I'm just saying - circumstances matter. If any team goes down to 10 men and starts to time-waste, regardless of who it is, I have more understanding and sympathy for that. I have less sympathy for teams who intentionally go out their way to start games in this fashion with their full team on the pitch, though. It's also worth noting that, against Brighton, we still created chances and tried to attack even with 10 men. But the game state was different here.
You keep posting these statistics and I keep explaining to you the reasons behind them, but you don't seem interested in acknowledging them. 5 games is also too small a sample size to draw any definitive conclusions on what this means.
I don't think you should be trying to justify time-wasting. It's part of the game whether we like it or not, but it's not all the same. Keeping the ball and slowing down the game is one thing but wasting time at corners, throw ins and handling by goalkeepers is another. None are good for football, not quite as bad as deliberate fouling, but bad nevertheless.
Lego Head's attempts to make people feel for sorry for them seems to be falling on deaf ears nowadays anyway, The Mail are running a story today claiming multiple clubs reported Arsenal to the PGMOL last season over their constant cheating and manipulation of rules (which as PNP has been highlighting on this thread, hasn't slowed down this season either). It's probably why - excluding us for obvious reasons - a lot of neutral fans weren't rooting for them to topple City last season like there'd normally be when you consider fanbases despise how City (and Chelsea) came to power.
they are pretty unlikeable under Arteta and the actual planned / coached "dark arts" is on a different scale
The 2nd one was obstruction (if that is still a thing). 2 players blocked the keeper off without any attempt to get the ball. For the first, free kick has to be retaken, can't call a defender over for a discussion and then restart before he is back in position.
As well as some fantastic players and teams, the Iberian Peninsula also brought these dark arts to the game.
Oh mate they’ve been unlikeable since their existence but I get your point. Though ironically, I’m actually a fan of dark arts and would like to see Spurs use them a bit like we did under Poch for a while. In this day and age, dark arts tend to give teams an edge in competition. It’s just funny now seeing that lot get hate for it, especially as their fanbase is full of soy boys that lose their minds at any sort of criticism or hate.
Putting aside the fact that, similarly to PNP, you're glossing over the reasons behind us leading these charts for time-wasting/delays (after a mere 5 games), what exactly is this meant to prove? And who determines the scale of what 'dark arts' are and how far it goes? We've been told for years we were too soft/had an underbelly, and now we've got a more robust side who refuses to cower, all of a sudden it's too much? The whole thing is ridiculous. As for whether neutrals wanted us to win the league, honestly, who gives a **** what other fans think of us? You think it matters to me whether other clubs' fans want us to win the league or not? It's totally irrelevant.
Clearly it matters to you and clearly you give a ****, you’ve been bealing on here for the last 24 hours. I’ve also not mentioned anything about the first 5 games.
'Bealing' is a bit of a stretch, but if you're going to reel off percentages and figures to prove a point, then you need to explain the factors behind them. Saying we're a more expensive version of Pulisball is asinine and I'm sure PNP knows that too. So naturally, it deserves to be challenged. I've not said anything about wanting other fans to like us or wanting other fans to get behind us winning the league. So I'm not sure where you've got that from.
Bernardo Silva was the one who actually moved the ball away from the original foul in the first place. As for Walker:
That's got last season's stats, which show that Arsenal were way up there on timewasting then, too. Clearly shows that the ball's in the wrong place and points out that you were allowed to take a quick free-kick despite Walker being summoned. Dreadful refereeing from a dreadful referee. Lost control of the game after about a second.
This is what I don't understand. Anywhere else on the pitch, what Arsenal do to goalkeepers is given as obstruction. From the IFAB wesbite: "Obstruction, or impeding the progress of an opponent, is when a player unfairly uses their body to prevent an opponent from getting to and/or playing the ball. A player can use their body to shield the ball from an opponent in order to make it difficult for the opponent to get to the ball, as long as the ball is within playing distance." Why this is even up for debate is beyond me, and yet we are blessed with intellectual giants like Alan Shearer telling us how 'clever' Arsenal are. They're not clever. They're just taking advantage of the fact that the officials can't or won't apply the Rules properly.
And if it was that much of an issue to the point where we would be deliberately wasting time, we would get booked for it more often than not. Referees are hardly shy to book our players. Clearly it is still within the confines of the rules. We accrued 89 points and scored 91 league goals last season. We have no reason to be deliberately wasting time unless we're trying to see a tight game out or we're a man down. The ball was in the wrong place because a City player decided to mess around with it. Walker's position was deeper after Oliver called him compared to the position he'd taken up before. You're making a mountain out of a molehill.
This thread is the epitome of time wasting at present … Arsenal have a lot of very fine players, but Arteta has decided that to have chance of surpassing City, they cannot afford to drop points by having a soft centre (a fair criticism of Arsenal in the past). They have become physically stronger and more imposing, resorted to killing the beautiful game rather than embracing it and generally have looked to push the boundaries with officials. But, as I’ve said often with Arsenal (especially under Wenger), there are no points for artistic merit. Arteta has made sure there is no chance of them getting any, even if there were. It was an ugly display v City and it won’t have won them any admirers among the neutrals.
