Arsenal’s dark arts hypocrisy, and are conspiracy theories really so crazy?
The Mailbox pleads for perspective on âdark artsâ. Also: why indeed Arsenal boil p*ss â or not â and is it really so wild to consider that the game might not be entirely pure?
Get your views in to [email protected]âŠ
Everyone is at it
May I suggest that anyone who uses the words âdark artsâ to describe events on a football field should have their âopinionsâ immediately and loudly ignored? Lordy, everywhere you look after this weekend, that bloody phrase. This isnât Harry sodding Potter, there are no specialist potions coaches on the sidelines, or voodoo dolls having balls hurled at their heads. These arenât things happening in the shadows, it just isnât âdarkâ. Every team does it when necessary. Every. Single Team. Weâre talking about âgamesmanshipâ at best, or for those of us old enough, we used to just call it basic âtime-wastingâ. It happens. Just cut the ludicrous romancing of a basic in-game strategy, for Severusâs sake
Paul, Atlanta
Not crazy to consider conspiracy
Nick, Romford made a point in the Mailbox that was also made â with more style and sympathy for Arsenal â by Barney Ronay. To wit, that people muttering about conspiracies are a bit ridiculous.
Itâs time to inject a dose of realism into this â Calciopoli was real. Marseille bribing opposition players was real. Barca paying the vice president of the La Liga refereesâ committee âconsulting feesâ for 17(!) years is real. Fixing scandals in cricket were very real, and very possibly continue today.
How long are we going to carry on like David Lloyd â expressing a wide-eyed naivete about the corrupting influence of billions of unaccounted-for pounds on sporting integrity?
When financially unsustainable amounts of money are being poured into building footballing teams, it is normal to observe that the âinvestorâ has a massive incentive to control the variables affecting their returns. One of those variables is refereeing decisions. It is impossible â and probably unwise â to force all the inflection points in your favour. But if you force enough of them, miraculous things can happen. Like winning 6 titles in 7 years in a very very competitive league.
We know that Man Cityâs owners are legally and generously paying PGMOL referees, including last Sundayâs. We also have serious reports that they play fast and loose with off-book transactions, like Barca, Chelsea, Real Madrid, and probably others (but not â as of date â Arsenal).
When you add 2 and 2, what do you get? That is not an assumption, that is a question. Journalists should ask their sources that question. Itâs better than handing out presumptive clean chits.
Regards,
TG, Arsenal
Indifferent to Arsenal
A couple of things to say about Rich, AFCâs latest mail. Firstly, Arsenal donât boil my piss at all. Artetaâs quite annoying for reasons I cannot fathom, so I guess thatâs on me, but Arsenal are a bit âmehâ really. I think you play decent (very good) football and I quite like that youâre not the old Arsenal that just wilted all the time. Some may say thatâs still the case but I can think of 115 reasons why thatâs an unfair assessment of this Arsenal side. I hope you do win the league this year because a) I predicted it (wonât happen then, sorry and b) Iâd rather it were you than Liverpool or City.
I donât think your problem is the big games at all. Your problem is dropping points against the likes of West Ham. You just canât do that sort of thing against 115 City.
Final few points relate to this paragraph:
âWeâve gone the entire of 2024 away from home without losing â only been behind for 13 minutes of all those games, won at Spurs 3 times in a row, have gone 5 unbeaten away to chelsea (including 3 wins), beat Man U at old trafford and remain undefeated in our last 2 games away to City and Liverpool â but yet some rival fans still demand that we actually show up in these big games away from home.â
Being unbeaten away from home is great but half of 2024 does not a season make. You got 4 points from the final 15 available in 2023, a run which ultimately cost you the title. Please avoid that this year.
Youâve won 3 times at spurs. lol. Lads â itâs âSpursâ.
Youâve beaten United at Old Trafford. My only question there is who f*cking hasnât? You werenât exactly in a select group for that last season. Even Roy Hodgson got a go.
But fair enough Iâll give you the rest. Itâs be nice if United could do some of that occasionally (unbeaten against Liverpool last season though).
Anyway, donât worry Rich weâre not bothered by Arsenal. We might be if you start winning titles, especially if you cheat to do so. But I just see a well managed/coached tough young side that is unlucky to be up against the best/most dubiously assembled side the Premier League has seen.
Ash Metcalfe
Ref justice
Now weâre cooking with gaslighting!
I needed to take a day before writing in so I could compose an email that wasnât purely fuelled by emotion. Iâm glad I waited, as most Arsenal fans who wrote in covered what I was going to say anyway. Some were still hung up on the âLetterofthelaw!â. But, thatâs to be expected, given the spectrum of F365 readers. I do want to remind people of things my past couple of emails covered that were pertinent to the City game. Firstly, the Martinelli double yellow against Wolves dished out by⊠oh, Michael Oliver. You have to really want to give those. Secondly, KovaÄiÄ getting away with GBH last week against Brentford. Should have seen red for flying recklessly into the back of Wissa. Guess who turns up a week later to have a major part to play in Cityâs last-minute equaliser⊠And, when he commits three yellow card offenses against Arsenal a year ago, by way of dangerous tackles, guess who the ref is in that game⊠I donât get into conspiracy theories, but, itâs totally valid to point out patterns. Itâs like Mike Dean never left us.
Anyway, weâre being patronised about these ânewâ refereeing directives each season. As long as Iâve followed football delaying play from a free kick has always been a yellow card. The ref has just chosen not to book the player. Gesturing that, and/or imploring the referee should book a player had always been a yellow card. The ref has just chosen not to book the player (or coach). Like I said in my last email, the ref always has a choice. Donât be gaslit. So, why is it that there is such eagerness to act? All I see is power-tripping by people given authority who otherwise wouldnât look out of place as a gimp in Tek Knightâs sex dungeon. Theyâre like traffic wardens who set out to get their ton for the day. These are the kind of people who grab a Miami Dolphins star player out of their McClaren and force them to the ground because suddenly itâs their moment. And, for everyone who calls Trossard foolish for kicking the ball after the whistle, canât you see heâs already wound up to hook the ball out to Martinelli for the counter attack? Does his âdecisionâ to not suddenly halt when heâs in the middle of such frantic action on the stroke of halftime warrant such an ego-boosting second yellow that will transform the game?
Iâd like to list a few game-affecting things that are far more worthy of such harsh punishment.
1. The goalkeeper intentionally handling the ball outside of the box. At least get it VAR checked.
2. Reckless tackling from behind (um, obviously).
3. Pulling an opponent back by their collar.
4. Putting your hand on your opponentâs throat as you âfallâ on them.
5. The goalkeeper employing gamesmanship at penalties.
The finals of WC 2022 and Euro 2020 saw clever exploitation of loopholes where the letter of the law spares you from a dismissal. Chiellini pulls Saka back by his collar when itâs a chance to run clear down the wing and possibly set up a championship winning goal in the last minute. Itâs technically only a yellow card offense. A booking is given. Italy survive extra time and win on penalties. Emi Martinez messes around with the ball before Tchouameni can take his penalty. Itâs technically not a red card offense. Tchouameni misses. Argentina win the shootout. Why donât officiating bodies focus more on this kind of stuff? Why not make these red card offenses? I mean, if youâre trying to stamp out unfair play why not prioritise the big things, rather than going for the low-hanging fruit just so you can make yourself the main character and go on a power trip? Does that sound petty? Well, donât these things need to be stamped out of the game more than Trossard and Riceâs crimes of the last few games? And, whatever happened to refs giving final warnings to ensure we still have a contest?
And then we have the City players getting salty after the game. Letâs talk about âdark artsâ. Going down to break the flow of the game? Often, that is tactical and not because a player needs treatment. But, when you get the time added on and score in the last minute you can hardly complain. Especially when your opponents are playing almost an hour with 10 men. Get over it. Also, the Arsenal players who were going down had to come off anyway. Oh, and how about going down holding your face at kick-off when youâve stepped in front of your runner? Spare me. City had every advantage going for them. They were playing their third consecutive game at home while Arsenal were playing their third consecutive away game, with a day less to prepare. Stop your crying, Bernardo.
The main takeaway from this game should be that Arsenal are immense. Any attempt to change that narrative is desperation. Itâs just a shame we have to talk about refereeing again. Itâs every week. Itâs exhausting to the point of breeding apathy where weâre just supposed to accept it. And then the media refs tell us itâs all fine. Itâs not fine. Itâs gaslighting.
Simon, Norf London Gooner
Misdirection
Arsenal are not in a tribunal hearing for alleged financial impropriety. Not even once. Let alone 115 times.
Arsenal are not raising eyebrows by signing 40 players for a billion quid on 9 year contracts.
Arsenal spent 200 mio last summer on large upgrades. This summer they had a net spend of zero as a result. They actually trimmed their squad to restore free cash flow and reduce the wage bill.
Arsenal have a 40 year old coach who has won exactly one trophy â the fa cup (which means nothing to anyone bar ETh) â and that was 4 years ago. I checked this fact with Bernardo Silva by the way.
So why is everyone so apparently terrified or appalled at what Arsenal are doing to the game ? Surely itâs not misdirection ?
Johnno
Back for good?
Yippee, it appears that Arsenal are back after that 2-2 draw against City. This is really pleasing, however, you might be better off being âbackâ at the business end of the season, when you have traditionally bottled it.
Also, has a player ever gone down with cramp when on the losing side? Winning cramp is a thing?
Simon S, Cheshire.
Speedy defence
Arsenal fans are funny, arenât they.
Are they going to clog up the court system by challenging their speeding tickets on the grounds that not everybody else got done? Lots of people speed. Some get punished, some donât. Thatâs not a defence.
Mark Lewis (SWFC, in other news, weâre f***ed)
Postcard from east Manchester
Just a thought but perhaps the refs are being harsh on arsenal because the players and fans are constantly whining, cheating little bitches.
Just a thought
Matt MCFC
MORE MAN CITY COVERAGE ON F365âŠ
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Insufferable Gunners
In response to Rich, AFC saying that Arsenal havenât had any real shockers go their way, I remember last season Odegaard committing a clear handball for a penalty against Liverpool in a game you went on to draw and Havertz diving while on a yellow card against Brentford before scoring a last minute winner. Both times the review after the game said the decision should have gone against Arsenal but didnât. That you donât notice that is only natural â youâre a fan and, like all fans (me included) almost everything your team does is the result of our own brilliance (or is at least justified) and the opponents and refs are filthy cheats trying to screw you over. Theyâre not though.
Arsenal fans in the last couple of years have started an extremely vocal insistence that the only reason they might possibly not win is referees cheating, which doesnât hold up to much scrutiny.
Finally, the reason I reckon that most other fans donât want Arsenal to win the league is the same reason you didnât want us to win the league when we were against them; Rival fans are already annoying enough â if you lot actually won something youâd still be insufferable, but now with justification, which would be dreadful for the rest of us. City winning doesnât matter â theyâre expected to and it doesnât matter much but a different club doing it would be nightmarish for rival fans.
Tom, Andover
Wenger was right
There is one, or shall we say two, things that stood out from Wengerâs cry arsing that we should take a moment to acknowledge.
By things I mean names. The first, is the delightful Shawcross. Wenger asking whether he goes for the ball or not became thoroughly pertinent for a young Aaron Ramsey and his shattered leg. A potentially career ending challenge on a young lad just starting out.
The second is the targeting of another young player, Eduardo. We canât quite forget the mouth-clasping, vomit-suppressing looks on the Arsenal players faces in 2008. Dislocated ankle and broken tibia, if i remember right.
Cryarsing? Maybe. Premonition? Who knows. Cryarsing when absolute rage was probably the right answer? Certainly.
(But then the editorial team at F365 new this and most likely itâs a fishing exercise for read responses)
Bait. Taken
Alex
READ MORE: From Bernardo to Klopp via Wenger and Jose: Top 10 post-match âproper footballâ cryarsings
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VAR and Villany â
Given the furore in the aftermath of the Citeh v Arsenal game and refereeing I have two things to say (as a Villa fan)âŠ
There was a lot of talk in the comments section about calling out your own team too. Duranâs dive against League 1 Wycombe was disgraceful tonight. I guess it showed how desperate Villa were andâŠ
B. I think he did it knowing heâd never get booked and VAR couldnât check it. Basically took a chance on the ref being incompetent. Long live VAR.
Ta,
Gary AVFC.
Farmer maths
Wimbledon AFC were reported to have pumped 100,000 litres of water from their pitch, the surface of which is 6,900 square meters. By my farmer maths, thatâs water to a depth of 1.4 cm all over the pitch. Right?
Dan, Phnom Penh (not a farmer)
Read next:Â How Haaland exposed a recent flaw in live TV football â and also how we can blame VAR
