An Arsenal red card means inevitable controversy but actually, William Saliba deserved the red card. VAR got it right again.
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A good weekend for VAR
I’m going to caveat this by saying I haven’t seen all the games from this weekend yet so can’t comment on all the decisions, but for all the moaning VAR did a good job in the three high-profile incidents this weekend.
Kudus Red – VAR exists to either correct a referee’s error or to alert them to something they didn’t see. It did both here – the ref inexplicably thought a yellow was sufficient for the initial kicks and then the hand to VDV’s face that both happened right under his nose, and he didn’t see the hand to Sarr’s face that was another red. Nothing to complain about, VAR did its job perfectly.
Saliba Red – James’ contribution to the mailbox best summarised the objections Arsenal fans have made to this, but none of them stand up to any scrutiny.
First was the suggestion that it wasn’t a clear goal scoring opportunity because ‘he has half the pitch to run before he can shoot’. He was fouled 10-15 yards inside the Arsenal half. He had 15-20 yards to run before he could shoot, and what exactly does James think would happen in the 2-3 seconds it takes for a premier league footballer to run that distance? Is he going to forget how to run? Of course it was a clear goal scoring opportunity.
His second objection is that neither the ref nor VAR could see anything they didn’t see before, which is both untrue and basically an argument to say a bad decision should stand because it benefits my team. When the incident occurs, the ball is played from the right side of the ref’s vision, and he is watching the Saliba pulling down Evanilson. What he definitely isn’t watching is the positioning of Raya and Ben White, because people can’t look at 3 things at once. It’s therefore completely reasonable for him to show a yellow, thinking raya and/or white could get to the ball. VAR allows him to see that clearly isn’t the case, and worked perfectly again.
Stones Goal – this is the most debatable of the 3, but not for the reasons most people are giving. You can’t be offside from a corner, and Silva is clearly not in Sa’s way when Stones heads the ball. It isn’t offside. What is debatable is whether Silva fouled Sa. Personally, I would argue he did – he is asking into him while the ball is travelling away from the goal, so his action has no legitimate purpose. However you could say the same about almost all the goals Arsenal have scored from set pieces over the last year or two, or every corner Spurs have faced for at least 9 months.
I would love to see a crackdown on players barging into keepers without making any attempt to play the ball, but you can’t decide to do that unilaterally in the 95th minute of a game. The linesman did his job correctly in raising his flag, and VAR allowed the right decision to be reached to disregard that flag.
Phil, London
Helmets on, guys
Oh God, an Arsenal red card. Into the fallout shelter for 72 hours then.
Neil Raines
Are Arsenal a team of monsters?
As a man of science and numbers, I am really torn on this Arsenal red card situation. On one hand, I absolutely do not believe there is a conspiracy theory – however the situation is odd enough that it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that something a bit out of the ordinary does appear to be at play, subconsciously or otherwise, and personally I have to say I am more leaning towards “reputation” over “deserved” when it comes to how many 50/50 red decisions have gone against them since Arteta joined.
Not that this absolves Arteta’s Arsenal of the fact the margins for red, seem to be significantly higher than for anyone else currently, as it would be sensible team management to be aware of this and look to “even the odds” somewhat by reducing the reputation however, the numbers are pretty impressive.
The sheer fact that Arsenal have 17 reds in domestic football since Arteta joined, and that being well over twice the amount of the team in “2nd” over that period, is strange enough but could easily be put down to “Arsenal are aggressive and dirty” under Arteta, right? Well, yes, and no doubt that they are a more physical side these days and definitely… erm… “cunning” at times. However if it’s Arteta creating a team of monsters, why are they not exhibiting the same, or at least similar, sorts of issues on tour?
Looking at the numbers, since Arteta joined, Arsenal have 1 red card over 36 games. Now, sure, European referees do be looking at things differently and the general consensus of the rules is mildly read differently from country to country but that’s not just a drop, that’s a complete 180. In simpler terms, domestically Arseneal have committed a red card offense just under 1 every 10 games since Arteta joined, yet continentally its one every 40 games.
Surely then, it’s the case that UEFA’s European club competitions are just softer? Maybe, though Atletico have 6 red cards in 34 European games since Arteta joined – and while I know they are the absolute thesis study on housery of the excremental variety, domestically they have incurred 13 reds over the same period. So they’re “reds per game” actually significantly ups when it comes to European football despite the fact I am quite confident from my fair-weather La Liga watching that Atletico that goes on tour has no particular additional spice to the Atletico that goes on tour.
Again, none of this is an exact science and even my strong belief that there isn’t a PGMOL racket in play to raise City up cannot be intrinsically proven even if the suggestion of a conspiracy is quite far fetched and hard to justify but I do think it’s almost up there with the stranger phenomena in the footballing world at the moment. If Arsenal’s reputation had them far and away the worst disciplined team in the Premier League that would be one thing, but the worst by as far as they are, that’s where it gets interesting to a numbers man.
Harold Elijah Hooler (the one who is currently avoiding York Road as the Magpies are on an unbeaten – if hardly impressive – run since I stopped going)
P.S. I have to say, my belief that Chelsea are going to win things with this group of players remains unchanged however I was adamant this would be a tough year for the Pool and everything is lined up perfectly for them to frustrate Arsenal at the Emirates.
With crayons if necessary
Contrary to the fifth conclusion, it was the same distance to the goal with the same probability of tracking back and making a tackle that Ben White had. Someone explain to me like I’m five years of age why Tosin received a yellow for what was unanimously decreed to be a red card offence a day earlier? Did Mr Webb not have his phone adequately charged?
Bearing in mind that I’ve no conspiratorial skin in the game here, being a long suffering Waterford Utd, now FC again, fan.
Eoin (VAR proved itself with the disallowed Liverpool and the overruled Chelsea offside yet the yellow/red cards once again proved it is vulnerable to human error/abuse)
Spurs are still mental
Phil, London – no mate, no no no no no no.
I really admire your optimism, and your ability to not be the stereotypical fickle Spurs fan. Thank you for being a beacon of hope. You’re right, Kulu is a beast. First name on the team sheet for me.
But, there’s always a but right, what does “the tiresome narrative driven nonsense I’m currently subjected to whether we won or lost” mean? That’s what football is. Winning, losing or drawing. This feels like the letters page equivalent of “it’s who we are mate”. You’ve drunk the kool-aid. I wake up sweating in the night with the words profoundly unserious football club rattling around my head because it’s true. We’re a loveable but silly football team.
The Brighton game was not an outlier. The same thing happened at Newcastle and Leicester. We put in an unbelievably weak Spursy second half performance away from home not helped by a stubborn manager. It’s happened three times in four away games.
You talk about margins and the fact that we’re scoring big but only losing by the odd goal. Elite sport is about very fine margins. To not understand that is to miss what it takes to be successful or be Russell Martin. Or both.
Honestly, I saw some drivel on the socials about us being a resilient team full of grit and character. We’re spanking mediocre teams at home, beating decent teams and struggling against the top teams. Away from home we’re iffy against everyone except Utd.
A couple of other things whilst I’ve got you all on the line…
Werner. Bloody hell. Poor lad. I can see the argument for giving a player bereft of confidence a run against a crumbling backline but it didn’t work. Archie Gray looked at him, thought about the pass and turned the other way. I’ve never actually seen a player be passed over for a pass so obviously before. I don’t want to sound melodramatic but if he keeps being picked over Moore the Aussie might lose the dressing room.
Solanke was awesome. A lot of good stuff that’s happening when Spurs go forward is because of him. He’s a very selfless footballer. Loved the half time substitution. Interesting that we unpicked the low block with two defensive-ish midfielders on the pitch.
All the best
Andrew
READ: Maddison sacrificed as abysmal West Ham help teach Postecoglou ‘irrelevant’ subs lesson
English manager PR
Dear Paul – It’s all about PR. Everyone knows Gerrard was the worst manager in the world yet it’s not conspiracy or some old boys club, it’s simply PR.
Image rights if you will. It’s the same for managers as it is for players, the image and public perception of someone is more important than the truth where money is to be made.
This will mean that brain-dead managers like gerro and lamps will always be mentioned whenever a manager is sacked. They are paying to be mentioned.
Tommy Tucker is the same yet appears to have a better reputation and agent than “the golden generation” because lets be honest, whilst I mock, he’s the most qualified person to actually be interested
Fat Man (Michael Keane is the most natural finisher I’ve ever seen, waaaaay more natural than Fowler)
