Match reaction vs Norwich

[Joker]

If he was corrupt, why not give them the penalty shouts they had earlier and send off Ramsey?

The simple fact is this referee is utterly shit. He was lambasted by Le Tissier when he fucked up another match this season (I think involving Swansea). The guy is simply clueless, makes mistakes left right and centre and then panics, tries to even things up and ends up losing control of the game entirely.

I can't believe people seem to think that the referee is the only reason we didn't win. Hello, we were playing fucking Norwich at home, we don't NEED the referee to bail us out. In any case, everyone seems to be ignoring the fact that Gervinho was OFFSIDE in the build-up to the penalty incident, so it doesn't matter anyway.

[Syn]

Is it just my imagination or is there a poorly concealed celebratory mood lurking under the surface for several people here today? I get the impression some people are very satisfied as it gives them ammo to fire at Wenger. These would be the same people stating Wenger has become bigger than the team. Odd then there's this thinly veiled joy as the team sinks while people focus on one man.

There are some people whose posts aren't worth reading. And you have the ignore function or just ignore them yourself. As for myself - I'm not really annoyed about the result nor am I happy with it.

Obviously it's potentially an absolute disaster but what can you do? I get the feeling the mood amongst most is just helplessness. There is an obvious way we could have improved in the last few games and that was by playing our best players. Like it or not, an 18 year old kid who has hardly played is one of our best players. Nobody expects him to save the day, but maybe the day wouldn't need to be saved if we had a starting line-up who were capable of doing the basics right. I have little doubt in my mind that had Oxlade started most league games after the Milan performance, we would've sewn up 3rd by now. But, as I said, I'm just tired of stating that obvious mystery - and we are left with this feeling of 'come on Arsene, it's really not that hard, play your best players...'

[Niall_Quinn]

Like I said, Gervinho was offside in the buildup to that move anyway. Even if we ignore that say it should have been a penalty, that doesn't detract from the fact that we were being outplayed by Norwich, a lower-mid table side at best. If we had performed professionally throughout 90 minutes, we wouldn't have needed to rely on a last minute penalty to bail us out.

Yes the referee was appalling and did everything he could to even things out in the second half, but there were dodgy decisions in favour of both teams. We could have had a penalty for the handball, while they could have had 2 penalties and potentially a two man advantage if the ref sent Ramsey and Benayoun off. At the same time one of their lot could have seen red for the elbow on Koscielny. It was simply an inept refereeing performance, but we should be able to rise above that a beat a side like Norwich at home.

I'm not disagreeing with that. So does this mean blatant penalties should be awarded on the basis of how the potential recipients have performed in the match or depending on some value judgement on the performance, tactics and team selection of the manager? Wouldn't it just be easier to apply the rules and let the results unfold naturally?

[Marc Overmars]

The standard of refereeing is horrific but considering we were what, 8 points clear in 3rd? I'm certainly not looking at this game in isolation, we've been on the slide since QPR turned us over.

[Özim]

The simple fact is this referee is utterly shit. He was lambasted by Le Tissier when he fucked up another match this season (I think involving Swansea). The guy is simply clueless, makes mistakes left right and centre and then panics, tries to even things up and ends up losing control of the game entirely.

I can't believe people seem to think that the referee is the only reason we didn't win. Hello, we were playing fucking Norwich at home, we don't NEED the referee to bail us out. In any case, everyone seems to be ignoring the fact that Gervinho was OFFSIDE in the build-up to the penalty incident, so it doesn't matter anyway.

It's a joke to be honest, another get out of jail free for Wenger.

We wouldn't be where we are hadn't blown it, we've had some awful runs this season, including this run at the crucial time of the season.

[Joker]

Is it just my imagination or is there a poorly concealed celebratory mood lurking under the surface for several people here today? I get the impression some people are very satisfied as it gives them ammo to fire at Wenger. These would be the same people stating Wenger has become bigger than the team. Odd then there's this thinly veiled joy as the team sinks while people focus on one man.

Yes it is your imagination. Everyone is pissed off that this team have managed to contrive to fuck things up so spectacularly that from a position of strength we may end up finishing 5th after all. We are pissed off that after getting it back to 3-2, our lack of intelligence results in us being cut open when proper teams (with tactically astute managers) would have re-organised after we went 3-2 up and kept it tight for the rest of the game. Get your head out of the sand and stop thinking that those who question Wenger's tactical decision-making are all closet City fans. We're just looking at reality, while you seem to have your head in the sand whining about referees, as if there's some global Freemason conspiracy against us.

[Özim]

The standard of refereeing is horrific but considering we were what, 8 points clear in 3rd? I'm certainly not looking at this game in isolation, we've been on the slide since QPR turned us over.

Absolutely right, we'd done most of the hard work, all we had to do is be professional and focussed and work hard for the victories, we had a superior team to many of the sides we played and yet kept dropping points, no excuses really.

If I'm honest, I'm not really that bothered these days. I'm not fussed about the CL and with Wenger in charge we're going nowhere, even if we qualified so what...we're hardly ever going to challenge for it.

Yes we may keep hope of RVP, but we need a team not one star player we rely on to score all our goals.

We just need a change of management (and perhaps ownership), that's what it comes down to.

[Niall_Quinn]

If he was corrupt, why not give them the penalty shouts they had earlier and send off Ramsey?

Because when you are trying to rig halftime scores or who scores first or what minute the goal goes in or the final outcome then weird shit can happen. I don't for a moment believe the ref was pro-Norwich. I suspect he took money from a gambling syndicate, like Dowd in the Newcastle game.

[Young Guns 11]

Like I said, Gervinho was offside in the buildup to that move anyway. Even if we ignore that say it should have been a penalty, that doesn't detract from the fact that we were being outplayed by Norwich, a lower-mid table side at best. If we had performed professionally throughout 90 minutes, we wouldn't have needed to rely on a last minute penalty to bail us out.

Yes the referee was appalling and did everything he could to even things out in the second half, but there were dodgy decisions in favour of both teams. We could have had a penalty for the handball, while they could have had 2 penalties and potentially a two man advantage if the ref sent Ramsey and Benayoun off. At the same time one of their lot could have seen red for the elbow on Koscielny. It was simply an inept refereeing performance, but we should be able to rise above that a beat a side like Norwich at home.

Appalling defending for their equaliser, Song caught out (How many fucking times does he want to try something clever to get out of situations?), Kozza ball-watching, no-one tracking Morrison.

To blame the ref today, when his complete ineptness clearly favoured neither team overall, is a complete cop-out.

It was the defending today that really cost us, all their goals should have and could have been defended better.

[Young Guns 11]

The standard of refereeing is horrific but considering we were what, 8 points clear in 3rd? I'm certainly not looking at this game in isolation, we've been on the slide since QPR turned us over.

Played 8 games without Arteta; W0 D4 L4