Match Reaction v Wolves (away)

[McNamara That Ghost...]

First win of the year. :bow:

Worrying to go in the second half of the season without a striker, really.

Also, Oliver needs to fuck off.

[dazthegooner]

Laca needs be replaced by ESR he can do the same job and might have scored the chance Laca had.

[Gooner23]

Massive win, really didn't think we'd hold on there. Have to cut out the dumb errors.

The striker situation is such a worry though, Laca and Eddie - can't run / won't run.

[dazthegooner]

When asked what he can do regarding the red card situation he said "I'm running out of idea's"

[Letters]

Just seen a few highlights.
I don't know if you can give two yellow cards in the same phase of play but...they were both pretty stupid challenges and had he done them both separately I think a red card would have been fair enough, so... :shrug:

[Chippy]

Just seen a few highlights.
I don't know if you can give two yellow cards in the same phase of play but...they were both pretty stupid challenges and had he done them both separately I think a red card would have been fair enough, so... :shrug:
Our discipline record is fucking terrible. How many red cards have we had. Pubbed a win though, somehow. Roll on next season.

[Marc Overmars]

If we do get 4th, no doubt this should be looked at as a key result, especially as we were down to 10.

Well done lads.

Martinelli. :doh:
The lack of discipline is getting ridiculous now.

The situation up front is horrific but we’ve made our own bed on that. Let’s hope the defence can pull us through.

[dazthegooner]

On another note Wolves manager Lage feels they were on the wong side of bad officiating, <_<

[I am invisible]

Man, this team loves a clean sheet! What’s that, 11 now? Pretty good for the youngest defence in the league and a group of players who have only been playing together for about 19 league games.

Still issues with goal-scoring, but the break looks like it’s done the defence a world of good. They were starting to look a little frayed by the end of Jan, but Ramsdale looks like he was back to his positive best and Gabriel looked like he was enjoying shithousing everyone again - you love to see it.

[dazthegooner]

It's good that our defence is so play so well together and it's also great that Laca is doing his bit for other teams GD by not scoring against them.

[I am invisible]

When asked what he can do regarding the red card situation he said "I'm running out of idea's"
To a certain extent we’re just waiting for young players to gain a bit of wisdom: wisdom enough to know when to calm things down and control the über-enthusiasm and über-commitment; and also wisdom enough to learn how to apply the dark arts and get away with it (I appreciate Arteta trying to bring a bit of that back to our game, but right now a lot of these guys have no subtlety about it).

The other side of it is going to come down to Arteta - we need him to start going to war on this in his pressers and start putting some pressure on the referees association. Go through the data every week and highlight the ridiculously high fouls-to-bookings ratio. Highlight the zero-tolerance, pedantic approach that is applied to us for every minor offence vs what other players at other clubs routinely get away with. How is a team that’s universally regarded as soft also getting hammered with more bookings and sending offs than anyone else? Something doesn’t add up here.

Basically Arteta needs to change the narrative because this is a reputation and perception issue as much as anything else. At the moment we’re regarded as ill-disciplined by the footballing world and therefore deserving of what we get. And we’re also regarded as timid and meek by referees - they’re itching to make a name for themselves and dish out cards, and they do it to us because we don’t kick up a fuss. Arteta needs to start kicking up a fuss. He needs to start changing the perception of us from ill-disciplined to victims of bias (unconscious or otherwise). Klopp and Pep would do it. Conte and Mourinho would do it. Wenger and Fergie would have done it. Even if the refs were 100% in the right, we should still be putting them and their decisions in the spotlight. If it makes them think twice about even one booking then it’s worth it. And all it’s cost us is some words.

[KSE Comedy Club]

The discipline is shocking in this team tbh.

Same with all the time wasting fuckery - just stop it!

Gabriel got a stupid yellow for taking too long on a FK - on another day, he gets a second yellow whilst defending and gets sent off.
It's retarded.

By the letter of the law, MO was able to do what he did to Martinelli, but the majority of people agree that he a just a total cunt face and should have just cautioned him.

Also, it's clear that Lacazette IS NOT a striker.

All I ever hear is people commenting on him 'working hard, holding up the ball, and his link up play' - but he hardly ever shoots or scores.

He is more like a midfielder tbh

[KSE Comedy Club]

To a certain extent we’re just waiting for young players to gain a bit of wisdom: wisdom enough to know when to calm things down and control the über-enthusiasm and über-commitment; and also wisdom enough to learn how to apply the dark arts and get away with it (I appreciate Arteta trying to bring a bit of that back to our game, but right now a lot of these guys have no subtlety about it).

The other side of it is going to come down to Arteta - we need him to start going to war on this in his pressers and start putting some pressure on the referees association. Go through the data every week and highlight the ridiculously high fouls-to-bookings ratio. Highlight the zero-tolerance, pedantic approach that is applied to us for every minor offence vs what other players at other clubs routinely get away with. How is a team that’s universally regarded as soft also getting hammered with more bookings and sending offs than anyone else? Something doesn’t add up here.

Basically Arteta needs to change the narrative because this is a reputation and perception issue as much as anything else. At the moment we’re regarded as ill-disciplined by the footballing world and therefore deserving of what we get. And we’re also regarded as timid and meek by referees - they’re itching to make a name for themselves and dish out cards, and they do it to us because we don’t kick up a fuss. Arteta needs to start kicking up a fuss. He needs to start changing the perception of us from ill-disciplined to victims of bias (unconscious or otherwise). Klopp and Pep would do it. Conte and Mourinho would do it. Wenger and Fergie would have done it. Even if the refs were 100% in the right, we should still be putting them and their decisions in the spotlight. If it makes them think twice about even one booking then it’s worth it. And all it’s cost us is some words.

Indeed, it is about time it was brought up.

Interestingly, one of the people on the chat on SSN this morning was talking about the number of Yellow and Red cards we have had - but by contrast, we actually don't commit that many fouls - so he was at least brining the conversation to the table to some extent

[Marc Overmars]

The discipline is shocking in this team tbh.

Same with all the time wasting fuckery - just stop it!

Gabriel got a stupid yellow for taking too long on a FK - on another day, he gets a second yellow whilst defending and gets sent off.
It's retarded.

By the letter of the law, MO was able to do what he did to Martinelli, but the majority of people agree that he a just a total cunt face and should have just cautioned him.

Also, it's clear that Lacazette IS NOT a striker.

All I ever hear is people commenting on him 'working hard, holding up the ball, and his link up play' - but he hardly ever shoots or scores.

He is more like a midfielder tbh

Lacashite had scored over 90 goals in the 3 seasons prior to signing for us.

We’ve totally neutered his game. We have a player here who is capable of scoring regularly for us but now can’t buy a goal because of the role he’s being asked to play. He shits himself now when presented with chances to score. He’s also never in the box looking to get on the end of a move which should be bread and butter for any striker. Terrible movement and instincts.

[Letters]

We don't create enough. Hate to say it but Spurs carve teams open, we just don't - although weirdly we did against them, the way we broke with pace in the NLD was brilliant. We just don't do it often enough.

[GP]

Lacashite had scored over 90 goals in the 3 seasons prior to signing for us.

We’ve totally neutered his game.

Nah it's just easy to score in France.

[dazthegooner]

Ref watch on Skysports has said that the sending off was correct he also said it's also ok to kick puppies*

*Second part not true*

[Mac76]

i had to listen on the radio last night as i couldn't get a decent 'TV signal'

just watched some quick highlights - Martinelli was two yellow-card incidents but it does seem a bit wierd - the ref's played advantage but at that point he's already decided to book him. But if he'd stopped the game and booked him straight away, the second one wouldn't have happened

so the ref sort of caused the second booking but still Martinelli still had to commit two fouls

at the end of the day if we've got a bad disciplinary record it's because Arteta lets Xhaka off every time he gets booked or sent off, so the rest probably think that's the way to get into his good books...

[I am invisible]

Ref watch on Skysports has said that the sending off was correct he also said it's also ok to kick puppies*

*Second part not true*
I'm sure it can be technically justified as a red, but Oliver has really had to dig deep here to come up with something that would work!

Was Martinelli really so much of a danger to his fellow players or such an outrageous cheat that he needed to be removed from the field of play with that much urgency?

Bottom line: if that was Harry Kane or Marcus Rashford or Sadio Mane (or pretty much anyone except one of our players) would that have been a red? Would it have even been a booking? Would it have even been a talking to?

[IBK]

Happy with this result. A win away from home against the EPL form team (aside from Citeh) that won four out of five before the winter break, including against Manure. This was a test, and we passed it. We are in 5th place in the table, having placed 1 game less than Manure behind us and 2 less than West Ham - 1 point in front. 2 home games coming up. Let's not focus on our strikers or Martinelli's red.

[IBK]

I'm sure it can be technically justified as a red, but Oliver has really had to dig deep here to come up with something that would work!

Was Martinelli really so much of a danger to his fellow players or such an outrageous cheat that he needed to be removed from the field of play with that much urgency?

Bottom line: if that was Harry Kane or Marcus Rashford or Sadio Mane (or pretty much anyone except one of our players) would that have been a red? Would it have even been a booking? Would it have even been a talking to?

This. For me, our bad disciplinary record is just as much due to Refs unconscious bias against us as our players overstepping the mark.

[I am invisible]

Happy with this result. A win away from home against the EPL form team (aside from Citeh) that won four out of five before the winter break, including against Manure. This was a test, and we passed it. We are in 5th place in the table, having placed 1 game less than Manure behind us and 2 less than West Ham - 1 point in front. 2 home games coming up. Let's not focus on our strikers or Martinelli's red.

I actually think the manner of this result will do us more good than a 3 or 4 nil mauling - game one back after the break and there's already no question that this is going to be anything other than a fight.

[I am invisible]

This. For me, our bad disciplinary record is just as much due to Refs unconscious bias against us as our players overstepping the mark.
Maybe it's conscious, maybe it's unconscious? Refs take a lot of shit, and the impression I get is that a lot of the weaker ones take their accumulated frustrations from all their games out on us, so it's probably a little of both. Like everyone else, they see us as a soft touch - someone they feel safe to make an example of because we never defend ourselves and because, culturally, in the wider football world, it’s become acceptable to do this to Arsenal. There’s an element of conscious bias, but not in the conspiratorial way people think - i think they’d do it to anyone if they thought they could get away with it.

We're fighting against reputation here, and the reputation we should be trying to shake isn't that we're ill-disciplined, it's that we're weak. It's that we're an easy meal. It'll stop when we start making ourselves more trouble than we're worth.

[Chippy]

If we do get 4th, no doubt this should be looked at as a key result, especially as we were down to 10.

Well done lads.

Martinelli. :doh:
The lack of discipline is getting ridiculous now.

The situation up front is horrific but we’ve made our own bed on that. Let’s hope the defence can pull us through.
It seems that no one else wants fourth, especially after this weekends results (thank you Wolves by the way).
We could get fourth, but we probably won't. An Arteta or Xhaka brain fart will put paid to it.

[IBK]

Maybe it's conscious, maybe it's unconscious? Refs take a lot of shit, and the impression I get is that a lot of the weaker ones take their accumulated frustrations from all their games out on us, so it's probably a little of both. Like everyone else, they see us as a soft touch - someone they feel safe to make an example of because we never defend ourselves and because, culturally, in the wider football world, it’s become acceptable to do this to Arsenal. There’s an element of conscious bias, but not in the conspiratorial way people think - i think they’d do it to anyone if they thought they could get away with it.

We're fighting against reputation here, and the reputation we should be trying to shake isn't that we're ill-disciplined, it's that we're weak. It's that we're an easy meal. It'll stop when we start making ourselves more trouble than we're worth.

Problem is that (on the pitch at least) we are into a spiral here - I can see us getting even more cards if our players try to stand up to this shit. For me, we need Tim Lewis to put together a legal type case to take to that twat Mike Riley and the PGMOL, and it needs to happen behind closed doors so those twats don;t lose face. The case needs to focus not on our cards (for which refs will always back themselves and find justification) but the egregious anomalies between our treatment and that of other EPL clubs...

[Mac76]

Problem is that (on the pitch at least) we are into a spiral here - I can see us getting even more cards if our players try to stand up to this shit. For me, we need Tim Lewis to put together a legal type case to take to that twat Mike Riley and the PGMOL, and it needs to happen behind closed doors so those twats don;t lose face. The case needs to focus not on our cards (for which refs will always back themselves and find justification) but the egregious anomalies between our treatment and that of other EPL clubs...

completely agree we need a dossier of all these incidents, along with comparable cases where other clubs get away with it