Untold Ref Review: Arsenal 0 – 0 Chelsea. Dean does great (yes honest) « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager

Today’s referee is Mike Dean –

MATCH REVIEW DETAILS – Mike Dean (2012-04-21)
Period 1
Min Type Foul from On C/NC Comment Weight
3 OTHER Rosicky Torres C Trip, advantage played 1
3 OTHER Song Torres NC Song nipped ball away, wrong call 1
7 PENALTY C Kalou skipped over Sagna challenge, lost rhythm, went down, good no call 3
9 OFFSIDE RVP C Just offside 1
10 OFFSIDE Torres C 1
13 OTHER Essien AOC C Trip 1
15 OTHER Romeu RVP NC Played ball dangerously, not given 1
17 OFFSIDE Torres C Onside, good call 1
19 OFFSIDE RVP C 1
26 OFFSIDE C Kalou onside, correct 1
27 OTHER NC Ball last off Vermaelen, ref gives Arsenal goal kick 1
30 OTHER Rosicky Essien C Trip 1
30 YELLOW Rosicky C A bit reckless from behind 2
35 OTHER Terry Walcott C Bumped over from behind 1
39 PENALTY C Sagna used his position to hold off Bertrand, good no call 3
41 OTHER Romeu AOC C Trip 1
44 OTHER AOC Malouda C Shove 1
46 OTHER RVP Cahill C Not shown, assumed correct 1
47 OTHER Romeu AOC C Pulled back, ref quickly saw no advantage, blew whistle 1
47 OFFSIDE Walcott C Bosingwa’s miskick doesn’t play Walcott onside, good call 1
Period 2
Min Type Foul from On C/NC Comment Weight
48 OTHER Song Malouda C Pulled back 1
49 OTHER Malouda RVP C Trip 1
49 YELLOW Malouda C Killed counter attack 2
50 OTHER RVP Essien C Trip from behind 1
50 YELLOW RVP C Killed counter attack 2
54 PENALTY C Song used his position to hold off Torres, good no call 3
54 OTHER Cahill AOC C Lunges to block ball, catches AOC 1
54 YELLOW Cahill C Dangerous play 2
56 OFFSIDE RVP C 1
62 OTHER Gervinho Bertrand C Little shove 1
63 OTHER Cahill RVP C Trip, normally he should be booked here, but that would be 2nd yellow, ref shows clemency 1
66 OTHER Song Torres C Pulled back 1
68 OTHER Bosingwa AOC NC Got ball but followed through on AOC, not given 1
69 OTHER Gervinho Bertrand C Linesman called a tug on defender 1
70 OTHER Kalou Sagna C Push 1
71 OTHER Bertrand Diaby C Pulled shorts, advantage played 1
72 OTHER Bosingwa Santos C Pulled back by shirt to stop counter 1
72 YELLOW Bosingwa C Unsporting behaviour 2
73 OTHER NC Ramsey poked ball out, but throw given to Arsenal 1
75 OTHER Sagna Torres C Torres backed in a bit, but Sagna went over top of him 1
75 OFFSIDE Mata C 1
76 OTHER Diaby Essien C A bit reckless from behind 1
76 YELLOW Diaby C Dangerous play 2
77 OTHER Mikel Koscielny C Foul 1
80 PENALTY C Cahill seemed to be jockeying for position, RVP went down easily, no penalty 3
81 OTHER Song Cole NC Trip, not given 1
81 OTHER Cole Song C Cole retaliates with a little kick/attempted trip from behind 1
81 YELLOW Cole C Dirty play 2
83 OFFSIDE RVP NC Looked half a step offside 1
83 OFFSIDE Torres C 1
86 OTHER Malouda Diaby NC Pulled back, not given 1
86 OTHER Essien Santos NC Trip, not given 1
91 OFFSIDE RVP C Assumed correct 1
92 OFFSIDE Mata C Assumed correct 1

Mike Dean has often put in poor performances when reffing Arsenal this season, but today he was different.  He was quite good to say the least, not showing any apparent bias.  No, today he looked like a proper professional referee, doing his job as he should and showing fairness to both sides.

The first clue that things were going to be different was when Kalou went down in the area in the 7th minute.  It didn’t look like a penalty.  Kalou seemed to have lost his rhythm as Sagna challenged and went down on his own accord.  The Emirates crowd held their breath until Dean correctly waved off the penalty appeal by Chelsea.

Similarly later in the match, there were also a couple of instances where Chelsea players Bertrand and Torres fell in the area when they were shouldered off by Sagna and Song respectively. In both of these cases, the defender used his position to hold off the Chelsea player, and Dean, not being duped, ignored the shouts.

Dean gave cards when necessary and had a word if needed as in the case when Vermaelen jumped into John Terry.  The Chelsea defender was however moving into Vermaelen’s path as he tried to shield him from the keeper.  Dean still might have booked Vermaelen for that, but having a word was alright there.

Note that Terry a little later fouled Walcott and then stood over him to make sure he didn’t easily take a quick free kick.  This was done very briefly, a clever play by Terry, and perhaps Dean might have booked Terry, but that would have been harsh in my opinion.  The ref did book players for tripping from behind and killing counter attacks.

Gary Cahill went into the books in the 54th minute for a dangerous challenge on Oxlade-Chamberlain.  Nine minutes later he was perhaps lucky to have stayed on the pitch when he tripped Van Persie who was looking to turn him after laying the ball off for Aaron Ramsey.  However Mike Dean must have felt the challenge was not worthy of a 2nd yellow and showed mercy on the Chelsea defender.

In the 80th minute, Arsenal had a penalty shout of their own.  Song curled a ball into the area and Van Persie started to back onto it.  Gary Cahill then rushed goalside of Van Persie to jockey for position when the Arsenal captain fell to ground.  The contact seemed normal and somewhat minimal and Van Persie went down rather easily.  It did not look a penalty in my view.  Dean was not feeling charitable awarding penalties on the day and he wasn’t about to start now.

COMPETENCY SUMMARY – Mike Dean (2012-04-21)
Period 1 Called Total Correct %
OFFSIDE 6 6 100.00
OTHER 8 11 72.73
PENALTY 2 2 100.00
YELLOW 1 1 100.00
TOTAL 17 20 85.00
WEIGHTED 22 25 88.00
Period 2 Called Total Correct %
OFFSIDE 5 6 83.33
OTHER 15 20 75.00
PENALTY 2 2 100.00
YELLOW 6 6 100.00
TOTAL 28 34 82.35
WEIGHTED 38 44 86.36
Totals Called Total Correct %
OFFSIDE 11 12 91.67
OTHER 23 31 74.19
PENALTY 4 4 100.00
YELLOW 7 7 100.00
TOTAL 45 54 83.33
WEIGHTED 60 69 86.96

So a very high score for a game with Arsenal and Dean on the same pitch.

BIAS SUMMARY – Mike Dean (2012-04-21)
Period 1 Arsenal % Chelsea % Total
Correct For 7 41.18 10 58.82 17
Correct For Weighted 11 50.00 11 50.00 22
Incorrect Against 2 66.67 1 33.33 3
Incorrect Against Weighted 2 66.67 1 33.33 3
Fouls Commited 4 44.44 5 55.56 9
Fouls Penalised 4 100.00 4 80.00 8
Period 2 Arsenal % Chelsea % Total
Correct For 16 57.14 12 42.86 28
Correct For Weighted 22 57.89 16 42.11 38
Incorrect Against 3 50.00 3 50.00 6
Incorrect Against Weighted 3 50.00 3 50.00 6
Fouls Commited 8 44.44 10 55.56 18
Fouls Penalised 7 87.50 8 80.00 15
Totals Arsenal % Chelsea % Total
Correct For 23 51.11 22 48.89 45
Correct For Weighted 33 55.00 27 45.00 60
Incorrect Against 5 55.56 4 44.44 9
Incorrect Against Weighted 5 55.56 4 44.44 9
Fouls Commited 12 44.44 15 55.56 27
Fouls Penalised 11 91.67 12 80.00 23

Arsenal definitely had chances to win this match with both Van Persie and Koscielny hitting the woodwork from set pieces, but it was not to be.  A draw and a point against Chelsea was not a bad result especially considering how Arsenal have done under Mike Dean lately, though I must say that the ref and his linesmen put in a very good shift, making few errors and getting nearly all of the big calls correct.

Even the bias numbers are very close for Dean in this game. Now surely it can’t be…no it can’t…or could it…or is it a coincidence after exposing him lately…

Untold Arsenal

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