Tactical referee analyses. A must for Arsenal « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager
By Walter Broeckx
Lack of time and other obligations prevented me to write an article before this game and it also even prevented me to see the game completely.
I had planned to write an article predicting how things could turn with Dean in this game. Even some betting predictions in it. I would have suggested you put some money on:
1. a penalty against Arsenal
2. a sending off from an Arsenal player
3. a yellow card against Vermaelen
Maybe I should have written it and forwarded it to Arsenal before the game to warn them. And I should have written it (sorry really had not time) and it could have won you some money. (sorry again)
I have seen the Koscielny sending off and by the letter of the law Dean can do this. As we all know with Dean the letter of the law is most of the time used to hit Arsenal with. He has proven that on many occasions (at MU at least 2 times, at Birmingham, against Tottenham, against ….well pretty much each team he has done the last 6-7 years). Penalties are only given against Arsenal and never in their favour. Not that I know we should have had one in this game but even if so you could bet some money on not getting it anyway.
I think Arsenal should not only prepare for the games on the tactical front of things but they should start getting a ref analyser to prepare the players.
What Koscielny did was a foul. But I can tell you a few refs who would not give it at all. Foy, Halsey, just to name two. They wouldn’t give it. And this is where it gets wrong. I think Arsenal should warn their players for this. They should talk this through before the game and say to the defenders to be extra careful because they (well I) know that Dean will be waiting for the first chance he gets to give a penalty against Arsenal. And if he can send an Arsenal player off in the same incident he will be very happy to do this.
Koscielny made life a bit easy for Dean to award a penalty and a red card. And most of it was down to one arm. His right arm. The thing is that Koscielny should have left his right arm low. But he hooked it around Dzeko and so he was clearly holding him. And Dean could point to the penalty spot. He should have been smarter. If he had left his right arm low he could have still blocked Dzeko with his left arm and then it would have been invisible to see for Dean. Because of the position Dean was standing he could not see the left arm of Koscielny.
If Koscielny only would have used his left arm to block Dzeko then it would look as two players embracing each other because the left arm of Dzeko was also wrapped around the shoulder of Koscielny. In a way they both committed the same foul but by then wrapping his right arm around Dzeko there was one clear foul Dean could see from his position. And my oh my he enjoyed it.
So Arsenal should work on this and warn their players more. Be smart when you try to block a player. And don’t ever give Dean the chance to do what he could do yesterday.
I always think it is better to concede a goal and stay with 11 men on the pitch than give Dean the chance to give a penalty and a red card. And even then it wouldn’t have been certain that Dzeko would have got to the ball.
But well in the heat of the game those things happen but maybe when you warn your players before the game it can prevent such a thing and can prevent you having to play for 80 minutes with 10 men on the pitch.
Let me move on to the Kompany sending off. Kompany threw himself forward with his feet off the ground and studs showing. For once I think a slip of an Arsenal player has been favourable. Because Wilshere slipped just before he would end up in the collision. And I think that saved his legs. If he would have been on the ground the impact could have caused an Eduardo-Ramsey injury. A two footed frontal tackle is always dangerous and I have said it time and time before: the risk of an injury is always there.
I still have my doubt about why exactly he gave the red card. For the dangerous nature of the tackle and remembering the Eduardo injury which he has seen from very close range or the “why don’t I handicap City in the title race by sending their best defender off?”
I have said before that Dean is a very smart person. Knowing what to do best for his career. Hurting Arsenal is obviously a smart career move for Dean. As his record shows and his record of bad decisions against Arsenal. His not reporting the Manchester United manager a few weeks ago is part of the same smartness.
So with 70 minutes gone and with the game won by City he thought it would be a nice thing to help out the most important manager in the PL (and his career).
Later on we will be examining the rest of the game for our review of course but I didn’t want to let this opportunity go by to highlight again the exploits of Dean in an Arsenal game. It never is a good sign when a ref is the most highlighted figure in a game. I think Dean was the most spoken about person after the game.
So my suggestion for Arsenal is to start with referee monitoring and prepare the players for each ref and in each game. Tell the players what they can do with each ref. Tell the players what they cannot do with some refs.
Don’t give refs like Dean the chance to award penalties and red cards against Arsenal. Give the players not just tactical instructions on how to play, don’t just give the players instructions about their opponents. But start giving the players tips to avoid the things that happened yesterday by starting to give tactical advice on how to act with the different refs in the PL.
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