Having let Wanyama get away with so many fouls, including leading with the arm to Walcotts head on at least two occasions I think it's fair to say the ref was intent on not ending up handing out loads of yellow cards. Yet on the other hand he did feel it was neccesary to book Koscileny for a perfectly good challenge. Odd decisions on the card front for sure.
Might have been booked on another day but the ref was being lenient to both sides. If anything, he was more lenient to Arsenal's players. Dier got booked for jogging off a couple of yards with the ball after a foul, yet Ozil kicked the ball away twice and got nothing. Wimmer got booked for a fairly nothing foul that Coquelin had a massive fit over yet Arsenal players got no bookings when they stopped Spurs attacks by pulling players back. In general Arsenal players were going down very easily and buying freekicks whilst we got very little. Anyway, stop deflecting, do you agree with any of what Wenger said or not?
Koscielny's booking was a clear foul and he should've already been in the book. He did two bad ones before that. The second supposed whack from Wanyama's arm to Walcott's head was utter nonsense. He was getting outmuscled and moved his head into the arm, then went down like he'd been shot. That's why Vertoghen gave him **** and he looked so meek when he got up. It was a total dive.
I know I've stuck the knife in him a few times now but Eriksen is a massive concern for me. Since late last season, I've seen him go from a player who would cause defences problems with his link up play, movement and goals to pretty much nothing. Now he's just content to jog around, pass the ball sideways and be a spectator. He never gets stuck in. In post-match interviews, he seems so blasé about everything and doesn't seem to have that fire in his belly. If it weren't for a lack of options, I'd say bench him for a while and give him something to think about. But right now, he thinks he's a shoe in every week. Honestly, if it weren't for Alli being injured today, he may not have started. But overall, he's the player that needs to buck his ideas up and fast.
Eriksen's general form has been awful, but I actually thought he played well today. We were set up so defensively, that he was hardly able to play his normal game. He helped move the ball on the few counter attacks we had, defended well, and went close a couple of times.
All too infrequent for me though. Can you honestly say hand on heart that he's improved in the past 3 years? I can't.
Wilmer was an obvious yellow, the lad just got over excited by the occasion. Diet and Koscielny got yellows for no reason. Wanyama and a few others should have been in the book on multiple occasions but somehow avoided it. The ref was trying not to give out cards but then for some reason felt the need to hand out a few odd ones, maybe because not handing out cards wasn't stopping the fouls? No idea but there was no consistency. I think the penalty was debatable, he already appeared to be going to ground before any contact was made, Wenger was surprised it was given, so was I, but I can understand it being a penalty. The offside again was a debatable decision but Sanchez was offside and not interfering with play, Koscielny who tried to challenge for the ball had been just onside. Simmer (lol auto correct refuses to let me spell his name) heading the ball in is what likely tilted the decision away from offside. I think the goal should stand but can also understand why some might disagree, it's about the officials and who they deemed to be effecting play.
Koscielny very obviously won the ball, wasn't a foul let alone a yellow card. Walcott hardly looked meek did he.. Vertonghen started some handbags, Walcott got up and they squared off before both teams crowded round and the ref told them all to put away the tampons. Clearly wasn't a dive either. Think you might be being slightly biased on that one
He's been pretty much consistent in that time, with goals and assists, but has been non existent this season. He needs to get up and running fast, otherwise someone will have to be brought into the team to give him a kick up the arse, whether that's a youngster or a new signing. And maybe that's just what he needs.
http://www.fullmatchesandshows.com/...-tottenham-hotspur-highlights-full-match-2/4/ It's at about 24.20 on the second half ENG bit. He clearly makes contact with Kane before there's anything on the ball, if he touches it at all. Walcott was squaring up? He was trying to make Vertoghen react. Does this look like the face of a man that's just been brutally elbowed to the ground? https://gyazo.com/6a9a7cc5bf8b019b5e5d8bb7408208dd Wanyama outmuscled him, so he turned his head to the side into his arm and went down like he was injured. There was clearly nothing wrong with him and it was a dive.
Wimmer's was very harsh when you take into account other challenges that went unpunished. Clattenberg set the precedent with that booking and didn't stand by it. I get the feeling he was conned by the way Coquelin went down though so I think it's forgivable. No one other than the most deluded Arsenal fans think that it wasn't a penalty. It's stonewall as they come, Dembele had the ball and Koscielny impeded him without getting the ball, bringing Mousa down in the process. The only way it's soft is that it was such a stunningly stupid challenge to make, Dembele was running sideways and you had plenty of defenders back. Keown thought it was a penalty, Dixon thought it was a penalty, Wright thought it was a penalty, Webb thought it was a penalty. Watch it again on MOTD, there's no way Dembele's going down before the challenge. I agree with you on the offside, fwiw. The laws are murky enough that you could say it should have been given either way. Personally I like to see commonsense refereeing and I think that means Sanchez's run affected both Lloris and Wimmer as he was in Lloris' eyeline and Wimmer's options were limited to trying to head it wide rather than flick it on past Koscielny(as Jan did to Giroud late in the second half). I only brought it up because Wenger's response was so typical of him, he never sees anything that went Arsenal's way controversially but sees everything that goes against Arsenal, including made up elbows and "soft" stonewall penalties. Hence, "vintage Wenger ".
Oh and I just remembered Walcott. He was shown on camera shouting abuse at the linesman early on and didn't get booked
In terms of the elbows, whether you want to call them intentional elbows or not Wanyama did on more than one occasion lead with his arm when going for a challenge and on two occasions caught Walcott in the face.
In the same vein Vertonghen didn't get booked for starting the handbags between the two teams by confronting Walcott. As I said, the officials were rather odd with what they thought did or didn't warrant a card.
It's because he's bigger than Walcott and Theo kept crouching down. The first one was a push, at best, not an elbow and the second one was Walcott getting outmuscled and going down like a pansy. I'm sure you've watched enough football to realise the difference between a dangerous elbow(intentional or not) and very minor contact that happens all the time. What rule did Vertonghen break? He had a go at Walcott, Walcott and all his mates had a go back. No one did any worse than the others so either book Jan and about 10 other players or just leave it as handbags, like refs do every week. The difference with Walcott's reaction to the linesman is that it is against the rules to show dissent to the officials and throwing abuse at them is dissent. You can say whatever the **** you like to other players.
