Thursday, December 19, 2024

Wenger: Every season the refereeing gets worse

Arsene Wenger hit out at the officials after Manchester City twice benefitted from questionable decisions as they beat Arsenal 3-1 at the Etihad.

Referee Michael Oliver incensed the Gunners when he pointed to the spot after Nacho Monreal took down Raheem Sterling in the box just after the break. A failure to flag David Silva in the build-up to Gabriel Jesus’ goal on 74 minutes caused further controversy coming, as it did, at a time when the visitors were pushing for an equaliser.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the game Wenger said: “I would say, overall, once again the referee made the decision today with a soft penalty and an offside goal. We are used to it. Last year we had two offside goals against us and now once again.

“I feel they don’t work enough. The referees don’t work enough, their levels drop every season at the moment. Overall, it’s unacceptable what happens.

“The physical level is very good, the decisions…the third goal, at 2-1 we are in the game, but he gives a clear offside goal. That kills the game for us. Last year, if you look back, we conceded two offside goals as well. Of course, they are a top team but that makes it even more difficult for you. The decisions were just wrong.

“I think we played quite well against a team that played at a high pace. They looked always dangerous on the counter-attack. We created many dangerous situations and overall, we did fight for the 90 minutes.

“In the first half we were too deep, in the second half we were more in the game. At 2-1 we looked like we might come back to 2-2. 3-1 was a killer.”

On the decision to play Francis Coquelin in the centre of defence, Wenger drew attention to the fact it allowed him to continue playing 3-5-2.

“We are used to playing that system for a long time and he gave us a defensive guarantee. Overall, it wasn’t our basic problem.

On City’s impressive form, Wenger added sarcastically: “They are a good side, the rest…I’ll leave that to the specialists, you have enough on television, super people who can analyse that better than I do.”

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dr Strange

So do you Wenger.

Ricardo

What annoys me is there are so far 1/3 dislikes on this post.

If we defend well, we don’t give the opportunities to the officials to make these decisions. But we are usually caught out and give them opportunities.

Bill

That’s rediculous. If you defend well you leave it to the referee to change the game.

Oberon

That’s stupid what is the point in rules and officiating then? When you play offside it is a defensive tactic idiot. Therefore if an official can give a foul for legitimate defending it doesn’t matter how well you defend because you will always concede.

Ratarsed

You’re the idiot, idiot!

Manninger

The thing about bullying is; if no one calls it out, the victim may start to blame themselves.

We are a self fulfilling, self hating prophecy.

Since game 49, 2004 we have been offered no protection/given nothing in big games. Please RECOGNISE this has become an ENTERTAINMENT feature of the PL.

We are Arsenal.

Stick together behind what is right.

A different George

If you step up so that the attacker is clearly offside, that is good defending. If you make a shoulder-to-shoulder tackle to dispossess the attacker, that is good defending, even if there were mistakes that led to the need for the tackle. The idea that allowing a side like Man City to create chances is a sign of poor defending is ludicrous; of course they will create chances and, for the most part, we prevented those chances from becoming goals–or would have, except for terrible officiating.

Gooooooooonnnnaaaaaaaaa

Referee was shite as usual, but monreal was clumsy on his challenge on sterling and made the decision easy for the ref. It was a 50/50 and we were on the wrong end of it. The second goal was a clear offside, linesman was near and had a clear view, no one was in his way. But the fact that our defence just switched off is such a rookie mistake, in middle school we were taught to always play to the whistle. Typical rookie mistakes as usual costs us yet another away game. It’s 4 points out of 6 away… Read more »

Andy Mack

Shoulder to shoulder isn’t a foul…
That’s why Monreal looks so gob-smacked by the refs decision.

Funny how whenever there’s a shoulder to shoulder challenge in the oppositions box it’s always great defending but in our box it somehow becomes a penalty…

SwissArse

Could not agree more. Monreal has done perfectly alright, if he had not we would also critisize him. Our most reliable player deserves better from the fans.

Pomroy

Yep sterling drags his feet, stops running and therefore CAUSES the contact! It has become a skill/move all attackers must practice like a step over or cryuff turn. To me thats what I see as the key to officiating these decisions – who CAUSES the contact. Sterling gave up on trying to score and hung his leg in front of monreal. So tough on defenders these days

ChrisGoona

Not just in the penalty box either. For the entire 90 the referee was giving strangely similar incidents in favour of Citeh, but punishing us for them. Mr Oliver has always screwed us over, our record under him is atrocious. He is there for all the big games, and he is always there to give our opposition an advantage. If people can judge Ozil as lazy by his body language and facial expressions, I dont see why I can’t conclude that these officials are corrupt. These decisions do no even themselves out. We are seeing the same bias. Maybe the… Read more »

A different George

The play was so clearly offside that not only the Arsenal players, but most of the City players stopped–watch the replay.

clins

“I would say, overall, once again wenger is blaming the referess. We are used to it. Last year he blamed the referees about two goals against us and now once again.

“I feel he don’t work enough. Wenger don’t work enough, the quality of his excuses drop every season at the moment. Overall, it’s unacceptable what happens.

Cannonball

@Clins.. It is not once again Wenger blames the referee.. If you see shit, you’ll call it shit any time of the day. Those referees don’t deserve their job at all. Should have been replaced by robots. Don’t care if they have wife and children to feed.

GoonerJust

Every season, our chance to win the league or win the 4th place thropy get worse

Xstopper

Fucking blind refs

Gunnerjoe

Oddities=corruption

Giroud2ramsey

Does he not do most of the games versus good teams? What it probably says is that we’re mostly shit when the opposition is half decent

Cannonball

Except we were not shit at all!!

Gunnerjoe

Did you actually watch the game or are you getting your match report from the media or have you an anti manager thing going on

ChrisGoona

Corrupt.

A different George

Oliver is obviously not to blame for the offside goal–I don’t think any referee would overrule an assistant on the line, unless he thought he had a better angle than the assistant, which was not the case. That said, I cannot remember an offside decision this bad in the Prem–usually mistakes are made when it is very close, when it is a long ball and therefore difficult for the linesman to see both the passer and the receiver at the moment the ball is played, or when players pass each other in opposite directions at the moment it is played,… Read more »

uhtred

Oh well at least we tried…lovely interlull to look forward to

BigArse

Well at least there is a bit of fight in everyone today, manager included.

santori

Blaming the ref again. Deflecting criticism when there is merit to going hard on the team. Not that it is entirely the team’s fault. Wenger is his own worse enemy. He is the chef who buys the best ingredients for bargain prices but doesn’t know how to put the dish together and inexplicably leaves the most expensive ingredient out. And the “lets no concentrate on defense only”…well you don’t even get the basics right. No one is willing to drum it into the team to play to whistle, track runners or keep the head on a swivel. Instead we protect… Read more »

Jeff

Just go away Wenger!

California Gooner

46 people are deluded! Jeff hit nail on head!

David C

Not sure how you blame Wenger for this one. His tactics were spot on, we lost because of crap ref decisions.

Jimbo Jones

Honestly, you cannot be serious?…. Are people really Arsenal fans who want the club to succeed or just Wenger sychophants?

Football is a sport and by definition competitive and we do not compete ate the level a club of our stature, revenue, and capability should. That is bad management, its not just about this result or referees decisions. The real issue is we seem to think we’ve done well to lose only 3-1

caligunner

I will defend Wenger and have no problems criticizing him. Tactics was good but today. I just didn’t understand the players he decided to use to execute the plan. Why did he use Coq instead of Elneny as the CB? Thats where he’s been playing with the B team, both played the full game this past thursday and ME brings more going forward.

OF course why not use Laca instead of Iwobi? I will never understand that decision.

Compete? City are at a different financial level then us ccurrently. Stature doesn’t matter only money. City is far ahead of us.

Jeff

His tactics were spot on? He played coquelin in a back three, the man receiving the ball from Cech, against one of the best teams in Europe at playing a high pressing game. Coquelin mate, not Cazorla. Tactics spot on, dear god!

Joythah

Their decisions are becoming more ridiculous every day… Can’t fault the lads today. They gave their all against a superior team. Now we must beat spurs to keep in touch with 2nd place battle

Avneet

4th place battle looks more realistic tbh

California Gooner

You mean 5th place battle

clins

definitely the 5th

Comedian

They gave their all by playing like dumbwits? Play to the whistle. If we had given our all we would have seen it today. Taking half a stride to press then pause aint giving it all. Well the excuses also turns piss me off more every following year Arsene. Pep took just one year to sort out his team you had 20 years to build on one philosophy which shouldnot change yearly thats not vision and that really aint beneficial to the players. Today it wasnt ivan or kroenke at fault bar Xhaka it was his choice of players who… Read more »

caligunner

Lol you give any good manager net 200M to sort out a problem usually they will find or buy solutions.

He\'s got no hair but we don\'t care...

Hahaha…beat spurs. Oh, now that will keep me laughing into next week. Tell you what, let’s play Xhaka in central defence against them, we’ll have Kane pooping his pants….beat spurs…

Assshavin

Its crazy to think that someone working in such a high position as a linesman in the richest football league in the world, didnt spot that offside. Sometimes its okay, that if a linesman is in doubt, they will give the advantage to the attacker, but come on Silva was a whole body offside. Makes absolutely no sense whatsoever that he didnt spot that. He was even in a favorable position.

Greg

You aren’t even telling the truth here. It’s half a body and at great speed with the defender about 10 yards away

To say that is easy is ridiculous. You’ve seen it slowed down numerous times. Well done you

The players not playing to the whistle should be more concerning

ScotchEggsRule

Rubbish. I spotted it in real time.

Greg

Of course you did I would expect nothing less. I bet you get every decision right too

Pakgooner

Greg it would’ve been impossible if you didn’t spot it mate. Silva came in behind the defense line and was there for a whole second when our hands went up. THe dump I took today in the morning looks better than that shite referee can’t officiate a match for the life of him and his cunty linesman

BringBackSeaman

So did all the arsenal defence, the crowed and the people watching at home.

caligunner

Thats his job lol

Miguel G Fernandez

He was so off thsy he was angry at whomever psssed him the ball for the lateness.

ChrisGoona

“Great speed”… that is complete rubbish. Everyone could see that was offside in real-time. These are highly paid professionals who are still making basic errors. Again, Arsenal have lost another big game to incorrect decisions. How many times does this have to happen before people wake up? Leave your Wenger agenda aside, leave aside your gripes with team selection, Arsenal get at least a point from this game had the officials did their jobs properly. The Premier League makes billions, the TV companies pay billions, and some clubs throw around billions willingly. You telling me we have to accept inept… Read more »

A different George

I don’t want to repost what I said earlier, but you are quite wrong: this was as easy an offside decision as ever occurs. Everyone including most of the City players assumed it was offside–they stopped playing too.

Arsenal til I Die

Especially when it leads directly to a goal and effectively kills the match. Fuck off, refs. Bring me sideline technology!

ClockEndRider

How interesting is it that Sky showed the imaginary offside line clip twice. Both times it showed that the City player was offside. Both times the commentary team stated it was inside, clearly going against the visible evidence. Defies belief.

Don Cazorleone

@ClockEndRider THIS was what bothered me more than anything. Football pains me so much at the moment.

Xxxrob

As bad as the decision was that whole phase of play was caused by Sanchez and his fucken stupid dribbling. All he needs to do is pass the ball back to Cech as Sterling starts to press and the opportunity never even transpires. Pointing this out because we’re all focused on the decision (rightfully) but it was so AVOIDABLE.

A different George

Almost every goal is caused by a series of small or large errors; yes Alexis made a mistake, but then we made that error harmless by playing Silva offside.

Cannonball

@ClockEndRider Exactly! I am a foreign fan, and everytime I hear their bullshits on TV, I seriously want to cancel my plan. Arsenal is always abused by the pundits, even when the game hasn’t started, they always glorify other manager and speak horribly about Wenger. In the game, they always talk about nonsense shit like how they tried to justify Alonso challenge on Bellerin last season, which led to the goal.
It is like they really want Arsene to be fired, so they have more stories to talk about. The media is really disgustingly classless.

Nelson

Exactly the argument he is going for the ball so it’s ok to knock your opponent unconscious is so outrageous.

I always say how is it any different to scoring a goal using a 2 foot studs up lunge that breakers a defenders leg while they score shuts people up

ChrisGoona

Sky eh… they got no integrity. None of these TV companies do. They employ dimwits to push their narratives. They promote betting ads non-stop and mess with our fixtures to accommodate their profits. Sky even promotes Sky Bet. This is a frickin news company that can manipulate bets. Talk about conflict of interest. Football has sold out. We need better regulation and to get football back to being a sport.

gooner1981

I don’t know why the Bundesliga and Seria A have video replays and the so-called ‘best league in the world’ doesn’t. Surely the offside would have been given in a video replay. As for the penalty, I think it’s utter nonsense that it was given. Arsenal players get robust and make a fair challenge, and it’s a penalty. Arsenal players get mauled and manhandled and fouled, and it’s a contact sport and we need to ‘man’ up. We could have salvaged a draw at 2-1, at 3-1 it was game over.

Nelson

But it would ruin the games momentum they say.

Na mate if a goals been scored and there is a hint of offside review it whilst there celebrating them it’s just a case of wether the play starts from the offside point or from kick off

Mohamed Jalloh

I don’t think Arsenal will qualify for 4th place, for two reasons-
1.One of the teams that suffered the most injuries in any season
2. Referees hate Arsenal (Dean)

Lord Bendnter

For me, leaving Lacazette on the bench shows Wenger, like the referees, is getting worse every year.

Rob67

This ^^^^^^?

santori

Protecting ozil is the other side of the coin. I have my qualms about going to the back 4 but at very least with the fullbacks less engaged going forward, we needed two up top to work together in Alexis AND Lacazette. then either of Ozil or Ramsey. I prefer the Welsh man given task to dirft in through the middle on point of midfield diamond in between the two strikers. There simply is no coherence to the selection. If Iwobi and Coquelin are patrolling with Granit, then either of them MUST also be tasked to track runners. no one… Read more »

Julio Baptista\'s humble alter ego

to me (in hindsight it’s always much easier to comment) Lacazette in place of Sanchez would have worked. For all people’s gripes about Iwobi and Ramsey, they combined for the goal, and they both put in a shift. The number of times Sanchez gave the ball away, makes you think he’s forgotten he hasn’t yet signed for them!

ramgooner

I can’t blame the manager really. If we go toe to toe and lose by a big margin a’la Bayern then he will get hammered. If we go toe to toe and win like we did against Chelsea and United at home then we are the best thing since sliced bread. If we set up defensively against City and win like we did a couple of year back then that is the best formula to beat a big team away. If we set up defensively and sacrifice a striker for a defensive midfielder then the manager is deluded. Everything is… Read more »

clins

In a matter of minutes lacazette showed wenger how wrong his decisions are. ozil should’ve been benched today . lacazette did more than ozil did in the entire match . i could even see iwobi playing well , and ramsey for all his hate had one good shot and an assist. against better opposition ozil just aint good enough without any bias

Godfrey Twatsloch

Same goes for Giroud who should have been sent on much sooner. I mean for fucks sake, we all know the difference he can make, especially in situations like yesterday, so give him the maximum amount of time to do what he does.

Not diminishing Citeh as a team, they are awesome, but they didn’t look unbeatable to me. We could have taken them yesterday and not be 6th in the league and 4 points behind the fucking Spuds.

Wasted opportunity!

Shank

Yes BigArse……a sensible comment.
Shit decisions affect every team from time to time……we are just in a shitty run of them right now.
But we’re we trying? Yes.
We’re we far off City? No.

ShiteManager

Fuck off Arsene, you were the deciding factor here and you were the deciding factor at Liverpool and every other time your team selection has cost us.

Mike

So does your management Arsene and you get £10 million a year!

Aleksander Włodarz

fuck you Oliver

Rob67

Unlucky with the third. But he can’t moan at the pen. Sterling knew just what he was doing and Monreal obliged.

Arsenal1

Yes he dived.

Andy Mack

A fair shoulder to shoulder tackle that would have been lorded as a great tackle if any other team had done it. Monreal couldn’t have thought that a foul in a million games.

Maciek

So does Arsenal.

AGunner

The referee made some appalling decisions. So many little fouls given to City while we just got told to play on. Penalty was as soft as they come and how on earth they couldn’t see that offside is baffling. Sheikh Mansour must’ve paid them some good money for that refereeing performance. Worst part is, it’ll distract from the wrong team selection and performance from Arsene and the players. Coq was a shambles, literally lumped the ball up soon as he wins it just for City to come and attack again. Why couldn’t we go for 4-4-2 for one game if… Read more »

santori

Don’t blame the Ref.

He did OK.

Play to the whistle.

Don’t make silly challenges in the box, trust your keeper.

Basic errors by experienced players who ought to know better but are shielded by the manager.

Some have protected status like Ozil.

None of this helps us confront the glaring (and frankly easily rectifiable) issues.

Wengerthegoat

How many chances did Aguero have whole game? Coq man marking him was the right tactic

AGunner

It doesn’t matter, city have scored something silly like 50 goals this season, how many has Aguero got from them? Coq at CB was a ridiculous decision! Play 4 at the back with Kos & Monreal as CBs, and have Coq in front if he is to play. How can you take such a gamble against a big team? It’s mind boggling.

Julio Baptista\'s humble alter ego

But it actually worked…. shocking refereeing decisions aside, we were 1-0 down to a goal that was pure quality more than anything. I can take De Bruyne’s goal. It’s the rest that was bollocks.

Wengerthegoat

You’re dumb. Football is far too intellectual for you.

Mark

It would be good for managers to go through a referee training course and then referee some youth matches or something themselves. Yes, the refs are at the top of their profession, but it is a tough job making split second decisions in such a high speed game. Oliver is usually very good and for the offside calls made or missed it is such a split second thing with players often going in different directions that it’s easy to be critical of a decision after it is made and you can watch in slow motion replay, but in real time… Read more »

ScotchEggsRule

There’s no excuse for incompetence, in any role.

Andy Mack

But it was the refs wrong decisions that changed the scoreline from 1-1 to 3-1.

ritabhash

Michael Oliver can rot in Jose’s basement dungeon with Mike Dean and Jon Moss

Andy Mack

With Mason and Atkinson, or is Oliver somehow replacing them?

Avneet

We did not lost the game due to the referee (Yes it was offside). We had fair bit of luck to only lose by 2 goals; astonishing that Wenger doesn’t think that way.

Andy Mack

The best team doesn’t always win.
In this case the best team would have got a home draw if the officials had made the correct decisions.
So that’s why so many people think that way…

Alexstratz

[Conspiracy] The FA don’t want video refereeing so they can make a new invincible golden team and promote their toy in the CL, all while the oil owners toy with football.[/Conspiracy]

I\'m Professor Ignorance, on this subject

Sad thing is Oliver is one of the better refs in the Prem. Him and his crew had a bad game today. The Sterling penalty wasn’t the worst decision in the world, because we all know Sterling is going to dive and exaggerate any contact to con the ref, and he succeeded in fooling him this time. That said, shut the fuck up about the refs, Arsene. Take some responsibility for the outcome. Ozil creates chances but doesn’t put them away. Lacazette puts away chances. All the big talk about taking the game to City, and then the team trots… Read more »

nimble foot

First goal was avoidable but that said, we were absolutely robbed in broad daylight. Penalty was highly debatable. How many times have we seen Eric Baily execute that kind of shoulder to shoulder tackle and get away with it? Why does Nacho have to be penalised?
I was still cool after that but I totally lost my shit when the offside was not called on the Gabriel Jesus goal. Shit refereeing. Boys did good IMO

Jammyman

I would normally agree with you, but the defence just stops, which is unforgivable. You have to play to the whistle in this kind of scenario, regardless of whether it is offside or not. Keep playing til the whistle is blown. Having said that, I thought the penalty was extremely soft.

BringBackSeaman

Say what you will of Wenger, and regardless of what you think of the rest of our performance, he is right about the Refs.

Vedant

Isnt it hypocrisy when you spot mistakes in others but can’t see yours? Referees aren’t paid as much as Wenger.

lettra

He is right you know..

So I’m guessing he will receive a 2 game ban for bringing the game into disrepute.
While the nutters who actually are doing it get away with not even a slap on the wrist… and moneybags city get all the points ..
Justice.

Gonnerchriz

Even I could see that offside 1000 miles away, dont blame the refs f*ck that if they are to blame for a mistake, they are to blame ffs

Edzo

Football is a pretty simple game. The team with better players usually wins. You get top players by spending money. Then paying these players more money than they can make at other teams enables you to keep them. Until we spend 200 million every summer and pay 300k per week we will never win the league. The team was good today. The refs were awful. Debatable pk and then the third goal both Silva and jesus were offside. But unless there are injuries city will win the league and everyone will talk about how great pep is and Wenger should… Read more »

Andy Mack

Whilst your main point is correct that the best players playing as a team usually win, having the best players when they don’t play as a team can mean they don’t win. Our neighbours played a much more expensive team on Wednesday and got a few refs decisions for them and won. We played a much more expensive team today and had the decisions go against us and lost…

nimble foot

Much more expensive than city’s team? They’re the most expensive team in Europe.

Fireman Sam

They just pulled our players over whenever they got the ball. Ref gives a foul but it’s broken up our attack every time. Constant niggling fouls. Reminds me of how Maureen sides play.

Thought we played ok but without enough physicality or willingness to fight dirty in the end. I agree with what most of Wenger said. Shocking off side.

Greg

Deflection deflection deflection

Quite happy when they go for us.

We were poor. City never put their foot down. Toyed with us and Silva bouncing ozil on his arse at the end was very funny

ScotchEggsRule

Your comment’s funny too. Its like ypu think youre a football person, but it’s clear you know fuck all about the game.

FYI kid, they rarely go for us. Check the end of season football table (with correct decisions) we’re ALWAYS several places higher.

Greg

I’ll bow to your clear greater knowledge about the game

Keep making your excuses, always the victim it’s never our fault

ramgooner

@Scotcheggsrule
I think they should make the fair play table every week to put things in perspective. Maybe then there will be minimal bias. Referees are after all humans like players and I accept bad decisions but a consistent bias against a team is unacceptable. I feel a weekly review and fair play table system will be a good start.

Jim

For once I agree. How do you miss an offside call that badly when the grass changes color right where it happened. Oliver was just atrocious too!

SB Still

I fully agree that the referee played a decisive role. However, we couldn’t handle the high press and quite lucky that they didn’t score more in the first half.

Also in trying to accommodate two super stars, Wenger sacrificed a potent weapon.

We are far from the well oiled machine that Wenger often manages to drill them into.

Ricardo

When you coach your players to defend properly and stay focused EVERY. SINGLE. GAME, you then DO NOT give the opportunities for the officials to screw up.

The calls were marginal, but the team’s overall stupidity gave the officials the opportunity.

ScotchEggsRule

You’re either offside or not. Nothing marginal about it , Silva WAS offside. The only c*nt that didn’t see it was the person paid to.

Ricardo

Why was Silva running free and no one tracking him?

Why was Jesus running towards the goal to score the goal and no one tracking him?

Arsenal stopped playing and kept their hands up even after Silva touched the ball.

Andy Mack

Does that somehow mean he wasn’t offside…

PVS

Well, silva was running free because the defence was playing him offside

Jeff

You are right, I remember a Lacazatte goal ruled offside a while back, And it was only his foot off. Two city guys were off and the cunt of a linesman standing behind them choose not to call it

California Gooner

Yeah, Arsene it was the refs that picked your lineup! You don’t have it anymore! You ARE ruining your legacy! #Wengerout

crazy gunner

Please we didn’t lose from bad refereing today the better team won period

If anything wenger should be upset from his players who stopped playing

The truth is that even with the bad refereeing if we hadn’t stopped playing we may have been able to prevent the goal…thats school football stuff!..

Andy Mack

Does that mean that the penalty that wasn’t a penalty and the offside were the players fault?
We didn’t win because of the players, we didn’t get a draw because of the ref.

Glocken

Using the refs to disguise his own shortcomings, same old from Wenger.

The refs didn’t bench our 46 million pound striker who then scored when he come on.

The refs didn’t decide to play Coq and not invest in a proper midfielder in the summer.

The refs are not the reason our best players don’t want to sign new deals with the club.

YOU are the problem Wenger and you have been for a very long time.

The refs get worse every year? So do you.

Wenger Out.

ramgooner

FYI City benched a 40 million player called Bernardo Silva. FYI City didn’t even have a 40 million player called Mendy in their match day squad. You can’t question the managers decision to bench a player every single game. You can only comment on the performance and commitment of the team. I felt the team played decent but the reflection completely killed the game. It’s unacceptable in a game of this magnitude.

Don Jones

The EPL is scripted,just as the Italian League used to be until the Italian Government intervened & stopped it.The EPL is the richest league in the World & the FA will never allow the game to be played without exercising some level of control over it to safeguard their income.The FA will resist video replays all day long,the so called “Diving Committee”will never overrule a referee,controversial issues will continue to be hushed up.True development of the game in England has stalled compared to the rest of the World because of the dinosaurs at the FA.Will Arsenal ever win the EPL… Read more »

Gunners4Life

Somehow the linesman spotted Lacazette’s toe offside, but this idiot couldn’t see that half of Silva’s body was offside? It doesn’t excuse the fact that our defense turned off in the play. I was taught that you play to the whistle.

Kwame Ampadu Down

I assume all of those berating the quality of the linesman today were doing the same after Ageuro’s disallowed goal in the fa cup semi last season ?

Greg

Easy now! We are arsenal fans and bad things only happen to us

Kwame Ampadu Down

Strange too to hear Arsene still banging on about the two offside goals in this fixture last season given one of them was the ‘interfering with play’ situation…. I thought after the FA cup final Arsene had changed his mind & decided these were no longer offside ???

Greg

Helps to answer why we lost without looking too close to home

They were by far better than us and if they really clicked it could have been allot more

Alexstratz

I keep hearing this argument but maybe they didn’t click because they took less risks since we are more dangerous on the counter than bang average teams like those they beat 7-0 with a squad which has 40m players on the bench?

Shambles

If that push by saed on sterling was on our player, the “real fans” would have been talking about how the game should have ended 2 -1 in our favor.

It’s just baffling the kind of selective memory people have on here.

Kartik Iyer

Atleast we didn’t roll over and die …. The performance while not particularly good was not attrocious either…we gave them some problems…but if we wanna continue to be called a big club we need to play like they did:(

Ronald

You can not excuse how poor we have been playing away this season, however, I believe we should have at least gotten a draw or 3 points from 3 of our 4 losses this season if it weren’t for poor officiating decisions.

Faisal Narrage

Referee gets worse. Wenger stays the same.

Alexander Pleb

Not as bad a result as I was expecting… says it all really doesn’t it, losing 3-1 & not being mortified by it like I used to feel after defeats. I’m just constantly numbed out by it all these days. Trying to think more positively, I just want us to get rid of anyone who doesn’t want to be at the club & to start again. My local club Valencia has taken a huge turn that I would never have believed would happen & that gives me the minutest piece of hope that we can rebuild quickly if we shift… Read more »

SwissArse

I totally agree with Arsène today. Rihanna (Sterling) was unfairly looking for it by clamping Monreal’s leg and dived. The third goal was offside and killed the game when we had got into it.

Rudi

The officials had no excuse, like the one comment rightly said, it’s only those who were paid that couldn’t see the offside, and wrongful penalty. I suspect for a long time, that certain refree’s are either stupid, favor one team over the other, or getting paid. If u watch the game, again, then look at Man City’s fouls, and look at Arsenal’s, and compare the yellow cards against the fouls. It’s sickening, these refs put the corrupt politicians, to shame.

SoreArse

So, like this Arsenal team, then?

And to be honest, same goes for me Hemorrhoids, too.

He\'s got no hair but we don\'t care...

…and every season your excuses and transfer activity gets worse.

SwissArse

If the linesman doesn’t see this offside, what is he there for?

Giroud2ramsey

“I think we played quite well against a team that played at a high pace… We created many dangerous situations and overall, we did fight for the 90 minutes.”

The fact that he thinks we played well today is almost more of a worry than the performance itself. As for the complaints about the offside, playing to the whistle may have helped and before complaining about bad refereeing, maybe watch a replay of our first goal in the cup final. Losing his marbles

Northern Gooner

Arsenal is boring, the repetitive failure season after season under Wenger is as boring as seeing paint dry. Wenger is boring, false dawns are boring, Iwobi is boring, no more St Totteringhams days (until Wenger leave) is boring, subs in the 70. minute is boring. Mental strengt are boring, as is lacking a bit of sharpness. And the most boring of all is that the boredom won’t go away until Wenger is finished.

Alex

Mr Wenger, you don’t have a team drilled and prepared for challenging for the Premier League title. You are no longer able to get more than the sum of the parts.

David Hillier\'s luggage

Yes, they probably should have carried on, but all this ‘play to the whistle’ and ‘basics of the game’ stuff I’ve been hearing from pundits and the media is bollocks. We built one of English football’s greatest defences with a back four who all raised their hands when someone was offside to ensure the linesman knew. They didn’t ‘play to the whistle’, they influenced the game. Sure our defence isn’t as good anymore but if Kos & Xhaka played on I bet you we’d all be asking “why didn’t someone raise their arm?”. Jesus, we played West Brom a few… Read more »

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