The experimental Untold ref review: Arsenal – Barcelona « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade
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By Walter Broeckx, the untold ref with an experiment
You will see a completely different format this time. In bold you will see the things I usually have in my reviews. But I also mention all the decisions the refs had to make in the game. And then I come up with 3 scores. You will see what I mean when you read on.
Ref for the game against Barcelona was Nicola Rizzoli and this sounds Italian and he actually was Italian. A regular champions league ref who did last year’s semi final between Man United and Bayern at Old Trafford. So a high respected and experienced ref.
1.Foul against Arsenal high foot RVP correct 1/1
2. Foul on RVP the ref first signals advantage but then comes back to his decision. Maybe but I don’t know this for sure it was because the linesman signalled an offside from Nasri? Otherwise a strange decision. 1/2
3.4. OTHER/CARD: Song brings down Messi and gets booked. The first border line foul and the ref gets his card out immediately. I wonder if the name Messi got anything to do with this. One could argue that the ref could have given a lecture to Song. A gamble you have to take as a ref. I think he could have taken the lecture solution as the two teams are normally not the kick you dead teams. As a ref you should keep this in mind. A foul yes a booking was possible as it was a bit cynical. 1/1 and 1/1
5. The ref allowing a few challenges round minute 9 and 10 from both teams. 1/1
6. Correct offside against Barcelona 1/1
7. Foul on Ebou correct 1/1
8. Foul on Nasri not given 0/1
9. Foul on Wilshere not given advantage given 1/1
11 Offside given against Barcelona correct 1/1
12. Foul on RVP correct 1/1
13. Foul against Song correct Song reacts to this decision and is told to leave those gestures behind. Correct 1/1
14. Foul from song correct given1/1
15.GOAL: I would have loved to see a flag going up at the time but it wasn’t offside from Villa when he raced on to the ball from Messi. So it was a good goal and nothing against the rules. 1/1
16. Foul from Song. correct The Barcelona players try to get him booked again. Cesc tells them to stop 1/1
17+18 OTHER/CARD: Foul from Nasri. The Barcelona player again makes a lot of it and this time the ref falls for it and gets the card out. I think Nasri paid the price for some exaggerated fall by Alves and maybe because he wanted to tell Alves to get up. 1/1 and 0/1
19+20 OTHER/CARD: Arsenal start a counter and a foul is made on Cesc when he receives a late tackle. The ref plays the advantage and gives the card after Van Persie had his shot. 1/1 and 1/1
21. Foul from Song correct. Barcelona player asking cards again 1/1
22. Offside against Barcelona correct 1/1
23. Offside decision not given as Arsenal intercept the ball 1/1
24. Foul on Nasri correct 1/1
25. Foul from Eboue correct 1/1
26. Foul on Eboue not given: arm outstretched in front of Eboue to block him 0/1
27. Foul from Cesc correct 1/1
28. Offside given against pedro correct 1/1
29. GOAL: disallowed for offside from Messi. A correct decision. At the moment that Pedro is taking his shot Messi was onside. The ball then came from the keeper back to the Barcelona player and then to Messi who at that moment was in an offside position. But it was very close call. 1/1
30. Foul from Wilshere correct 1/1
31. Offside against Pedro correct 1/1
32. Offside against RVP – not visible considered correct 1/1
33. Offside against Villa – not visible considered correct 1/1
34. Foul on Eboue correct 1/1
Half time
1. Foul on Eboue correct 1/1
2. Offside RVP correct 1/1
3. Foul Clichy correct 1/1
4. Foul RVP not given advantage correct 1/1
5. Foul against clichy not correct 0/1
6. No foul given against Koscielny correct decision. It was Pedro who took the ball with his hand by the way and then fell to the floor. 1/1
7.+ 8. OTHER/CARD: Foul against Cesc and a yellow card against Pique. Pique came late and prevented the attack to go further with a one-two. correct decisions. 1/1 and 1/1
9. Foul from Djourou correct 1/1
10. Foul on Cesc correct 1/1
11. Foul against Eboue not correct. Followed by some time wasting from Barcelona by the way 0/1
12. Barcelona get a corner. Wrong decision even the fifth ref who was standing a few meters away didn’t see it was Villa who pushed the ball out. 0/1
13. Throw in wrongly given to Arsenal 0/1
14. Foul on Wilshere not given not correct 0/1
15. Foul on Koscielny given correct 1/1
16. Foul from RVP not given advantage played 1/1
17. Offside against RVP not visible 1/1
18. Offside against Pedro correct 1/1
19. Foul on Nasri correct 1/1
20. GOAL: No offside from RVP and he scores a magnificent goal. Nothing wrong with that. 1/1
21. Foul on Koscielny correct 1/1
22. Foul on Arshavin correct 1/1
23. Foul RVP correct 1/1
24. GOAL/CARD: again nothing wrong with that goal. But Arshavin should have been given a yellow card for pulling his shirt over his head. 1/1 and 0/1
25. Foul on RVP not given 0/1
26. OTHER/CARD: RVP with a strong challenge on Pique. Foul and a yellow card both are correct. 1/1 and 1/1
27. Offside against Messi correct 1/1
28. PENALTY: Arshavin tries a back header to the keeper but the ball glances from his head and touches his hand. Nothing deliberate so no penalty. Correct 1/1
Regular Untold score:
CARDS: 4/6
PENALTY: 1/1
GOAL: 4/4
OTHER: 5/5
Total score: 14/16 (87%)
The new format Untold score – a try out!
Total decisions 63
Correct decisions 52
Not correct 11
Score 82%
The Untold weighted decision score – a try out!
CARDS: 7/12
PENALTY: 3/3
GOAL: 12/12
OTHER: 5/5
Total score: 27/32 (84%)
Some explanations on this weighted score:
I took the following point system:
Yellow card not correct 0/2
Yellow card doubtful 1/2
Yellow card correct 2/2
Red card not correct 0/3
Red card correct 3/3
Goal not correct 0/3
Goal correct 3/3
Penalty not correct 0/3
Penalty correct 3/3
So the more important a decision is, the more points that can be won or lost.
So whatever way you look at it in my scoring table he had a very good game. Now some decisions may not have been liked at the time and in the heat of the moment but I think he did a very solid job over all. He surely didn’t give all the decisions in one direction. On occasions he had a spell where he allowed a few stronger challenges but he let both sides have a go.
The debating point for me was the early yellow card for Song. The first real foul from an Arsenal player and he didn’t give a warning but came up with the card immediately. But I think the ref knew this was a fast given card so after that he kept that in mind. I think he would have walked if he had committed another real bookable foul but the ref allowed Song to commit a few small fouls without getting a harsh second yellow out of his pocket. So apart from taking most of the decisions correct he also showed that he also was doing a bit of psychology and looking at the way the game went he could allow himself this liberty.
And this ref is no home ref as his history has shown in the last year. He was the ref at United when they lost against Bayern and he also was the ref in Madrid when Real lost to Lyon last year. Damned I would have likened to have him as a ref at Nou Camp.
If I take in account the three scores I used he gets a final result of 84%.
About the new format: I know that the correct decisions are not really that important to read again. So I think I will leave them out next time or next season when I use this way of giving a score to the ref. To know that Van Persie gave a push in the back of a defender in the 87 minute is not something that needs to be written down in the report itself. As it only makes the report longer and longer with not enough time to write some extra thoughts from my part about the ref. But I just wanted to show you how I came to all the decisions and points for this one.