Haven't seen an article on this, so I thought I would to get a discussion going. This is not a biased rant about how the referee was completely against Arsenal, but I was wondering if anyone else thought that the referee was useless in the Norwich game, for both sides. By my reckoning, there should have been 4 penalties throughout the game and possibly as many red cards. Of course, many of these are debatable, but I still thought it was a terrible performance by the referee. Lets start with the penalties: 1) The first came about when Hoolahan was nearly put through on goal and Coquelin slid in to tackle the ball away. It was inside the box, and my first reaction was that Coquelin got the ball first and it was therefore a good tackle. However, having seen replays and looked at some live text commentaries (BBC), it seems that he got the man and didn't get the ball, thus it should have been a penalty. 2) The second was during I think a free kick or a cross. The ball came in and Koscielny was tussling with Martin in the box. As is usual in such situations, both players had a hold of each other. When the ball came in, Koscielny went with his foot and Martin went with his head, getting hurt in the process. This is another debatable decision. They both got the ball, but the only reason Koscielny's foot hit Martin in the head is because he ducked down to header it, so it can't be high foot. IMO they were both holding onto each other, so you can't give a penalty for that either, but feel free to disagree. What I didn't like was Martin holding his head for a minute or so, requiring treatment, before suddenly running round the pitch to get back on as soon as possible. 3) First one for Arsenal, a Coquelin cross was clearly blocked by a Norwich player's hand, which was outstretched above his head. It wasn't really ball to hand, because he lifted his hand up to block the ball and was about 3 meters away from Coquelin when it was crossed. The ball went out of play and the ref gave a corner, meaning he saw it hit the Norwich player. If he saw it hit the player, why doesn't he see it was handball, because it went over the player's head into his hand. Poor refereeing again. 4) Probably the most clear cut. A Chamberlain cross came in, went in front of Gervinho (who was offside, but didn't touch the ball) and was about to be tapped in by van Persie, before he was blatantly pushed by Naughton. The ref was quite far away, but he still should have seen that the only reason van Persie, the PL top scorer, missed a tap in is because he was pushed in the back. I still can't believe this wasn't given by the ref. Should really have been a penalty and a red card, even if Gervinho was offside in the first place. Now the red cards: 1) Ramsey - Was given a yellow in the first half for unsporting behaviour following a tackle. He didn't kick the ball away, so I'm not sure what it was for, maybe just being late. IMO it wasn't a yellow, but it was given. In the second half he committed a much worse offence when he was very late, and it should have been a yellow, but the ref settled for a talking to. He was subbed immediately afterwards. Probably should have seen that second yellow. 2) Benayoun - He tried to bundle his way through some Norwich players, lost the ball and his footing in the process. It wasn't a free kick, and he didn't ask for one either. For some reason, Ryan Bennett decided to go over and yell at him on the ground, even though he didn't dive. He then stepped OVER Benayoun's legs, almost inviting him to kick out, which he did, albeit very mildly, by lifting his leg up and tripping Bennett, who went to ground VERY easily. It was very mild, but off the ball and a different ref may have given a red for it. I don't think it warranted that, more a yellow card, but this ref decided against any action other than a free kick. 3) Holt - Now, his would and should have been for repeated fouling and I am very surprised he escaped without even a yellow card. The main fouls, which were both clear yellows, were against Song. The first one, Song shepherded the ball out of play for a goal kick, with Holt all over the back of him. As he then walked away, Holt got angry (don't know why), and pushed Song in the throat, right in front of the ref's face. Now that should have at least been a yellow, but he got away with it. Then later on, he blatantly kicked Song in the back of the leg from behind (a yellow card offence) and then as Song went to get the ball from another Norwich player, Holt blocked his path for no reason other than time wasting. That is about 3 yellow card offences, plus he elbowed players a lot when he went for headers. No action taken all game against him. 4) Hoolahan - When Coquelin first came on for Sagna, Hoolahan went in very hard and dangerously the first chance he got, obviously a warning to Coquelin that he should watch out. Now it was clearly a yellow card, but the ref just gave a free kick. Throughout the game, he committed a few more offences worthy of a yellow card (fouls and time wasting by kicking the ball away) but got away with it. His would have been the harshest, but probably still warranted. Other minor infringements: Throughout the game the ref missed many more cynical fouls, off the ball incidents and cases of kicking the ball away. I remember to very blatantly of the latter. Coquelin, about to take a throw in, has the ball knocked out of his hands. The ref ignored that blatant yellow card offence. Another, Koscielny about to take a free kick, the Norwich player kicks the ball backwards as he runs past, another yellow card offence missed by the ref. Read this if you can be bothered, I have tried to remain objective, but probably failed. Discuss anything you want about this poor refereeing performance.
Never heard of him before and never want him to ref another Arsenal game. One of the worst refs I have seen in many seasons.
this isn't the first time he's had a bad performance. in september 2010 in a 1-1 draw between Blackburn and Fulham he was criticised by both managers. and in 2011, in our 0-0 draw vs sunderland, he didn't give us a penalty for a foul on arshavin.
Terrible ref for both sides. As for the pens (1) I thought it was a great tackle by Coquelin - no pen (2) Koscielney was pulling the shirt of the attacker - Pen (3) Coquelin's cross was handled by a raised hand - Pen (4) RVP pushed over two handed from behind - the clearest pen you'll see Total incompetence.
I think its fair to say the referees this season have been absolutely garbage. There was a string of games starting mid december i think (including trips to Craven Cottage and the Etihad) where Arsenal went about 9 games in a row, with a stonewall penalty claim (or two) in each of those games, none of which were given. That cost Arsenal atleast 4 points this season (probably closer to 10). Considering the FA have released statements saying 99% of decisions made are correct. The stats included in that statement clearly include every forward pass that is onside, when they are 30 yards from the defence. Simply the worst officiating I've seen for a while, over the course of a season. Also with regard to the penalties yesterday, number 2 rarely gets given. Ferdinand has maybe conceded 3 penalties like that from thousands of exactly the same kind of incident.
Don't you actually have to play the ball (before the man) in order for it to be classed as a "great tackle"? - Just asking!
How can you say it was a great tackle when he didn't get any of the ball?!! If the ref had done his job and not bottled EVERY descion, then we'd have been 4-1 up at half time with Arsenal down to ten men, game over, and the other pens would probably never happened!
Got to say watched the game wanting Norwich to win, and couldn't believe how bad this referee was. How he was refereeing a team challenging for a Champions League spot was shocking. Got decisions wrong both way and the incident with Naughton and Van Persie was a clear penalty and sending off.
