Match reaction v Bayern

[Syn]

Anyway, all in all Ozil does seem like a confidence player who needs to feel loved. It would be good if we he had a really good chant that the fans could sing next game to inspire him ........ as Syn said, we really should have saved Hey Jude for Ozil.

Yeah but this is all getting a bit silly now too. Podolski saying everyone should not blame Ozil and get behind him (we are many miles away from Ramsey abuse levels here), Wenger saying today that Ozil hasn't mentally recovered and needs time. If you really have faith in your ability (and he fucking well should because he's got incredible talent and has proven it on the biggest stage of all) then man the fuck up, accept you're going to have to put in a shift at times, and make something happen - because that's what world class players do. Enough with the sympathy. God knows what he'd do if he faced a real tragedy.

[Özim]

Football is full of immoralities, I'm not convinced that comes into the argument here. In a case like that, a red and a penalty works just fine. If you start to tinker with the most fundamental rule in football then everything is up for grabs. Players have done the very same thing before without the fuss, due to it being on a smaller stage.

IMO the problem with penalties is the pressure on the player, a lot of penalties are missed suggesting it's not easy to put them away with the pressure involved. If the defending team make the mistake they need to be punished for it, a penalty that is missed is basically no punishment at all and if anything it acts as a tonic to the team that fouls.

[Syn]

Wenger had a good way of judging what he thought a fair red card is under the last man type ruling. If the player would have the team would have a better chance of scoring from the penalty spot than if the player wasn't fouled then a yellow card is good enough. Otherwise, give a red. That's quite logical but refs will be too stupid to apply that. By Wenger's idea, Suarez's handball would be a red card.

I don't have any problems with the rule the way it is. Yes goalkeepers have much less margin for error; by the rules they can be sent off even if it's not really their fault, but this is such a rare occurrence. I think that's the first time Szczesny has been sent off for us and only the 2nd time out of 100 that a goalkeeper has been sent off under Wenger.

[Letters]

I don't have any problems with the rule the way it is. Yes goalkeepers have much less margin for error; by the rules they can be sent off even if it's not really their fault, but this is such a rare occurrence. I think that's the first time Szczesny has been sent off for us and only the 2nd time out of 100 that a goalkeeper has been sent off under Wenger.

The issue with the rule is not whether it affects 'keepers more than defenders, the issue is it's an unduly harsh punishment.
You've denied a goal-scoring opportunity, but the other team have a penalty which is a pretty good goal-scoring opportunity.
Additional to that you get sent off which means your team has to play out the rest of the game with 10 men.
And you get a subsequent ban for what was probably a pretty innocuous foul and that affects future games.

You can't just call it a goal, plenty of good chances are missed too. Just give the penalty, possibly give a yellow card too and get on with it.

The only case for a 'penalty goal' rule is in the cases I've mentioned when the ball was clearly going on but a defender handles it on or near the line to prevent the goal.
If it's clear enough the ball would have gone in then IMO the goal should be awarded because in that instance a penalty is not equivalent as they can be missed.

[dazthegooner]

[Özil's Panoramic View]

According to the rules it's a red card and penalty, so it doesn't matter whether it would have been better 11 vs 11 (obviously it would have been), the fact is Chesney made a mistake and we got punished to the letter of the law.

I personally think they should award a goal, because penalty's can be missed (and often are) so if you're clean through with a tap in and then brought back and you miss the penalty you've been punished and the defending team get away with it, so you could just foul the player to give yourself a chance of stopping the goal.

Yes the double punishment is harsh, but those are the rules. If you had this chance missed the penalty and then lost 1-0 it was also be unfair to some extent.

Even if we'd played 11 vs 11 I couldn't see us going through, so I'm not that bothered to be honest, we started very well though but after the penalty we ran out of steam a bit and the game settled down. Bayern would have had spells in the game anyhow and with the players they have a draw probably would have been a good result for us.

So the rules should apply to Szczesny's 'mistake' but not on the rash challenge that Boateng made on Gibbs, which had booking written all over it, eh?

Ok for the ref to give Boateng 'a chance', right?

Do you ever argue in favour of The Arsenal?

[Özim]

So the rules should apply to Szczesny's 'mistake' but not on the rash challenge that Boateng made on Gibbs, which had booking written all over it, eh?

Ok for the ref to give Boateng 'a chance', right?

Do you ever argue in favour of The Arsenal?

Well no, the last defender would also get sent off if denying a goalscoring opportunity as well.

Outfield players don't get booked for every challenge, they never have they never will, refs use their discretion and you often see them warn players a few times. Not me who makes the rules or applies them so it's got nothing to do with arguing in favour of one or the other.

[Özil's Panoramic View]

Well no, the last defender would also get sent off if denying a goalscoring opportunity as well.

Outfield players don't get booked for every challenge, they never have they never will, refs use their discretion and you often see them warn players a few times. Not me who makes the rules or applies them so it's got nothing to do with arguing in favour of one or the other.

Warning normally comes prior to 1st yellow, which he was already on when he smashed Gibbs.

That challenge was a yellow any day of the week, so the cunt should have been given marching orders.

[Munchies]

Flamini - Ozil one of my closest friends

Mathieu Flamini says Mesut Ozil is one of his "closest team-mates”.

The pair were spotted exchanging words during the final stages of Wednesday night’s Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich.

It led to speculation in the press, but Flamini played down the incident when he spoke to Arsenal Player on Friday.

Mesut is a winner, I'm a winner; we were both fighting because we just wanted to give everything to the team to make sure we defended properly
Mathieu Flamini

“When you're a journalist or you're a fan seeing it from the outside, it's difficult to interpret it,” he said. “But Mesut is one of my closest team-mates and we were on the pitch.

“It was not about arguing it was just about communication. Mesut is a winner, I'm a winner; we were both fighting because we just wanted to give everything to the team to make sure we defended properly.

“It was about communication, but at the end of the day it proves to everyone that we really wanted to win and we're winners. It's important, as you want a team with character, not a team who doesn't react.”

Flamini also defended Ozil's performance against Bayern.

“He is one of the players who ran the most [in that game],” he said. “He's a very offensive player and he's not used to doing so much dirty work but he did it and I'm very proud of him because he gave everything until the last minute.

“Everyone is behind him and, like I said before, he's one of my closest team-mates. We do everything together here and I feel close to him. On the pitch and outside the pitch.

“Everyone is very happy to have him here because he's such a talented player and I don't understand why people are hard on him.”

[Özim]

Warning normally comes prior to 1st yellow, which he was already on when he smashed Gibbs.

That challenge was a yellow any day of the week, so the cunt should have been given marching orders.

I've seen several warnings come before 2nd yellows regularly as well tbh. Rosicky in a game recently had one yellow and put in 3 iffy challenges and got away with it (without even a warning), it happens.

One on one keeper situations where the keeper brings down the player are relatively rare and thus when they happen it more often then not results in a red card if they're preventing a goalscoring opportunity, challenges in the middle of the park go on all match as outfield players will put in more tackles so they will get more leeway naturally (since keeps rarely tackle players).

These incidents are so rare I don't think this is a big deal, there's much more important issues in the game than this that need sorting out.