Yes we were poor yesterday at the back like we have been a lot this season but come on, that’s only part of the problem. Things have just gone so against Arsenal this season with ref’s and injuries. Yet Man Utd have had points given to them by ref’s at West Ham, Wigan, Blackpool and West Brom. Plus, they’ve got lucky with games like yesterday where Olsson hit the post with a header that could have

On the one hand, unlucky and robbed by the referee. On the other hand, naive, sloppy and wasteful. I didn’t watch most of the 1st half as I am too stressed at the moment with this team to watch them. And I’m glad I didn’t. It sounds like we didn’t start the game until we were 2 down and those 2 goals were sloppy defending, getting caught from long balls. We created more chances than we did in the Sunderland , Blackburn and Liverpool games combined, it seems, and yet still only scored one goal, however…

This is where I switch to my other hand as we had a stone-wall penalty turned down and we had a perfectly good goal disallowed. So that’s two, probably 3 goals we would have got yesterday had the referee done his job properly. Will he be criticised or punished? No. Disgrace.

Robbed again, like so many times this season- Newcastle away, Wigan away, Sunderland away, Sunderland home, Bolton away, almost Everton at home. It’s unbelievable how referee decisions have gone against Arsenal this season and how they’ve gone for Man Utd. They haven’t really been better than us this season, they’ve had favourable refereeing and a lot of teams have gone to Old Trafford already beaten.

Yes we were poor at the back like we have been a lot this season but come on, that’s only part of the problem. Things have just gone so against Arsenal this season with ref’s and injuries. Yet Man Utd have had points given to them by ref’s at West Ham, Wigan, Blackpool and West Brom. Plus, they’ve got lucky with games like yesterday where Olsson hit the post with a header that could have made it 2-0 whereas it just misses and moments later they’re at 1-1. Yet Tiote’s volley from 30 or so yards at Newcastle against Arsenal flies beautifully into the net! When does he ever shoot even with his right foot? If that’d had have been against Man Utd it would have flown into the crowd or he wouldn’t have done it!

Unluckiness has been a bit thing in our season but so has poor defending and naivety and a couple of signings will sort this out. I don’t really know why but the last 2 or 3 three months are harder than the rest of the season and this is the time when you need experienced players to win games. Arsenal are probably the best team in the league between August and March but then we lack the experience to grind out results and keep our calm near the end of the season. Chris Samba and Scott Parker would be very good signings in my opinion, though I have my doubts about Parker. But someone experienced who plays in midfield or at the back would be great to go with Chris Samba. I don’t think we need to make loads of signings, just a couple would change us into a better enough team. Let’s not forget that most of the time, this is a very good side and that, I think, it just needs a bit of improvement and experience.

http://thelifeofanarsenalsuppoter.blogspot.com – my blog

Mean Lean’s Response

Much of what you say will be seen as excuse making by some, I have had the same said to myself on many occasions but I find it difficult to ignore the contributions of match officials just to vent on the team.

This is not a way to take any blame away from our players because many of our squad deserve plenty of criticism and blame for their actions for especially the latter part of this season but it is not just two teams on the pitch that contribute towards a result.

It has got to the point where obvious bad calls happen against us and I almost don’t bat an eyelid, it is now the norm.

It is very difficult to compare officiating against other teams because I do not watch other teams week in week out but when I look at the decisions we get compared to the opposition it becomes clear that it is not always an even playing field.

Think about decisions that have gone in our favour over the course of the season. I can think of a handful. Chamakh going to ground and getting a penalty against Birmingham perhaps? Even though he was touched. Koscielny getting away with it against Blackpool in the penalty area, the non penalty in the Carling Cup final on Bowyer and I am sure there are plenty more but I struggle to think of a list of decisions in our favour.

Now the other way round and I would be here all day listing clear cut decisions going against us or simply being ignored when it should benefit our team.

Having said this, we already know that the benefit of the doubt is unlikely to go our way so we should be doing a damn sight more to take these chances away from the referees and their assistants.