Match Day Thread Arsenal vs. Burnley 2016/17 Official Match Thread

Ridiculous game this football

 

Kos was offside, but honestly, I don't give a flying ****, get the **** in!

 

What a finish. The ref was absolutely awful and inconsistent. I still dont know why Xhaka got a red card and when we won the penalty they didnt get one for studs to the head in a dangerous challenge.

 

To be fair, let's not forget we should have had a penalty early in the second half for the one on Mustafi...

 

Yet another unconvincing, last-minute win. Wenger's getting good at those in his old age.

Next match away to Chelsea, that will be a real test.

 

The whole media furore is going to be about how we benefitted from the last-minute penalty, and Koscielny was indeed offside, but Xhaka shouldn't have been sent off (though I accept there's mixed opinions on this) and we should have had one early in the second half which Moss somehow thought wasn't a pen.

We suffered from more bad luck in that game if anything.

 

Although I'm happy we won, we had plenty of opportunities to score more than once and had we done that, the Xhaka sending off wouldn't have been as important as it was, regardless of whether people think it was a red or not.

I never understand why we struggle to utilise the full 90 minutes and always wait until the second half to really get going. It's going to cost us if we carry on like that, we need to perform at that level for the full game.

 

There are just some referees that turn the game into a farce every time they step onto the pitch. The league is going to have to get a grip because eventually fans of the game are going to put aside their petty differences and unite against the common enemy. No one who is a real fan of the game can enjoy the random nature of victory or defeat when you get these officials.

As for the last offside, when I coached I always used to tell my players that offside is usually judged 1/2 a second after the ball is played, because the assistant has to see the ball played and then look and focus across the offside line, which takes time. If you are a forward you have to wait a heartbeat before going and in this case by the time the assistant looked across Kos was onside.

The Burnley penalty I actually wouldn't have given either. Lots of referees would have, but the Burley player didn't have possession and the trip had no effect on the game, his shinner ricocheted of Mustafi just after he kicked it, it is the very definition of incidental contact.

 

This

 

2 feet off the ground is a red, sometimes it isn't given when it should be, but it's a red, a stupid tackle that was Xhaka not the ref. The penalties were penalties, and it's for the linesman to tell the ref it's off-side. The only bad mistake I saw was not giving the earlier penalty to you for the foul on Mustafi

 

Agree with this. Xhaka was stupid, went in two footed and can have no complaints. All the pens that were given were correct, as you say the only one he got wrong was not giving us a pen for the foul on Mustafi.

 

I'll have to see it again. If the ball is running into touch, then it isn't a penalty for the same reason, as I wouldn't have given the Burnley penalty. If Mustafi would have had it, or he would still have been in the move, then it should have been a penalty,

 

Imo the big mistakes were nothing for 3 fouls on Mustafi, one should have been a penalty and the 2 elbows to the face. If an Arsenal player had done those 2 elbows I would expect them to get red cards, yet we get nothing. I think they didnt even get a yellow. Their penalty was similar to the one Mustafi should have had so inconsistent ref. Xhaka should not have got a red card. He was out of control but had taken his feet away from the player to ensure he did not go in studs first. A yellow would have been more than enough and Burnley got away with worse fouls with no cards or only a yellow. In fact he did Burnley a favour by giving a yellow for the kick to Kos face as no further action can now be taken.

In our favour we had Kos not given offside.

Awful, awful ref.

 

A foul in the box is a pen mate, doesn't matter if the ball is going into touch. (It wasn't btw)

 

Well, the law doesn't say anything about 2-footed, although there is an interpretation that mentions it. But, it wasn't off the ground, he didn't make contact with both feet, and it was not with anything like sufficient force, "To cause serious injury".

Quite frankly, all those "unintentional" elbows to the head we saw, were far more deserving of straight reds than that tackle. I just don't know how these days, with all the attention given to head injuries, this sort of blatant foul play is allowed. Even back in my day, when things were far rougher, if you elbowed someone in the face, you got a red.

How is it not considered careless to elbow someone in the face with a swinging elbow?

And concussive brain-damage would seem to me to be fairly serious.

 

Except it isn't a foul if it is "incidental contact".

 

Dyche moaning on sky about not getting the big decisions,he needs to have a look at the Mustafi penalty shout then.

 

You mean an indirect free kick for an infringement. If it's a foul, then it's a pen.

 

Where is Walcott and Cazorla? We've got some tough fixtures in February/March and we can't afford to pick up any injuries or suspensions.

 

There is no infringement. If you make contact with a player and it has no effect on the game, then it isn't a foul, as in no free kick is awarded.

Even if we are running along and I punch you in the face a long way off the ball, no foul is given. The play is stopped, I get a red card and then play is restarted with a drop ball.