Correct me if I'm wrong, but under the old rules, wouldn't Dier's 'handball' against Newcastle have remained a handball? Even though he knew nothing about it and couldn't do anything to prevent it? If that's the case, I'm surprised you'd want that back. Unless you're referring to another definition of handball?
I'll leave aside the fact that it wasn't a free-kick in the first place and Dier's hand going up because he was pushed and just address your point... If it's seen as an unnatural position and therefore deliberate, then I'm fine with that. Intention should matter and distance should be considered, but defenders shouldn't be able to play as keepers.
Isn't that precisely the point, though? That even with all the technology we have, with more eyes reviewing decisions, there are still plenty of teams who can name incidents where they've been hard done by because the officials are still reaching the wrong conclusions? The whole point of it was to increase the accuracy and consistency of decisions, not reduce them. The implementation of it has been a joke.
Because the officials are still **** and that was the problem it was brought in to address. They're the ones using it though, so why wouldn't it still be ****? If the refs turned pundits still make controversial statements every week when they've seen it all from a million angles, perhaps it's not VAR? As I've said before, you'd have to be a **** to want to be a ref at the moment, so the refs are all ****s. We need to change the whole way that they're viewed and treated or they won't improve.
Dermot Gallagher probably thought Lacazette fouls Martinez by shoving his shirt into his hands too please log in to view this image
Sorry - edited your post by mistake when I was meant to reply to it. Will try to change it back in a second. VAR doesn't intervene for free-kicks or corners/throw-ins that should/shouldn't have been. Isn't that another issue?
Another issue. Ref wasn't looking at it and gave the decision: https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/j0suw1/the_foul_that_lead_to_a_newcastle_free_kick_which/ Can't find an embeddable version, unfortunately.
I agree with you on this, and I've said to you before, in principle, I'm in favour of VAR. But the current way of it being used means it's led to more confusion, more anger and officials getting even more abuse than they were before. You're right that officials need to be changed, but we also need referees to be encouraged to look at the monitor more for certain decisions and to not constantly back up the decisions of their friends in Stockley Park. Have a bit more autonomy. We need more ex-players or players that didn't quite make it as professionals to get involved, because they'll be more understanding. How refs are treated at grassroots level also needs to be addressed. Doesn't help that this culture of swearing and abusing refs also happens in Sunday League matches. No surprise it happens further up the divisions too.
I think you've got that one a bit backwards, to be honest. The lower leagues replicate the Premier League. Bring in something like the rugby rules of respect towards the officials and it affects the whole game from top to bottom. Kids see their heroes calling Mike Dean a useless bald ****er and they do it to the bloke that's volunteered to run their games.
No I think he's right on that we do have a better squad now. Arteta also has a better set of players than Emery had. (IMO) Although perhaps if Carzorla was fit the comparison would have been closer as he was such a special player. 2018---------2021 Giroud < Aubameyang Lacazette <> Lacazette Wellbeck < Pepe Chamberlain < Saka Wellbeck <> Willian Akpom < Nketiah Mesut Ozil < Smith Rowe - ESR is having a bigger impact. Mesut past his best. Wilshere < Odengaard Elneny <> Elneny Xhaka <> Xhaka Walcott < Martinelli Ramsey < Partey Iwobi < Nelson Reine Adelaide < Guendouzi Monreal < Tierney Jenkinson < Cedrick Bellerin <> Bellerin Coquelin < Ceballos Mustafi < Gabriel Debuchy > Mari Holding <> Holding Mertesacker < Luiz Gibbs < Saliba Chambers <> Chambers Cech < Leno Marinez > Runnerson Ospina > Smith I think recent recuitment has been good. Ok soo we paid too much for Pepe but Partey, Tierney, Saliba, Guendouzi, Mari, Odengaard are all much better siginings. The issue for me is the Mustafi, Kolasinac, Wellbeck, Sokratis, Sanchez era where we bought players we inevitably made a loss on.
I'm not going to go through every single player comparison you've done here, but as you'd probably expect, I strongly disagree with you. In fact, for some players, it is simply far to early in their Arsenal careers to assess their impact compared to the players you've chosen. The problem is people need to look at empirical factors, rather than status or name to assess them. e.g. Partey is a better player than Ramsey, but he's yet to prove it in an Arsenal shirt, whereas Ramsey got 11 goals/won our PoTY in 2018. So Ramsey has been more influential than Partey so far. The Ozil/Odegaard one isn't right at all, either, if we're basing it on Wenger's final year. Likewise with Mari and Mertesacker - it's just too early to draw this conclusion. Furthermore, it isn't just about individual players or their perceived quality - it's about the balance of players, the style of play they're trying to adapt to and the point at which Arteta had to pick these players up, which was a very low point. We've struggled with many injuries to key areas and our lack of quality in depth in midfield, as well as in cover fullback areas, has been detrimental. I remember even at the start of the season we had 8 CBs on the books and only 2 of them were fit. I do think Arteta should be doing better, but the circumstances he's had to face (even if some have been self-inflicted) isn't the same as what his predecessors had to.
Thats right and that's what most of these conversations really are on here subjective opinions. For us Ramsey was more influential but c'mon Partey did alot at Athletico. Much as I like the Welshman (and would have him back) its fair to say he was quite inconsistent. But its fair argument - put it this way.. I would'nt swap. But yeah I definitely think our current squad is better - especially considering Mertesacker was way past his best. Iwobi, Gibbs and Walcott were proving to be massively over-rated (as we can see from their post Arsenal careers) Players like Debuchy, Mustafi, Kolasinac - simply not good enough for Arsenal.
It's so early in Partey's Arsenal career, and he's been injured for a fair amount if it so far. So it's hard to judge, but both him and Odegaard look like really good additions to this squad.
Hmm - not entirely happy with the team we’ve selected for today, but let’s see how we do in the first 45. Confused why Cedric and Pepe aren’t starting.
Maybe being rested for the weeked ? Not sure why Pepe would need resting though, he's mainly been used as a sub recently .
Gonna be a tough ol game this one, don't under estimate the Greek powerhouse...they move the ball quickly and have a decent striker. Only positive is their competitors in the Greek league are ****e, but they come in to the game a lot more positive than us. No early give away goals please Arsenal!!! COYG!!
