Oh Dear, its Dean « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager
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By Walter Broeckx
So it is Dean as our ref in the Carling Cup Final. Is this a good choice for Arsenal? Let me do my ref review before the game this time. And maybe by reading this article you can keep your eyes open and see things that otherwise could go unnoticed.
A new step in our ref preview, ref review series: The Untold ref preview review.
Some people may not think it but when I hear the name of ref Dean the first thing that enters my mind is…consistency. Yes, we will face a man that is consistent. And being consistent as a ref should be a good thing. But unfortunately in this case being consistent for Dean means: being consistent against Arsenal.
So how will he operate on the day? Well we never know how a game will develop but I can tell you what the weak spots are in Dean as a ref. Weak spots that are the same over the years and that never have changed. And then I start wondering: what are all those assessors doing? Why has no one in the FA or the PGMOL ever said to Dean: “Now listen you have to work on those things you clearly are not able to see if you want to stay a ref in the EPL.”
No such thing is said to Dean. They just let him carry on doing his bizarre things on the field as a ref. If I can see those things, why can’t those assessors see them? Why don’t they act? Why, why, why?
But let us start by what Dean as a ref is clearly not capable of handling:
Fouls on the keeper.
For any ref it is important to start with the laws of the game:
Offences committed against goalkeepers
• It is an offence for a player to prevent a goalkeeper from releasing the ball from his hands
• A player must be penalised for playing in a dangerous manner if he kicks or attempts to kick the ball when the goalkeeper is in the process of releasing it
• It is an offence to restrict the movement of the goalkeeper by unfairly impeding him, e.g. at the taking of a corner kick
So let me just show you what exactly is meant by this by a perfect example of how the laws should be applied. The scene comes from the CL game where the excellent Italian ref gave this as a foul against Song.
Much to the surprise of everyone in and out the stadium and the commentators and the pundits. But this is enough to call the foul. Compare this with how Dean is not doing anything even when keepers are pushed and shoved in their area and when he does nothing when players are building some kind of wall around the keeper. This is illegal!
A few seasons back we got those instructions loud and clear and evidence was given on a DVD edited by Fifa to show that this should be banned from our football fields. It was not a surprise for me to see that the images shown on this DVD were full of fouls on keepers in the EPL.
But if Birmingham try to do this you can bet money on it that Dean will do nothing about it to protect the goalkeeper. I really wonder if he ever has heard anything about this instruction at all.
Fouls on defenders
One of the most important things when we they were teaching us the rules to play advantage was that you never should give advantage when a defender is fouled. Never. Oh if this isn’t clear enough I will repeat it: NEVER!!!!!
When you see a little pull on a striker you can wait to see if the attack can go on and be promising. But when a striker pulls a defender you must stop the game immediately. Because a defender cannot gain any advantage from being out of balance. So the rules are the same: a foul is a foul but you must act different when the foul is made by a attacker and stop the game.
As Dean has shown on multiple occasions he doesn’t do this. And this has cost us some goals in the past. Chelsea could score at Stamford Brigde when Song was fouled and nothing was given. Or even worse. When Arshavin was pulled back a few times and finally was brought down Dean again did nothing. Leeds could score from that. So just this season alone Dean has gifted the opposition two goals in that way.
I really wonder if Dean knows this instructions? Or is there something else going on? As you can see further in this article.
NOT SEEING TERRIBLE TACKLES
Well he might see them but something in his brains prevents the whistle going to his mouth and blow the foul. This year we lost Diaby after a terrible tackle from Essien on his ankle. And what did ref Dean do at the moment…. Yes you guessed it right: nothing. He even didn’t give the foul.
And remember we are playing Birmingham. A team this has quite a reputation for tough tackling during the recent years. Just ask Eduardo with his fractured leg. Just ask Cesc with his cracked leg after last years game. Just as Fabianski for getting kicked being on the floor this year. Just ask Koscielny for getting kicked being on the floor this year. Just ask Sagna for getting kicked all over the place this year. And then we have a ref who is clearly blind for dangerous and mean tackling.
DON’T GIVE A PENALTY TO ARSENAL
Let me start with that terrible day at Birmingham in the 2007-2008 season. Because apart from the Eduardo horror show there also was the Mike Dean horror show. In extra time when Arsenal was leading 1-2 Arsenal was attacking and Adebayor was running after a ball in the penalty area. A Birmingham defender started pulling his shirt and trousers in the most blatant way. Adebayor stopped chasing the ball as he was firmly held back. And ref Dean did what he is very good at when it comes to fouls against Arsenal players. He did nothing and gave no foul or a penalty.
Just look at how the short of Adebayor is almost pulled to twice the normal size.
Just in case you didn’t see it clear enough…
And just in case you might think: maybe he couldn’t see it? Well this last pictures clearly shows that Dean had no other players between him and the incident at all!
Why don’t we go to last season. Arsenal at Old Trafford. A foul on Van Persie in the penalty area? Nothing given by ref Dean. Well maybe one foul against an Arsenal player is not enough for Dean to give a penalty one could think. Well not even two fouls are enough to give a penalty for Arsenal. Just look at the incident where first Arshavin is being tackled with a two footed tackle that doesn’t touch the ball and takes the legs of Arshavin completely away. But even when the United player clearly handles the ball even then ref Dean does what he likes to do when Arsenal is involved: doing nothing. He even made a signal that nothing was wrong with it. A clear tackle where the defender touched nothing of the ball with his feet and then handled the ball and still nothing wrong? Yes, there is something wrong. Something wrong with ref Dean.
Remember this two footed tackle from Fletcher on Arshavin? Two footed tackle that took Arshavin down without Fletcher touching the ball with his feet? That is always a penalty. And to make things even more strange Fletcher then controls the ball with this left arm, stands up and kicks it away. And Dean is standing at the right of the image behind the arrow and does nothing at all! And again no player between him and the incident at all!
Let us move on to Burnley – Arsenal a few months later. Cesc is running at goal and the defender, the last defender, is pulling him on the arm. Cesc is clearly brought our of balance and his shot is poor. But again ref Dean does nothing. In the same game Nasri clear on goal, being pulled back and again nothing given. No foul, no red card…. I will leave the images of those incidents out of this article as it will be long enough I think.
The list goes on. No penalty given for us at Chelsea when Cech clearly touches Chamakh his foot when he tries to get to the ball.
So even the most blatant fouls against Arsenal players in the penalty area have gone unpunished by ref Dean. So don’t expect any penalty in our favour even when it is blatant. So Birmingham will have a license to do whatever they want in their own penalty area.
ALWAYS GIVE A PENALTY AGAINST ARSENAL
For those who might think: “well you know maybe Dean is a ref who doesn’t like to give penalties”. Let me tell you another story. He does likes to give penalties. As long as he can give them against Arsenal.
In the same games MU – Arsenal where he refused to give Arsenal two penalties he gave a penalty when Rooney went down. Or in the Burnley game he gave a penalty when Vermaelen made a foul. And yes it was a foul from Vermaelen who touched the Burnley player on his foot. I don’t mind that he gave that penalty. I do mind that he didn’t give them the other way round. So he does gives penalties but he only gives them against Arsenal.
Or let us go back to that terrible day in Birmingham. Where Clichy clearly blocked the ball and where Dean did give the penalty. This wasn’t just a game changing penalty. This was a season changing penalty. He didn’t give the clear foul on Adebayor seconds before in the Birmingham penalty area but he did give it against Arsenal when he could.
So our defenders will have to be very careful and we can imagine some Birmingham players going down all to easily knowing they will get the decision from Dean when possible.
So apart from the fact that ref Dean clearly has no clue on some things that are written down in the laws of the game it is clear that he doesn’t like Arsenal.
So I’m afraid we will be playing against more than 11 players in the CC final. We will not only have to overcome a tough team that does like to kick its way around a bit. No we will also have to win against a ref that has in the last seasons only caused us losing points with his silly, stupid or worthless decisions. And I firmly believe we can beat them all.
But do keep your eyes open for those things. And if by any chance Dean has a perfect game I will be eating my words very gladly. Oh, how I loved to be wrong on this. Just imagine that Dean after all those years finally managed to understand the laws of the game and also finally managed to understand what the instructions say. Just imagine Dean giving us the penalties we deserve? And I am not going to ask that he gives us a favour, I just want him to finally give us what we are entitled to and what he has refused to give us all those years.
But if (and I really do fear that this will be what will happen) Dean again shows he is a bad ref by neglecting the rules and by being biased against Arsenal, remember I predicted it here.
And then ask yourself the question: what is going on in the PGMOL? Why cant they see what I can see? How much longer will they let this ref doing us wrong?
Match fixing scandal…
The Untold Ref Review for Arsenal / Stoke