Arsene Wenger stayed relatively diplomatic on the penalty incident that infuriated his opposite number Tony Pulis during last night’s 2-0 win over West Brom.
Shkodran Mustafi clearly slid in and took the legs from underneath Jay Rodriguez, but referee Bobby Madeley played an advantage, from which the Baggies almost scored – only a great save from Petr Cech denied them the goal.
Afterwards, the Arsenal manager was asked about the incident, and said, “The referee left the advantage and they nearly scored from that, they hit the post and I think the decision is defendable on both sides had he given a penalty or not.
“He left the advantage, if he gives a penalty and doesn’t give the advantage and they miss the penalty then you say why did he not leave the advantage, it’s this kind of situation.”
His view was not shared by the West Brom manager, who insisted the referee had got it wrong.
“Jay is very honest and does not get rewarded,” he said. “Everyone saw what happened. Sanchez actually dives for the first free-kick and he should be booked for diving.
“Then you see the tackle in the box. The referee had a great view. Everyone has seen it and can make their minds up.
“It’s not only a foul but the player can be sent off as well. It can be a penalty and playing against 10 men but let’s forget about the referee.”
To be fair, it’s easy to see where he’s coming from on this one. However, it’s also very easy to laugh at Tony Pulis, so while we hope someone has a quiet word with Mustafi about his stupid sliding, we’ll just chuckle away to ourselves here.
Breaking news: The Sky is Blue. Cap wearing knobhead.
A man with a seven figure salary that wears a tracksuit and baseball cap to work… His opinion means nothing to me.
Why would you thumb down that, track suits are for the laziest people, people whom have given up on caring about life. Unless your a footballer training.
…or James/Gunnerblog
Def penalty, but if Rodriguez scores, the ref is lauded as a genius for playing that advantage. What a great save by Cech btw, not getting enough credit for it.
Foul, advantage, clear goalscoring opportunity, oh you missed, in that case come back and have another go from the penalty spot. That’s not how it works Pulis, dry your eyes.
We were lucky there, breaking westbrom down after that would’ve been a job and a half. Tbf if the shoe was on the other foot, the comment section on the match report would have gone through the roof. We’ve been on the receiving end of these cock ups a lot more than others so it was nice to be blessed for a change. It all evens out at the end though so be sure to be ready when ref phuks it up again but not to our advantage.
Quite happy about the application of the rule last night BUT I do feel that the advantage rule needs to be extended to be more like Rugby where the penalty/free kick can be awarded anytime until the passage of play ends and the outcome of any advantage can be seen. We’ve suffered this season already through refs blowing up immediately and not assessing advantage. We also saw last night that Madley was stopping play but then not booking players for late fouls; refs must let play go and then go back to penalise foul play. If play is stopped without… Read more »
The ref spent the rest of the half making it up to West Brom with some v questionable decisions after 40 mins. Happens though
All I care about is that nob going to bed with elevated blood pressure courtesy of the red army. Hopefully bringing him and his brand of non football closer to retirement.
Precisely my though. It was a clear penalty, no doubt about it but since it’s Pulis the barbarian, he can fuck off hopping like a bunny in a smelly tracksuit.
I dont like the idea of mustafi being in the centre of defence.. Should swap places with koss!
He should swap places with Mert!
Neither of you mentioned how isolated Mustafi was in that situation (Just look at the picture). Elneny and xhaka both were terrible in their positioning all game.
Yeah but he absolutely does not need to make the challenge. It would have been a ridiculous goal on his wrong foot. All he has to do is stand him up. It’s so basic.
Starting to udnerstand why we wanted to ship him to Inter… but of course it was all too fucking late. Do that business early, typical Wenger fashion trying to spin 50 plates at the same time. If we had a director of football he’d be gone and we would’ve had a Van Dijk or someone… Then again who knows what the hell our finances are- but a Mustafi sale early on might’ve financed that…. Could’ve should’ve Wenger is here for another 2 years. No point is Wenger-outing, lets just hope he plays the right players in the right games from… Read more »
Lol Mustafi transfer would have helped financed a VVD transfer. What world do you live in?
I do seem to recall that this is just what Kos used to do in previous years – he needs to have a word with Mus.
Kos was the one out of position. He had moved to wingback.
True. Putting Kos on the right hand side of the Central Defense must be straining his Achillies. He is more of an organizer and being the Boss i feel much more safe/comfortable with Kos as the last line of defense.
It was poor from Mustafi but I think the ref still might have given the penalty even after the first miss. But the advantage, Shirley, includes the rebound however when the West Brom guy missed a wide open net. They should have scored, and the ref’s decision was fine.
That’s right, and don’t call me Shirley.
Looks like Pulis picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.
Pulis has quit sniffing glue? What’s he on these days then?
I understand the decision but incidents like these will encourage more players to exaggerate contact/fouls.
Plus if the shot and the rebound had went in, Pulis would have been praising the advantage. Not sure about the possible red card though.
Red card though? He’s having a laugh on that one. Maybe he forgot that prior to last season the rules changed. Foul by last man leading to a penalty is no longer punishable by red card, as long as it is unintentional i.e player goes for ball.
I think proper use of advantage would discourage play acting – try for the goal if you can but get the penalty if the advantage didn’t work.
I agree it would be a nice idea. But I doubt refs could implement it properly. They barely ever give fouls when players stay on their feet, so doubt they would often play advantage where the player stays on his feet either.
In my opinion, one of the worst aspects of refereeing is that you’ve got to go down to get a foul.
Every club gets robbed by the ref at some point so shut up you stupid orc…we had two penalty shouts turned down so get over it..hate that flipping man, such a knob. His hatred for Wenger and arsenal is so pleasing to watch. I think he hates us more than the spuds do! Haha
The truth is Mustafi is a liability and that was a penalty without a doubt. We got lucky and we should all be happy about it. Wenger has just tried to be extremely diplomatic about the entire thing. The other thing that was a bit worrying for me was the way Sanchez played. Although he is always known for slowing up the play with some sloppy passing or by over running with the ball at times.. things like not giving two fucks at all can never be accepted. Showboating is something that cannot be tolerated in a professional football game.… Read more »
Yes, why bothering with the best PL creator! Creation and cleverness are over-estimated! Headless chickens know about football!
I don’t see a problem with showboating, displaying mad skills, it’s entertaining and we pay too much to see only goals. I’d love to see more mad skills but only after the game is made super safe. It kills the morale of the opposition even more.
Yes, but Sanchez did it when we were just one goal up and lost possession in the process. That was just stupid and showed lack of respect to his oppositions.
Personally for me.. never had a problem with both of them as players.. but showboating in a football game.. is just classless.. and to me it just lets down the values we hold as a club..
Mustafi must be good at sliding into peoples DM
That win streak we had with Mustafi in the side tinted everybodys glasses for a while.
Not to say he isn’t decent but he is not this great defender he is cracked up to be
Pulis says he’s not going to criticise the ref, then spends 5 minutes doing so, hilarious. Yes, West Brom should definitely have been given a penalty, but then Arsenal could have been given two in the first half, one a push (by Nyom, no change there) on Monreal and a shirt pull on Sanchez. Both mentioned by the commentator on Sky Sports at the time, but not Henry & Carragher. Why not get Celebrity ref Gallagher to review those decisions too? Then in the 2nd half, Dawson could easily have gone for a 2nd yellow card offence. Clearly his 2nd… Read more »
Absolutely spot on what you say, appalling post match coverage by sky with obvious bias. Surprised nobody else on here (and arseblog himself) hasn’t mentioned this. I wrote in to sky to ask why at half time and post match analysis they spent whole time looking over mustafi pen or non pen decision, I wasn’t seeking an answer just letting them know that not everybody takes their bullshit for gospel. Good post by yourself.cheers flashman71.
Was it just me or was it not a clear foul on Monreal by Nyom in the opposite box? Also not given and not protested by Monreal.
Pulis said 3-4 times in that interview that he doesn’t want to talk about the ref…but he still did!
It’s because he’s a twat
Erm, isn’t the new rule that if you make a genuine attempt to win the ball that it’s not a red card if a penalty is given?
Yes that’s the new law. Shocking when PL managers still don’t know the LOTG.
eat shit Pulis! it was definitely a penalty though. referees shouldn’t give advantage inside the box.
The Ref didnt play an advantage….. he gave no indication that he had seen the incident and allowed play to go on…. so he clearly thought “No Foul” and I concur……
Of course it was a clear penalty but so was the shirt pull on Alexis which evens it out.
And the pull on Monreal by Nyom was a clear penalty as well.
Pulls clearly isn’t considering that Cech is statistically due to save his next 10 penalties. So let’s just let bygones be bygones.
Love me some salty Pulis tears!
why is everyone slating mustafi that he is shit, he is a good defnder yes he made a mistake yes he often ludges in tackles that are not neccery but the guy is 24 he has lot to learn kos was shit in the first 2 years at the club he made mistakes more often then mustafi look at him now. Mustafi had a really good game vs chelsea and of his best there is a player in him, he will come good like kos. And the reason i think wenger plays mystafi in center of 3 and kos as… Read more »
And i don’t give shit about pulis, how many times we are rewarded with penalty and how many penalties were rewarded vs us last season 10+ which half of them were not penalties.
The Xhaka one against Stoke springs to mind.
Why dont the Emirates supply a bin for the visiting managers like Pulis, so they can chuck their slime/ bile infested pieces of chewing gum refuse into it, instead on the hallowed turf?
I remember a couple of years ago.
Mulumbu fouling Wilshere at WBA in the surface. Penalty not given.
Pulis defending Shawcross after the horrendous Ramsey leg break.
Obviously the media is more interested in any tiny Arsenal flaw.
What of the penalty claims at Stoke? Fake news, possibly?
The pattern is there: other top teams have poetic license.
But the nitpicking of the Arsenal by idiot pundits goes on.
Far more talk about one penalty not given yesterday…
Than the multiple shouts for penalty at Stoke.
Screw them all, starting with Carragher.
Why no mention of the two other stonewall penalties that were not given to Arsenal and as for the comments about Sanchez,having someone shove you in the chest as you’re running by them will tend to throw you off balance perhaps pulis should watch video before bleating
Laughing at Tony Pulis is always fun. They probably did deserve the penalty, and while the referee made a decision in the moment, it was the incorrect one. Mustafi was lucky there, and he had a pretty awful first half. That slide was the highest profile mistake he made in the half, but it wasn’t the only one. He was constantly out of position, looked lost when marking on crosses, and made a load of bad passes. Our right was left wide open when Hector bombed forward, because Kos had to fill in for an absent Mustafi and play two… Read more »
That’s very stupid sliding tackle!!! There was anointed situation which Mustafi should come to back up for Koscielny, but he waited too long, then sliding again!!!
As NWA once said “fuck da Pulise”
Not sure what all the fuss is all about.
Ref afforded advantage and Rodriguez to his credit was honest.
Can’t afford a penalty thereafter.
Mustafi should be aware not to dive in.
That said, he has been excellent in recent games which is why he plays in sweeper.
Remember Koscielny had a slew of red cards own goals and penalties conceded first season.
He just has to cut out this part of his game otherwise he makes very good intercepts and clearances for us.
…And Pulis should have done time and had his driving lisence revoked for being caught at almost twice the speed limit.
Sometime Juice does happen, Tony
Justice doesn’t. Bloody autocorrect
Petulant children aside, Mustafi has got to learn to stop diving in like this.