The untold ref review: Arsenal – Wasting Hammers

By Walter Broeckx, the ref

No beach ball to see with ref Micheal Jones today so he couldn’t mess it up with that. But how did he do for the rest with the other decisions?

CARD: Ilunga gets the first yellow card. The ref let play continue first for an advantage but then comes back to the foul and gives the card. Ilunga came in hard. Correct decision. 1/1

CARD: Song gets a yellow card and no much to argue about it, he was late. 1/1

OTHER: Time wasting by Green was ridiculous. And as far as I could see it nothing was said or done by the ref. After the first half I think Green had wasted some 15 minutes of time. 0/1

OTHER/CARD: Parker fouls Denilson and the ref lets it go. This was a Dejongh kind of tackle. Like I have said some hundred times: when you take both ball and man it still is a foul and certainly when you come in frontal.  This could have caused serious injury. No foul seen by the ref and so no card. 0/1 and 0/1

CARD: Parker with another bad tackle on Chamakh this time. And again no card is shown. Are they having some kind of affair the ref and Parker? 0/1 And this could and should have been his second yellow card at least.

CARD: Boa Morte is booked for bringing down Denilson. No way he could have played the ball. The right decision. 1/1

OTHER: More and more time wasting by Green and the West Gang at each free kick, throw and goal kick. I think Green has stolen some 45 minutes on his own. Okay this is a little bit exaggerated but again I didn’t see the ref making any remark on this during the whole 90 minutes. Again I was not in the stadium so maybe he did do something but I couldn’t see it. What I do know is that during each goal kick Green had to take they gave the replays off all the chances we have had during the game. 0/1

PENALTY:  Arshavin goes down in the box at full pace. Da Costa put his hand on him and gave the impression that he pulled him a bit. But as I cannot tell if the push was enough or not I go with the refs decision on this. But if the ref would have given it, West Ham shouldn’t have complained as it is dangerous to put your arm on the other player. 1/1

PENALTY: Chamakh is being held by his marker when he tries to head it and can’t jump properly. This was a penalty for me. If this would have happened in the CL the ball could have ended on the penalty spot. He was clearly held so this is a foul. 1/1

OTHER: Theo is going for a shot and at the moment he shoots Chamakh is some 3 meters ONSIDE. Green saves and pushes the ball wide. Chamakh is first on to the ball and then the linesman raises his flag. Now I don’t know what that was all about. No way Chamakh was offside. I think the linesman was blinded by the light or so but it stopped another attack and gave West Hame some 4 minutes to waste more time. 0/1

CARD:  Chamakh is booked for a shirt tug on Da Costa. The Moroccan is not happy with Da Costa who he thinks led with his elbow. These are the things you get as a ref when you don’t have the game in hand. Players feel this and do their own thing and don’t mind about what the ref is doing. But the card was correct, a blatant shirt pull but born our of frustration with so many wrong decisions. 1/1

GOAL: party time at the Emirates and correct goal. No offside at all mr. Green.

OTHER: Extra time 5 minutes. After a game in which 1 team has done all the time wasting you can try to give the other team as much extra time as possible. So initial 5 minutes was the right decision when they made that decision and I guess this was some 5 minutes before the end of the game. So I could give him a point for this and give him a good point. But I will come back on this further on in my article 1/1

CARDS: 4/6

PENALTY: 1/2

GOAL:  1/1

OTHER: 1/5

Total score: 7/14 (50%)

Now I do confess that I give these points but can change them if someone who was in the stadium tells me that the ref actually did tell Green to not waste time like they did.

For the rest it was what I would call a typical EPL ref performance. For some reasons refs in the EPL all seem to be remembered as a ref who doesn’t ref in fact. They don’t punish some dangerous tackles. They don’t want to punish time wasting. They don’t want to give cards when it is needed and instructed. They don’t want to stop the game. It is as if they are afraid to blow their whistle.  Today was no different.

Once again a ref let a very dangerous tackle go even without blowing a foul (Parker on Denilson). So I expect us to see another few broken legs before we are champions at the end of the season.  And this is for me a very sad thing. I hope it happens with other teams and that it is not Arsenal who suffer another major blow but if the refs keep on doing nothing about those dangerous frontal tackles it will happen. It is just a matter of time.  I can only call on the refs to act and to prevent it.

I wanted to give my view on the MIOU – Spuds 2nd goal but I will give it in the comments section later on as I think it could take away some attention on the ref from today.

And a final note: it was the second visit from mr. Jones to the Emirates and last time he got 83% so it was a bad performance or the game (against Blackpool) was played in a very good atmosphere and with 2 teams wanted to play football.

32 Replies to “The untold ref review: Arsenal – Wasting Hammers”

  1. MIOU-Spuds: second goal.
    The facts: Nani goes down and hopes for a penalty. There was a slight contact at first but then he threw himself when no contact was made. Nani then lands on the ball and he even pulls the ball towards him a bit.
    The ref gives no penalty. But from his position it could well have been that he didn’t see Nani holding the ball with this hands. Because Nani his hands were covered by his body from where the ref was looking.
    Gomes takes the ball and waits and waits untill Nani puts the ball in goal. Gomes could have taken the “free kick” some 3 or 4 times but he just didn’t kick it for some reason. He should have played on as Tottenham needed a goal.

    The ref gives the goal and hen players charge towards the linesman who raises his flag. The ref goes over and sends the Tottenham players away. Very well done ref. BUT then he allows Ferdinand to stand next to him and the assistant when they talk about what happened and then gives the goal.

    Like I said I think that Clattenburg did not see the handball at first. But when he goes to the assistant the assistant tells the ref that Nani handled the ball. From this moment on he should follow his linesman and give a foul to Tottenham for handball. Because the linesman is just standing there to help the ref for situations he did not see. So why he did gave the goal despite the linesman telling him that Nani made a deliberate and clear handball is something that only mr. Clattenburg will know. The SAF-factor?

    Clattenburg should have taken the help from his assistant and give a free kick for handball against Nani. And to think I gave him 93% only last week. Two different days in Manchester in a week time for Mr. Clattenburg.

  2. PENALTY: Chamakh is being held by his marker when he tries to head it and can’t jump properly. This was a penalty for me. If this would have happened in the CL the ball could have ended on the penalty spot. He was clearly held so this is a foul. 1/1….

    Shouldn’t that be 0/1 Walter? Was a very poor display from the ref today

  3. What I reacted to was that he blew the whistle a lot, stopping the flow in the game. Even during some small fouls when we had a good advantage, he blew the whistle without considering advantage. At one point he ran over to a WH player to book him, Arsenal took a quick free kick, and the ref just thought; “oh well, maybe later” and let the play go on. It was one of the worst games I’ve seen this season when it comes to refereeing.

  4. Excellent article as always Walter. thanks for clearing up that other issue as well.

  5. Fedda, you are right it should have been 0/1. In my end figures I had done it correct. You see even the untold ref can make a mistake. 😉

  6. Damnit!! right at the start of 2nd half, Parker made 3 fouls on arsenal players within 5 mins, although the fouls might not be a yellow card fouls, the refs should show him one for the number of fouls he made.. otherwise, players will just aim for fouls to stop opposition instead of playing football~~

  7. If I were a young baby sleeping in my cot in Kings Road Chelsea I would sleep sounder than if I were a young baby sleeping in my cot in Ashburton Grove, reason being, I think I could rely on dad to bring home the rent. Yes, Arsenal will be be there but they`ll cause a few heart flutters along the way.There is no doubt that the lesser teams will decide who will be champions, do not under estimate them.

  8. Thanks Walter. I agree that the ref was hopeless. Parker should have had 4 yellows, Boa Morte an additional 2, while Da Costa would also have got 2 from me.

    Your comment about the likelihood of serious injury is spot on. Under what circumstances are you allowed to take out the man? Presumably if you get to the ball first and it is not clear if you went into him or he went into you, that is ok? When you come in from the side, get the ball, but your trailing leg takes the player, my understanding is that a foul has been committed. Is that correct?

  9. The referee was clueless about West Ham’s time wasting. He spent half the game chatting with the players, which West Ham players quickly realised was another way they could waste more time.

    Time wasting is cheating in my book, so the Hammers went back to East London with what they deserved – nothing.

  10. I am a qualified referee and a referees’ assessor at a senior level but not PL. The referee yesterday gave a poor performance. What you did not note is that some of his position was poor. OIndeed, at one stage he actually blocked Song from having a shot. In the laws of the game, it cleraly sttaes that goalkeepers must release the ball into play after 6 seconds. Green was taking far longer, but no free kick (or card) was awarded.

    This guy is a poor referee at this standard.

  11. I am a qualified referee and a referees’ assessor at a senior level but not PL. The referee yesterday gave a poor performance. What you did not note is that some of his positioning was poor. Indeed, at one stage he actually blocked Song from having a shot. In the laws of the game, it cleraly sttaes that goalkeepers must release the ball into play after 6 seconds. Green was taking far longer, but no free kick (or card) was awarded.

    This guy is a poor referee at this standard.

  12. A very frustrating game. The time wasting is only to be expeted, especially for teams fighting for survival. Refs must do more!

    I wish Cesc would stop encouraging refs to show cards. I understand the frustration, but it isn’t the done thing

  13. HI, what I saw from the repley I thought that Arsahvin dived in his penalty claim. And in my opinion he should have been booked. Because if you go down like Andrey did the ref has to think that if it there was contact or not. I hate diving, and specially when its done by someone in our team it makes it even worse.

  14. Holly shit

    Editor’s note here. This post is utterly off topic, and normally I would cut such posts. But it mentions another blog, whom I have criticised for the way that they cut posts. Don’t want to be hoist, so I am leaving this one in, but just a reminder to one and all – posts must have some semblance of being on topic, or must be of such vital or breaking news that there is a justification for butting into the conversation – and a posting in general on another blog doesn’t really qualify. Tony

    I’ve been boycotting Le grove for 7 months now and today I was enticed by the headline as it wasn’t a negative one and guess what there match analysis was actually spot on they were not cynical or negative once. Wow miracles can happen I’ll still continue to boycott them as I still think they hypocrites and some what brainless and they should just support tottenham but credit where credit is due. For once just this once they got some thing right.

  15. There should be match commissioner to oversee and assist the conduct of a game.The case of Man. United match agaist Spur when it is clear that Nani held the ball. communication must be made to Refree for error spotted and quick positive correction should be made [awarding free kick to spur]. I rest my case.

  16. Nicolas, the instructions for giving a yellow card in case of “a dive” are:

    If there is no contact and the player goes down and claims a penalty: yellow card.

    If there is contact but in your (ref) opinion not enough to call a foul and the player goes doenw: no yellow card.

    So there was contact between Arshavin and Da Costa (arm) so no yellow card. The same goes for Nani a bit as there was a little bit of contact at the start of the action so I also would not have given a yellow card

  17. I still get a laugh after teams have been timewasting to try to preserve a draw, only to go one down. the ironic cheers from the crowd when green ran to fetch a ball for a goal kick, and when they made their last substitution and their player sprinted off the pitch.

    Its the little things.

    As far as the reffing goes, i feel that the game didn’t flow. too much stop and starting. At least we didn’t get Twattenberg.

  18. Mike Jones should have worn a clown costume – I agree with this post and I would go further… what previous posters have said with Jones being complicit in the time wasting, breaking up play and making the arsenal team play round him due to poor positioning is all true.
    Fantastic win – the pitch was tilted against us and we did what we had to, played uphill and didn’t let our heads drop. Very proud of the players today!

  19. I was just reading report on Arsenal official site, and after I watched game, after I read report, after I read Walter report, I still cant believe Parker didn’t get yellow. Rest of game, well as I am not expert I have to believe to Walter words (and I do).
    But even if those were two benign tackles I guess in most of games player who do such two tackles in 30 seconds would get yellow.

  20. Thanks Walter, broadly agree with what you say.

    Jones had a very inconsistent match. He booked Chamack for the shirt pull but not Cesc for the same offence, literally seconds later. Song correctly booked but nothing for many other similar offences from both sides.

    At the game I thought AA had dived but it was just a matter of a bit of contact forcing him down at speed. Not enough for a penalty or a dive.

    My reading of the Spuds/Man U incident is that Gomes was the one at fault. I think Clattenburg saw it all and tried to give Tottenham the advantage to play the ball quickly. As he never blew for the clear handball the ball was in play & it was all down to Gomes’ lack of concentration & Nani’s quick thinking.

    Unless you, or our other refs here, tell me that handball is something that has to be blown, in all situations, then Clattenburg did the right thing & became a victim of something that actually should be applauded, ie getting on with the game.

  21. Despite scandalous time wasting I don’t recall the ref cautioning any one in this regard. The difference in attitude of the West Ham players re time wasting before & after the goal was extreme.Perhaps a 5 minute clip from this game should be played to EPL referees the next time they convene for their strategy update, so they can recognise the difference.
    A good suggestion I heard is that the crowd start counting every time a keeper goes to take a goal kick, just to remind the referee of the situation.

  22. Walter – I think you missed an incident. Unless my memory is going mad didnt Da Costa go straight through one of our players in the opening minutes?

  23. Walter often misses incidents. Should the ref have stopped the game for a head injury when Parker was hit on side of the face? Is it me or is this site getting just a little too bias? We’re all going to see things from an Arsenal point of view, but it is much more interesting to review in balance

  24. Why can’t the refs be made to take an interview after the game like the managers are? if they had to explain themselves after every match, it might affect their decision making.

    They definately have an effect on the game, they aren’t just spectators. However (sub)conciously, their actions do affect the outcome of a game.

  25. Bexxy

    Is that the incident when Parker was flat out for several seconds, but looked up (when the ref didn’t stop play) to see where the ball was & then lay down again when it looked advantageous to do so??? Time wasting par excellence!!!!

  26. Bexxy, yes I sometimes do have to leave things out for 2 reasons.
    I cannot take all things in consideration as it would have as a result that these reports are far too long.
    As someone over here said: the less words you use the better I find it. 😉
    But to talk about the head injury/faking thing was something you cannot blame the ref for.
    The rules are that if the ref thinks that there might be a head injury involved you have to stop the game. Now Parker was standing on his feet when Arsenal had the ball to defend, then going down when West Ham seemed to clear the ball, standing up when Arsenal had the ball again and finaly stayed down. As a ref you can only stop the game at that point. So I think in this case you cannot blame the ref. If it was play acting (which I think it was) then it is the players who are to blame for not behaving according to the rules. So I could not judge the ref for this incident so I did not mention it. I can understand his decision because you cannot take any risk.

  27. One thing about the time wasting and the extra time. If I get a game with a team that is doing some extreme time wasting I warn them first, then I go to the keeper and tell him that if I have to come over again it will be for a yellow card. And then when I give him a yellow card if he persists I tell him that the next time it will be another yellow and I will allow if needed 10 minutes of extra time. I once did it, those 10 minutes.

    But if the time wasting team gets a late goal against them and they lose the game I will blow my whistle after 90 minutes and make an end to the game. And I can tell you that this is the best way to punish such a team. Just don’t give them any chance that they can use the time they have wasted all the game to score a late equalizer or winning goal.

    If I would have been the ref yesterday I would have stopped the game after 90 minutes on the clock.

  28. And in my live match report for the Benelux side I even told that at a certain moment it looked as if the ref was a West Ham player, standing in the way of our players at times and disrupting our passing.
    But it never got the ref report this time.

  29. Walter – point taken. You certainly can not comment on every incident. However, your articles are much better when balanced, but this is a rare occurrence. Don’t get me wrong, I love the site and blogs but blind bias reporting does get a little tiresome!

    Scott Parker – he simply tried to get to his feet as soon as he could despite the blow to the head. Tony Adams, Steve Bould like. Please don’t suggest it would be better to stay down

  30. Walter is right on almost every front.
    One thing you can rely on is that English refs are all influenced by the media-Is it because their bosses are? and Chamakh, who has recently been portrayed a as a diver- was hard done by in this game.

    As for the the SAF factor- do not under estimate it- it was a scandalous decision- and how many do Manchester United get in a season? When has any English ref ever given a soft penalty against them? At OT- never in 10 years- the refs and for that matter the remainder of the media are terrified of the manipulative Scottish bully.

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