The Untold ref review: Fulham – Arsenal

By Walter Broeckx, the Untold ref goes on his holidays soon

Well we had ref Atkinson for our final game of the season.  And guess what we had him in our opening game also and then he had a score of 83% in total. Let us see what he had this time?

And notice yet another new format of the ref review thanks to you readers.

Min Type Foul from On C/NC Comment points weight on
1 OTHER Johson Djourou C Pull 1 1 1
5 OFFSIDE Van Persie C 1 1 1
6 OTHER Johnson Wilshere NC Not given 0 0 1
7 OTHER Senderos Van Persie C Trip 1 1 1
9 OTHER Senderos Wilshere NC Block with the ball not in sight anymore on the edge of the penalty area 0 0 1
12 OTHER Demspey Wilshere C Push in back 1 1 1
14 OFFSIDE Johnson C 1 1 1
16 OTHER Djourou Zamora C Trip 1 1 1
19 OTHER Chamakh Murphy C Trip 1 1 1
22 OFFSIDE Zamora NC Offside not given 0 0 1
22 OTHER Johnson Vermaelen C Holding the arm 1 1 1
23 OFFSIDE Chamakh C Play continue as Fulham have the ball 1 1 1
26 GOAL C Fulham score, no offside, correct goal 1 3 3
29 GOAL C Arsenal score, nothing wrong with this goal 1 3 3
33 OTHER Djourou Zamora NC It was the Fulham player holding the shirt of Djourou first and then later going down as Djourou was going further away and pulling himself down in fact 0 0 1
39 OTHER Senderos Chamakh C Pull 1 1 1
39 OTHER 17 Van Persie NC Push in back 0 0 1
41 OTHER Diaby Murphy NC Trip 0 0 1
41 OTHER Demspey Gibbs NC Push in defence 0 0 1
43 OTHER Briggs Nasri NC Holding and tripping 0 0 1
44 OFFSIDE Zamora C 1 1 1
46 OTHER Johson Vermaelen C Push 1 1 1
46 OTHER Demspey Wilshere C Trip 1 1 1
Half time 15 19 27
CORRECT 50,00% 70,37%
YELLOW 0 0 0,00
RED 0 0 0,00
PENALTY 0 0 0,00
GOAL 2 2 100,00
OTHER 0 0 0,00
2 2 100,00
OFFSIDE 4 5 80,00
47 OFFSIDE Hughes C 1 1 1
49 OTHER Hangeland Van Persie NC RVP gets blocked as he tries to run after a ball by Hangeland who moves to Van Persie a clear obstruction 0 0 1
49 YELLOW Van Persie C Gets a yellow card for telling the ref what he thinks of him. Not a wise thing even if you are right. Card is correct 1 2 2
50 PENALTY C The Fulham crowd asks a penalty for handball. The ball hit Djourou in the chest 1 3 3
51 OTHER Dempsey Wilshere C Trip 1 1 1
54 OTHER Greening Nasri C Holding his shirt 1 1 1
54 YELLOW NC Greening gets a yellow card for this. Was not really much going on and Nasri had just freed himself. Not worthy of giving the yellow I think 1 0 2
56 GOAL C Nothing against the rules when Fulham scores 1 3 3
60 OTHER Diaby Johson C Pushin and holding 1 1 1
60 OTHER Hangeland Sagna NC Push from Hangeland on Sagna who bumps in to Szczesny. Nothing given 0 0 1
62 OTHER 24 Nasri NC Blocked with the arm 0 0 1
66 OTHER Chamakh Hangeland C Handball 1 1 1
74 OTHER Gera Vermaelen C Two footed frontal tackle 1 1 1
74 RED C Gera gets a red card for this dangerous tackle. I had the impression even Gera agreed with this. 1 3 3
77 OTHER Sidwell Chamack C Pull and trip 1 1 1
77 YELLOW C Sidwell gets a card for this. Stopping a promising attack. 1 2 2
78 OFFSIDE Arshavin C 1 1 1
79 OTHER Hughes Van Persie NC Van Persie is bundled over just after passing the ball to the outside. Was a late challenge 0 0 1
80 OTHER Bridges Van Persie C Holding the player 1 1 1
82 OTHER Vermaelen Johson C Pushing 1 1 1
84 OFFSIDE C Vermaelen is offside when the pass goes to him to head it wide 1 1 1
85 OTHER Arshavin ? NC Ref gives advantage but a foul on a defender should always be punished 0 0 1
89 GOAL C Walcott goes past his man and finishes in the bottom corner. Nice long ball from Vermaelen btw 1 3 3
90 OTHER Etuhu Wilshere C Several pulls and pushes 1 1 1
93 OTHER ? Eboue NC trip 0 0 1
2nd half score
TOTAL 19 28 36
% CORRECT 63,33% 77,78%
YELLOW 1 2 50,00
RED 1 1 100,00
PENALTY 1 1 100,00
GOAL 2 2 100,00
OTHER 3 4 75,00
8 10 80,00
OFFSIDE 3 3 100,00
TOTAL SCORE
TOTAL 34 47 63
% CORRECT 70,83% 74,60%
YELLOW 1 2 50,00
RED 1 1 100,00
PENALTY 1 1 100,00
GOAL 4 4 100,00
OTHER 3 4 75,00
10 12 83,33
OFFSIDE 7 8 87,50
Correct calls For Arsenal 20 60,61%
For Fulham 13 39,39%
Total correct calls 33
Wrong calls Against Arsenal 11 78,57%
Against Fulham 3 21,43%
Total 14

I hope you can still manage to get all the information on board as this is yet something new and even more complete than before. This time I included who committed the foul (if I could see it clearly) and this could bring more information to the player watch that some people asked for.

But back to the ref and his game and much to my surprise he got the same score as in the first game of the season 83%.

I was very pleased with the red card he gave as this was the only option he had and he gave it. So credit to the ref and it looks as if he has learned something from the Dejong tackle on Ben Arfa earlier this season.

So this was the final review of the season. I hope you enjoyed it a bit. Well I did most of the time. Oh and in a few days time I will be coming back with the review of the season. Something to look forward I think.  So I leave it like that for now and if you have any remarks about the format please give me some feedback so I can make it better.

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24 Replies to “The Untold ref review: Fulham – Arsenal”

  1. Ugh, what a depressing run in. Please God allow next season to be a to be a good one. Listening to Untold glorify these past failures…

  2. Thanks for a season of great reviews. The layout seems a bit messed up though with so many columns; your table seems just too wide to fit properly. A nice addition is the column of perpetrators, but with also a column for the recipients of the foul and a column for the type of foul, the data is a bit much. I liked how you did that before with a small comment “foul on …” with more explanation for the serious fouls.

  3. Walter,

    Agree it has trouble fitting on the screen, width-wise! I work as an analyst and I often find that when a project evolves like this bit by bit at the end it looks like it could use a quick revamp to make things clearer.

    Also at the bottom it’s not immediately obvious to work out what the ‘ultimate’ or ‘total’ number is… from reading your commentary (or adding the numbers in our head) we can see it’s the 83.33% but perhaps a label would make this clearer?

    Finally, on the correct/wrong calls, would it make more sense to show the percentages in terms of Arsenal: 60% right, 40% wrong vs Fulham: 55% right, 45% wrong instead of the current format of Correct Calls: Arsenal 70%, Fulham 30%; Wrong Calls: Arsenal 80%, Fulham 20%, which in my mind is arbitrary as you can see in this case that Arsenal had more both ‘correct’ and ‘wrong’ calls on an absolute basis anyway, so what does it tell us that their percentages are higher than Fulhams? (Not much). Would be more interesting to see whether Arsenal or Fulham appeared more ‘hard done by’ on an independent basis.

  4. Untold = Awesome
    Walter & Tony = Legends

    Lovely stuff this season gents, if only some of our players put in the same amount of effort.

    Have a great summer gents.

    And just remember that even though the footy is over for now, at least you guys get to enjoy the summer while theres nothing to do on weekends. Here in the southern hemisphere we got no footy, and just miff cold weather. So enjoy.

  5. I actually like this new system. Yes, there are problems with the text as it is right now, but once that is sorted, I think the new format makes it easier to understand what Walter is saying. The three columns (foul by, on, comments) are a good addition. Clear, to the point, and it will aid in keeping tabs on certain players, as often when I look at some players’ official stats I always wonder how many fouls and cards they actually should have had. Good work Walter.

  6. Walter, Tony, = Legends

    top review Walter, one suggestion though for development, instead of names would players numbers be easier, they are permanent squad numbers for the season and when collating data would that not make it easier to formulate.

    In fact it is more a question than a suggestion.

    Again i reiterate, top top work Walter, the UA community hold you in the highest possible regard

  7. Great work Walter! It’s Very gratifying to have the new format. It’s as clear as day on my screen. I think display is a browser-by-browser question: clear on some, not so clear on others. It may take some testing on a few different browsers (Mozilla, Windows, optimal settings) in the off-season to tweak it, or be able to advise fans on browser settings. People will be onside and you can put up an occasional test and ask for feedback, so the tecchie’s can do their magic. For my part, I can see it very well and love the additions. I don’t think the player-number (instead of player-names) concept works because it requires an additional look-up which is time-consuming and loses the impact that it should have through name-recognition, not number — especially when it’s our opponents’ jerseys. The number would work will perhaps in a database, but the viewer’s immediate experience would be greatly diminished. Many thanks for your efforts on this and all season, and your season report is eagerly anticipated.

  8. @Laundyender – this would not work with regards to the data capture as squad numbers can change on a season by season basis.

    Hopefully (via a webform interface) I can provide a predictive text box to capture the player name – that way player/referee data can be modeled over multiple seasons. First though I will need to get a comprehensive list of player names – this willnot effect the style of Walters Referee Reviews, this is more the style of the standard interface for the UntoldEPL project.

  9. Walter

    One factor I’m interested in when assessing referees is their fitness and positioning, and how that impacts on decision-making. As a ref yourself, is this a significant factor, or does it have minimal impact? If it is, would you be able to include a one or two line summary assessing this in any future reviews?

    I echo the thanks for the effort in producing the reviews throughout the season

  10. I had no problem reading the table, which I think is the best version of the analysis provided this season – I know it is a lot more work, but providing the information on who fouled who, along with the additional notes, works very well. It has been an excellent series of articles, and I hope it’s possible to keep it going into next season. Thanks.

  11. Like this version. Thanks for all the hard work in exposing some of these issues and for such a detailed analysis of the refs over the season, some have been telling to say the very least.
    Enjoy your holidays, in fact if you really want to enjoy them, stay away from any articles about our beloved club for a few weeks!

  12. Great article Walter. I read this in my iPhone and it worked great.
    I hope you will keep doing these next season even it will be hard work.
    For this season I just wan to say: Dank u well!

  13. Excellent work on the reviews this game and all season! I like the new format.

    The last column kind of cut off a little bit in my browser but I’m sure that can be worked out by next year. Maybe slight adjustments to the column size can make it fit clearly.

    Also, agree with Phoenix that overall score for the ref should be highlighted some way to differentiate it from the rest of the data (different color, highlighted box, or something similar)

    For calls correct and wrong, the only suggestion I have is maybe to do a simple 2 x 2 table. Top of the table (horizontal line) says Arsenal in 1 column, opponent in the 2nd. Going down the columns say Correct in 1st row, incorrect in 2nd row. For the data above (hope it comes out clear:

    CALLS
    Arsenal Fulham Total

    Correct 20 13 33

    Wrong Against 11 3 14

    Total 31 16 47

    % Correct 64.51 81.25

    % Wrong 35.49 18.75

    The percent correct and wrong calls I based on the total calls that were supposed to be for each team.

    You can also add the percentage for each individual category also underneath the team name if you would like to add that (i.e. Under Arsenal, split 2 columns – Calls (20 under it) Percentage (60.61 under it) and do the same for Fulham

    Hopefully it wasn’t too confusing!

    (I can email it in Excel if what I wrote made it seem more confusing)

  14. Thank you for all of your considerable efforts this season. The fab new format is almost exhaustive – quality work. In our house we feel our own comments & observations are confirmed by your stats. Have a great break, mate.

  15. Another good review Walter and I like the improved format. Also many thanks for all your work throughout the season – it has been very educational and at times facinating. Most importantly, your work must surely be an important step to ensuring fair play and a higher standard of refereeing.

    Hope you enjoy a well deserved holiday!

  16. well, coming from a man whose country is steeped in Communism, this may not be Ketman, but it certainly has a strong whiff of “read between the lines”

    READ IT CAREFULLY

    Andrey says:

    Andrey Arshavin believes Arsenal never stood a chance of winning major silverware this season.

    Arsene Wenger’s side were going for the quadruple at one point but their campaign ended in disaster after they were beaten in the final minutes of the Carling Cup final by Birmingham.

    The Gunners were then knocked out in the quarter-finals in both the Champions League and FA Cup before seeing their title hopes slip away.

    Arshavin believes his side had no luck on their side and they were destined not to win a major trophy once again.

    He said: “The season turned out to be difficult for Arsenal. The championship was difficult.

    “At the end of the championship I had a feeling that no matter what we did and how hard we tried, everything was against us. We couldn’t win, we tried, but the season went its own way.”

    PHEW. Well, you can say that again.

    ———–

    I suppose there may be a law of things evening themselves out over the season a bit.(But it involves off-field as well as on-field factors). Whilst we were the King Canute’s trying to turn back the tide of manifest Ladbroke destiny, some chap like a dog with three cocks who plays for a high profile club in red got involved in an altercation on Twitter. Or something like.

    There is some kind of justice at work here, I am sure.

  17. Hey everyone! Don’t sign off yet – just in case, Walter’s season end wrap-up report – the cherry on the sundae – is busy being born. So don’t go on vacation quite yet…. and keep tuning in. The best is yet to come and there’s no denyin’.

  18. Marcus, well I think we can understand what he is trying to say without naming it.

    Oh and the ref review of the year will be coming soon to you over here on Untold.
    I can tell you it is more than just one article… but I guess you expected something like that I think… 😉

  19. Jerry could you mail it to my email address

    Just to make sure I understand it correct.

    Thanks a lot

    Oh and I will be working on the presentation of it all. I do confess I did this at 1.00 am on a monday night and was very tired so just copied it in the article without checking the width of the tables. In fact this sounds like an excuse but I didn’t wanted to keep you waiting as I knew I would be unable to come close to a computer this day before the evening…

  20. Just emailed you the file, hope it reaches ok! Let me know if you have any questions and sorry i responded so late!

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