Untold Ref Review: Arsenal 1 – 2 Wigan Athletic « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade

Today’s referee is Andre Marriner –

MATCH REVIEW DETAILS – Andre Marriner (2012-04-16)
Period 1
Min	Type	Foul from	On	C/NC	Comment	Weight
2	OTHER	McArthur	Rosicky	C		1
3	OTHER	RVP	Di Santo	C	RVP could have been cautioned here, it was late	1
6	GOAL	Di Santo		C	Hurt as much second and third time around	3
7	GOAL	Gomez		C	Ouch	3
15	OTHER	Vermaelen	Wigan	N/C	Ref misses as Verminator gives a little push as he goes for an attacking header	1
20	GOAL	Vermaelen		C	Great work by Rosicky	3
27	OTHER	Wigan	Theo	C		1
28	OFFSIDE	Di Santo		C		1
30	OTHER	Di santo	Ramsey	N/C	ref was right there but missed a little trip on the heel	1
32	OTHER	Sagna	Moses	C		1
32	YELLOW	Sagna		C	An easy yellow	2
34	OTHER	McArthur	Ramsey	C		1
36	OTHER	Benayoun	Alcaraz	C		1
37	OTHER	Song	J Gomez	N/C	Nothing wrong with this challenge	1
39	OTHER	Djourou		C	Handball, may have been generous, but the ref was entitiled to give it	1
40	OTHER	Walcott	Wigan	C		1
40	OTHER	Boyce		C	Handball	1
42	OTHER	Figueroa	Rosicky	C		1
44	OTHER	Moses	RVP	C		1
45	OTHER	Wigan	Djourou	N/C	He came over the top of JD, not allowing him to jump	1
45	OTHER	Song	Di Santo	N/C	Song was again harshly treated, should have been a foul to JD	1
46	OTHER	Vermaelen	Wigan	N/C	Came from behind, he did not get the ball	1
Period 2
Min	Type	Foul from	On	C/NC	Comment	Weight
45	OTHER	Wigan	Ramsey	C		1
46	OTHER	Figueroa	Benayoun	N/C	A nudge on the edge of the box as the ball is in air	1
50	OTHER	Gomez	Santos	C		1
51	OTHER	Benayoun	Boyce	N/C	A shove on the line but Ref is unsighted	1
51	OTHER	Di Santo	Walcott	C	Going with Ref but I cant see anything	1
58	OTHER			N/C	Ref allows Wigan to steal 18 yards at a throw in, they nearly score after some awful defending from Santos and JD	1
59	OTHER	Caldwell	Ramsey	C		1
59	YELLOW	Caldwell		C		2
62	OFFSIDE	RVP		C		1
65	OTHER	Di Santo		C	Handball, assumed correct	1
67	OTHER	Song	Figarola	C	Just, only just	1
68	OTHER	Rosicky	Figarola	C		1
69	OTHER	Djourou	Wigan	N/C	Clattered him from a corner when he timed run wrong	1
71	OTHER	Song	McArthur	C		1
71	YELLOW	Song		C	Ref was entitled to caution, but I feel it is harsh	2
73	OTHER	Di Santo	Rosicky	C		1
74	OTHER	Di Santo	Vermaelen	C		1
77	OTHER	Chamberlain	Salmon	N/C	Nothing in it, if anything Salmon had fouled Chambo 2 seconds earlier	1
77	OFFSIDE	Salmon		C		1
84	OTHER	Figueroa	Walcott	N/C	Theo had been waiting for some grass in front of him, and he was taken out with no contact on the ball, clear foul	1
84	YELLOW	Figueroa		N/C	Should have been a yellow, Theo was away	2
85	OTHER	Gervinho	Boyce	C		1
86	OTHER	Salmon	Vermaelen	C		1
87	OTHER	Song	Salmon	C	Salmon had overun the ball, it ran through to Sagna, But Song caught Salmon	1
88	OTHER	Figueroa	Ramsey	N/C	He gives him a shove as he delivers ball into box	1
89	OTHER	Santos	Diame	C		1
90	OTHER	Rosicky	Figarola	N/C	Rosicky got his body across, he did not foul him	1
91	YELLOW	Al Habsi		C	Ref remembers the laws on delaying the restart	4
93	OTHER	Salmon	Sagna	C		1
94	OTHER	McArthur	Rosicky	C		1
94	OTHER	McArthur		C		2

Arsenal were stitched up by a Referee against Wigan, but it was not Andre Marriner, It was Michael Jones at Stamford Bridge. The poor display by the official In the Chelsea V Wigan game resulted in a public announcement that  Mike Riley had called Roberto Martinez personally to apologise. Only one thing could happen subsequently, the next time Wigan played a big club, every effort would be made to show that there is no bias against the smaller clubs. Well Andre Marriner was certainly in a generous mood to Wigan. He reffereed the game in a manner that, whenever it was possible,  gave them the benefit of the doubt.  He allowed Wigan to take their time as and when they wanted to, he allowed them take a minute over substitutions, and delay the restart at goal kicks and free kicks, at the same time he insisted Arsenal were not allowed to take quick free kicks. It was frustrating for the spectators, and the watching Gooner TV public. But those from other clubs would just have been impressed by the Wigan work rate and professionalism.

The match had few contentious moments, what Marriner awarded to Wigan on the whole was a matter of interpretation, he will say he added time on for delaying the restart, and that he did caution Al Habsi for the same, although he waited until the game was effectively over to do it, that alone renders the caution wothless and tokenist, and the time taken to issue the caution is simply MORE TIME LOST!!!!  Marriner was like I said prepared to show them leniency, after all the laws do not state how long it should take to take a goal kick, or a free kick, or how far a ball must be kicked away from the incident before it is actually kicked away, these are all at the discretion of the Ref . In the 84^th minute that leniency took a sinister twist. Theo had a difficult night against a team allowing him no space to run in behind, and in truth his first touch all night had not been great. He was the right side of Figueroa, and was at last looking at grass, he had been waiting all night for this moment. Right in front of the assistant he was charged out. It was just outside of the box, and there was a covering defender. It was certainly a foul and a yellow card. But not on this night, so we then consider the instructions to the assistants, had Marriner told them before the game, I will do the fouls?? That too is his prerogative.

Some statistics

Arsenal took an average of 18 seconds to take a goal kick, Wigan 33 seconds for the 12 goal kicks they had, that is a total of 6.5 minutes for Wigan goal kicks!  Arsenal took an average 20 seconds to take a corner, Wigan 30. Did the Ref add enough time to compensate that, and the other time wasting by Wigan? He will argue that 3 in the first half and 5 in the second was sufficient. Gooners will scream otherwise.

I was at the game, we were far from at our best, and the injury to Arteta hit us harder than we would all have liked. But I said to my mate, as he screamed at Al Habsi for the umpteenth time,  “if you don’t want Wigan to take their time, score first, don’t give them anything to defend”. We can argue all we want about the clock, and the Referees leniency, but Wigan are fighting for their lives, they played with passion, organisation and professionalism. Circumstances also fell their way in this game, and they took advantage. I have to say, Well done Latics, and Roberto Martinez, I hope to see you next season.

COMPETENCY SUMMARY – Andre Marriner (2012-04-16)
Period 1	Called	Total	Correct %
GOAL	3	3	100.00
OFFSIDE	1	1	100.00
OTHER	11	17	64.71
YELLOW	1	1	100.00
TOTAL	16	22	72.73
WEIGHTED	23	29	79.31
Period 2	Called	Total	Correct %
OFFSIDE	2	2	100.00
OTHER	17	25	68.00
YELLOW	3	4	75.00
TOTAL	22	31	70.97
WEIGHTED	26	36	72.22
Totals	Called	Total	Correct %
GOAL	3	3	100.00
OFFSIDE	3	3	100.00
OTHER	28	42	66.67
YELLOW	4	5	80.00
TOTAL	38	53	71.70
WEIGHTED	49	65	75.38

A score just acceptable for the whole game.

BIAS SUMMARY – Andre Marriner (2012-04-16)
Period 1	Arsenal	%	Wigan Athletic	%	Total
Correct For	8	50.00	8	50.00	16
Correct For Weighted	10	43.48	13	56.52	23
Incorrect Against	4	66.67	2	33.33	6
Incorrect Against Weighted	4	66.67	2	33.33	6
Fouls Commited	6	50.00	6	50.00	12
Fouls Penalised	4	66.67	5	83.33	9
Period 2	Arsenal	%	Wigan Athletic	%	Total
Correct For	15	65.22	8	34.78	23
Correct For Weighted	19	67.86	9	32.14	28
Incorrect Against	8	88.89	1	11.11	9
Incorrect Against Weighted	9	90.00	1	10.00	10
Fouls Commited	8	40.00	12	60.00	20
Fouls Penalised	6	75.00	9	75.00	15
Totals	Arsenal	%	Wigan Athletic	%	Total
Correct For	23	58.97	16	41.03	39
Correct For Weighted	29	56.86	22	43.14	51
Incorrect Against	12	80.00	3	20.00	15
Incorrect Against Weighted	13	81.25	3	18.75	16
Fouls Commited	14	43.75	18	56.25	32
Fouls Penalised	10	71.43	14	77.78	24

Still no sign to be seen about things starting to even out for Arsenal. Again the wrong calls favoured the other team.

The 57 minute game: Arsenal v Wigan

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