal!), leave Us a comment at the bottom. We’ll get back right away & be glad to give you a chance. Keep Gunning..
May 6, 2011 at 9:45 pm
i read your post step by step and i accept it,all what you said are real and this is something we football lovers have to talk about too. UEFA,FIFA and FA’s have their favorite teams. they need to stop all this indirect act and they always come out to us like they are perfect. See for Example the Barca and Madrid second leg match.. All this have to stop from UEFA,FIFA and all other FA’s too.
May 12, 2011 at 9:01 pm
Yeah mate its frustrating but will it ever change? only time will tell
James
May 6, 2011 at 9:54 pm
Seriously, this is ruining football for me. Is there really any point in watching anymore if no one will let us get anywhere? Fact is those teams that get the decisions make the most money for fifa because of all the plastic fans that watch them, and as for us we’re just going to get the sloppy seconds. What pisses me off most is their fans actually think they’re achieving something and if you tell them the truth they take it as whinging. I’m f***ing fed up because it’s just getting more and more obvious and yet it couldn’t be farther from being made a real issue, f***ing ridiculous
May 6, 2011 at 9:56 pm
You can add the second leg vs Arsenal as well.
May 6, 2011 at 9:59 pm
@Arsene-al Yes, absolutely. The longer this continues, the lesser will be our faith towards the beautiful game. CR07 summed it perfectly when he said that Uefa should just hand the Champion’s League to Barcelona henceforth. Same goes for United in the league.
May 6, 2011 at 11:19 pm
Ridiculous assertion that the majority of professional Football officials are making bad decisions. Research by the ESB (European sports Body) shows that football referees get anywaher from 92-97% of their calls correct while players get only 80-83% of their game correct (passes,shots,blocks etc.).
Sure Arsenal and other EPL teams get screwed occasionally by bad decisions but it all evens out in the end. If you actually do referee you’ll know that things happen so quickly that decision making is often very challenging.
When you learn how to do your research, come back Guess gooner!
May 7, 2011 at 9:49 pm
@Mac Now what research does the RvP red require? Or for that matter Vidic’s ‘Superman’ effort to thwart RvP from scoring the other evening?
May 12, 2011 at 10:35 pm
You missed my point Tejaswi Shrivastava………..I never said ref’s don’t make mistakes, but from personal officiating experience in professional and International Football, I can assure you that rarely if ever do referees attempt to influence a game intentionally in favour of one or the other team. The Italian referee in the second leg of the Barca-Arsenal tie was ridiculously severe BUT I am sure he did not intend to blatantly side with Barca….he just made a bad decision,but still a lawful one. Vidic”s handball was very,very difficult to see for both the linesman and the referee as it happened so quickly and RVP was the only one to actually see it close up….a human error….not a crime or intentional bias towards United. Before you come on here and crap all over the officials, try getting in the role of official in front of 60,000 fans and NOT make a few bad calls.Even Colini, the best FIFA referee ever admitted he made at least 4 serious mistakes per game….he was a master at covering them up, that’s all
May 12, 2011 at 9:03 pm
Mac i have not seen the evidence but unfortuanley the 8% of the calls can be the major ones, i lso understand the players have to perform but there are some games where the ref ruins it. I also acknowledge that it happens quickly but they are paid big money to get the calls right and they should do their job properly
May 12, 2011 at 10:41 pm
James, the 8% of bad decisions are a mixed bag as the research I quoted above shows. The Bundesliga did a study many years ago to find out what bad calls that officials made actually influenced the game directly (goal,penalty award, expulsion, etc.) and only 1 in every 89 bad decisions influenced the outcome of the game. Admittedly 1 is too many but we’re only human and until video reviews and goal line technology are fully implemented, we’ll have to live with these conditions.
No money in the world will guarantee 100% perfect decision by every official in every professional or International game…as big bucks doesn’t seem to guarantee 100% perfection from the players!
May 7, 2011 at 3:36 am
Barcelona have received some generous calls in champions league. it is true. however the pepe redcard isnt one of them. his studs were showing and it was a bad tackle, even though alves wasnt touched.
We have received some generous penalties and red cards this year as well. and some generous decisions were not given against us, like szczesny in the carling cup, the lee bowyer offside in the carling cup, the messi offside..so at the end, it ends up being equal
man utd have benefited from generous calls in the past also. and they do have that fergie time. however last games, the calls were even, maybe vidic could have seen red, but clichy tried his best to do an eboue..so even out
May 7, 2011 at 10:03 pm
@Jhoudini Fair play.
May 7, 2011 at 4:07 am
Your absolutely right mate!
The refs do seem 2be Man U or Barca fanz in disguise n da kind of decisions we seen especially dis season has been atrocious! Sumfin serious needz 2be done bout dese fings coz soon enuff it will cmpletely destroy the game dis country love and unite for so much.
And the whole racism fing,u definately hit home,not saying its entirely true,but u certainly can’t rule it out either I fink der are huge elements of racism and prejudice involved,I personally fink da refs get tipped 2do certain fings n dey do it happily,end of the day why shouldn’t they make an extra £10k to penalize a team full of playerz hu get £100k a week and give da favoured team advantage-its nuffin 4dem 2lose right coz no1 cn reli say nefing 2refs and not get fined or banned…corrupted-completely corrupted.the guyz at the top give more importance 2da refs than da actual beauty and excitement in the volatility of the game.
However,we have da same problem,just like dis fukin political system dat rip us off n steal everyfing of us,so too do the ‘FA-government’.
May 7, 2011 at 10:04 pm
@Sol Agree with eveyy word you say mate.
May 12, 2011 at 9:04 pm
Well said mate!!
May 7, 2011 at 9:50 pm
And who doesn´t like seeing a team that isn´t likely to win the Champins league in the beginning of the season go on to surprise everybody and win it, like Marseille in ´93, Dortmund in ´97, Porto in ´04 and Liverpool in ´05. When its constantly the same big clubs that go on into the finals and win the sport starts loosing so much of the charm that we can all agree is a big reason why we love it so much.
May 7, 2011 at 10:06 pm
@Dante Its not just about the big clubs making it through to the finals; its also about how they got there.
May 12, 2011 at 9:05 pm
From a neutral point of view its about the game being played fairly by the players, coaches and officials and then destiny will take over
May 10, 2011 at 3:18 pm
I am still proud to be a Gooner, but I am hurting. I just have to keep the faith for one more season. Hopefully the players in the off season will go back to choke street and find all the BMT they left there.
May 10, 2011 at 8:16 pm
@Cale Amen to that mate
May 12, 2011 at 9:07 pm
Whether we win a trophy or not next season you stand by the team, true arsenal fans dont only support the team while they win, your there through the glory and non glory days
May 12, 2011 at 9:07 pm
I also understand your hurt, it has been a disappointing season but im still proud to say im a gooner
May 10, 2011 at 8:18 pm
[...] their worst for us (never against our oppositions), and lastly how we play the game beautifully (and not cheat occasionally to get the job done). A bagful of reason to keep the faith I [...]