The Untold ref review : Shakthar – Arsenal « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager
By Walter Broeckx
Today we got a ref from Switzerland and one of the big names in Europe. Did Mr. Busacca live up to his reputation? Well why don’t we just try to find out?
GOAL : Walcott gives Arsenal the lead and nothing wrong with that goal when I look at my rule book. 1/1
OTHER/CARD/CARD/OTHER/GOAL/OTHER: Now I have to take a few things and try to sort them out as there was a really awful moment for the ref just before Shakhtar scored. I really feel he made a mistake there and a costly one.
A foul on Wilshere. The ref wants to play advantage but Arsenal lose the ball immediately and Shakhtar can break. Foul from Eboue needed. Booking for Eboue and a booking for the Shakhtar player for his body charge on Wilshere. Shakhtar score from the free kick.
You can play advantage when there is a clear advantage. But when you have a foul that you feel that needs a booking and there is no real advantage you must stop play. By not stopping play the ref has handed the advantage to Shakhtar. The ref could have stopped play at the moment Bendtner got dispossessed.
You can always reverse your initial advantage when you see that there is no advantage. So the ref has not only taken away our advantage but also his mistake resulted in a yellow card for Eboue and a goal against us. I bet this is what Lucescu was talking about getting the decisions.
So 0/1 for the wrong advantage. 1/1 for the yellow card from Hubschman. The card for Eboue was correct but it shouldn’t have happened and is down to the ref’s mistake. So I will give him a point for the card but will take a point back as the ref made the first wrong decision. 1/1 and 0/1.
The goal itself was a valid goal but once again the foul should have been given at the other side of the pitch. 1/1 and 0/1. This was a case of the domino principle. From one bad decision followed the other. And I hope you can still follow me with all those points for the moment.
GOAL: Second goal from Shakhtar. No mistake by the ref this time and a valid goal. 1/1
CARD: for a foul on Wilshere and a correct booking. 1/1
PENALTY: Shakhtar claim a penalty but replay suggest that the attacker went down without contact. The ref is standing some 5 meters away and waves play on. Correct decision. 1/1
PENALTY/CARD: Another Shakhtar players tries to win a penalty from nothing by going to the ground very easy and again the ref has it right by giving nothing. Maybe a card could have been given against Srna because two attempts to win a penalty in a few minutes should be punished with a card. 1/1 and 0/1
CARD: Yellow card for wasting too much time by a Shakhtar player. Correct decision. 1/1
OTHER: After the ref has warned the Shakhtar players on several occasions to get up and not waste time and even giving a yellow card he only gives 3 minutes extra time and that is only the time for substitutions as you give normally 30 seconds for each sub and there has been 6 subs on in the second half. So the ref did not punish the time wasting at all. A bit disappointing as I would have thought he would have acted after all these warnings. Again not so brave from the ref. 0/1
CARDS: 4/5
PENALTY: 2/2
GOAL: 3/3
OTHER: 0/4
Total score: 9/14 (64%)
I must say that I have some mixed feelings about the ref today. I think overall he did a rather good job. But he got it wrong in a crucial minute when we seemed to have the game under control.
Giving advantage can only be done when there is a real advantage on. Like a goal scoring chance or a possible promising attack. I didn’t have the feeling that when Bendtner received the ball from Wilshere he was having a promising position as he was up on his own at that time against some 4 defenders.
Now you can always try to give an advantage but if you see within seconds that there is no advantage and the foul on Wilshere was a foul that rewarded a yellow card you still can come back on this. You just blow your whistle, point at Wilshere (who was still on the ground recovering) and book the player who made the foul.
But I know the crowd would not have liked it over there but you can always come back on your initial advantage and come back to the foul. Brave refs do this. I’m not saying you should come back to the foul if Arsenal would have had possession for a minute afterwards or so. But if the ball is lost almost immediately you can come back to the foul. He didn’t and it cost us a goal at the other end. If he would have dealt with that situation better he would have had a good game if not a great game. So for a ref with his calibre he should have seen that there was no real advantage on. But I think he will realize it when he sees the game again. I hope he learns from it.
I also would have expected him to be a bit more brave about the additional time which was the strict minimum that he could and should have given. His body language during the game indicated he knew they were wasting time but he didn’t act according to it at the end. But I am not telling that we would have scored if he would have played 5 minutes of extra time.
But apart from that he did all right, but not as brilliant as I would have expected when I saw he was the ref of our game as he is one of the top refs in Europe.
Background notes
Now then about that Christmas present
What were Arsenal doing changing their name part way through the season?
I wish to read everything Untold has ever produced. I need a nurse and an index?