Arsene Wenger says he’s not pleased with the quality of officiating in the Premier League this season but admits there’s little point complaining because he’ll just come across as selfish.
The Gunners have been awarded just two penalties this season (away at West Brom and Villa) – the same as Newcastle, Aston Villa, West Brom and Liverpool – and are the only team in the top flight not to have secured a spot-kick at home. In contrast league leaders Leicester have had ten penalties awarded, seven of which they’ve converted.
“That’s a good question,” said Wenger in his pre-Crystal Palace press conference, when asked about the standard of refereeing this campaign.
“Personally, I’ve not been especially happy with what’s happened this season for us, but I’m not a specialist of judging referees.
“I do not want to go into too much detail because people will say it’s a selfish point of view. Most of the time that’s the case because managers look at their own team and not at the overall situation.
A long-standing supporter of using technology to aid the lot of officials, Wenger made clear that, while mistakes are inevitable, consistency on a week-by-week basis can still be improved.
“You ask any of the 20 managers that [whether they are happy with referees] today and you will get the same response where they talk about this game and that game.
“You have to accept that the referees make mistakes. I believe we have to give them more support with more technology in the future, especially for the offsides.
“We also have to treat them as professionals, which means responsible people who have to make decisions that are not especially linked with emotional situations.”
On the issue of being awarded only two penalties all season, he said: “That’s much less than many other teams. Honestly, I have not analysed that deeply enough to give you an objective opinion.
“Yes [Leicester have been awarded ten penalties]. What can I do about that?”
For the record, here [via Statbunker] is the Premier League’s current penalty league table.
If Wenger isn’t a specialist in judging referees then what exactly is he a specialist in?
I think this is more of a bigger picture scenario from Arsene than a “Woe is us” sort of thing.
It’s an interesting table in this article. I don’t know how many of the converted penalties have contributed to wins but say Leicester got 21 extra points from 7 penalties, the league could be very different indeed.
It’s also very interesting/likely coincidental that the top 3 beneficiaries of penalties this season are our nearest and not dearest rivals.
We’d still find a way of finishing 4th of course 😉
One of those penalties was at the emirates and they lost so not worth 21 points.
I think this is likely one of those random things in that some years a team gets more pens than in other years. More luck than a great conspiracy.
The other thing is that you would expect the teams at the top to get more penalties because they tend to spend more time attacking.
There had to be at least one numpty who brought this dumb thing up..
He is a money transfer specialist. For a small fee of 8 million p.a. he will take your 70million ‘warchest’ and make it disappear into thin air without a trace, never to be seen again.
Ah! Of course. It’s the fault of the refs that they’ve blown the best chance in years to win the league. That’s a relief. Before I was enlightened by Arsene here, I thought it may have been due to the fact they’ve been consistently tactically wanting, regularly dropped points in games they should have won, and sat on massive piles of cash when the team could have been subject to some investment. Cheers to Arsene for clearing that up.
please, kindly point me to where in the article Wenger blames the refs for blowing “the best chance in years to win the league”. I think I missed it.
Did you even read the article?
Did you read the article before commenting?
Just to point out, he’s not blaming the referees for us not winning the title, he’s saying he isn’t happy with the quality of the officiating. How many of us can disagree with that?
And half of Lecsiter penalties were not penalties and are favored from officials, also few offside calls not called which LC scored from them. We that said I’m not saying they don’t deserve to win the title. But clearly without those bad calls I wonder were would LC be know.
The 1st half season of good luck from the refs has given Leicester the confidence to play above their level for the rest of the season.
Although I still can’t work out how Huth doesn’t give away 2 penalties every game…
Absolutely! It’s consistently inconsistent and usually below par. In fact shockingly bad at times. Top ref? That fabulous Italian guy, bald and he retired a couple of years back. Did all the big European games…. Cappelo?
I’m more unhappy with him accepting 3rd or 4th place as success. Referees are beyond our control. He can instill tactical discipline and desire in his team. Sadly found wanting yet again His reaction to Barcelona defeat was how good their front 3 were. Atletico? Hmmm I somehow doubt they just think wow you guys are great we’ve no chance. No they worked their tales off for each other and their manager fought for every ball. We didn’t. We lost as soon as we saw the draw. i bet they saw it as a real challenge to go toe to… Read more »
Wasn’t one of the penalties at West Brom, not Stoke?
Wenger should stop blaming referees and asking for penalties.
The number of goals scored by most teams this season puts him to shame.
Wenger out please.
He has no reason to be talking after being embarassed by a young spuds team and a recently upgraded leicester team
We won’t be getting penalties at home, because we don’t often make runs into the box…..
And, we’re not cheaty like vardy
We have the ball on the ground in the oppositions box more often than most other teams although not often enough close to goal.
What I’d really like to see is the number of stone wall penalties each team has been denied… we’ve had probably about 7-8 we should have had that weren’t given.
That’s a big loss in terms of potential points, and I’m pretty sure our rivals haven’t been hit as hard. That’s probably enough of a swing to seriously skew the outcome of the title.
That’s not to say we shouldn’t have done better irrespective, but it certainly warrants looking at and using technology to assist.
I fully agree with you StuckInTheWire…, and I would like to know how many times have our heads collectively dropped after we have not been awarded a stonewall pen?
We really ought to have the mental strength to deal with this kind of thing but sadly it is obvious that we really don’t.
How much of a difference would it have made had they been given?
On the other hand how many have we got away with?
Not getting the ‘stonewall’ penalty alone isn’t the issue. It’s when the ref is allowing the opposition to kick seven shades of shit out of you and then to rub your nose in it, he then ignores a ‘stonewall’ penalty for you.
Refs have been allowing teams to perform crosses, frees and corner kicks on us all season! It’s a dangerous practice and needs to be stamped out by the FA immediately
Love the “specialist in judging referees” jibe at mourinho.
But overall 🙂
I hear that attacking the refs is unfair, and complaining without evidence is wrong. Well here is evidence:
http://metro.co.uk/2016/02/19/stats-show-arsenal-would-top-premier-league-if-video-replays-were-in-use-5706207/
Bang, I can complain all I want now. FA and PL refs, you can go screw yourself.
Off topic, but having listened to the Arsecast and Blogs saying “warm milk on Weetabix” and considering his previous “not butter on toast with jam” thoughts, I am seriously worried about his culinary views! 🙂