Kevin Whitcher
Ed’s note – I was unable to catch yesterday’s game. However, regular Gooner contributor Simon Rose was good enough to step in for me and cover the article on the match. My thanks to him for the piece that follows…
Arsenal didn’t play well enough to win at WBA and the hosts’ penalty shouldn’t have been given, but the two matters are unconnected. We are Arsenal and we should have played well enough at the bottom team to win convincingly. The Baggies’ late contentious penalty should have been nothing more than a mildly patronising consolation, a puny backdrop to an otherwise sound 3-1 or 4-1 win. It shouldn’t have mattered.
We shouldn’t have to question a refereeing decision, or ponder his integrity. Arsenal should be above this, because we should be better than this. But we aren’t. Our superiority should give us more leeway than to be sucker-punched by a late drama. But it doesn’t, because our style of play is no longer superior.
Arsenal are weird and we, as supporters, are curious gluttons for recurring punishment. We have been brought up to support our team and believe in Arsenal’s values, yet we don’t trust what we see anymore.
All too often, Arsenal are now dull and uninspiring. Slow sideways football. Wide players running in-field, leaving no width. Strikers entirely unsure where to position themselves, because they don’t know where their service is coming from. It leads to ponderous football that even the weakest of opponents can retreat against and fend off.
Arsenal have become so formulaic. We play out patterns on the pitch, almost irrespective of our where opponents are. Very little seems in the moment, or intuitive. Too many Arsenal matches are like a fresh episode of a TV drama where you’re left at the end thinking “Haven’t I seen this episode before?” If Arsenal appeared on Strictly, our tempo would be slow slow slow-slow slow.
This match elapsed with two teams fairly busily doing not much in particular. Things threatened to happen, without much happening. When Sanchez’s late free-kick deflected in I was delighted in a sort of “okay, now end this game” kind of way. It was one to forget. We’ll just take the points thanks, Happy New Year, bye. And then Mike Dean had to ruin it.
Gibbs’s cross hit Chambers’ arm, yes, but if such moments need to be intentional for a penalty to be given then nobody could rationally say that was the case, as Chambers was at point-blank range. The ball just hit him. You can only give a penalty for that if you really want to. And we can only presume that Dean wanted to give it.
Petr Cech asked Dean at the full-time whistle to clarify why the penalty was awarded. Cech later said that referees have visited the training ground and explained that point-blank handballs won’t be given, hence he wanted to know why this one was. Dean booked him. I’ve seen photos on Twitter of Dean imitating an elbow by his head, but of course Chambers’ arm was nearer his waist. A video replay would have shown that Chambers’ arm was not head high and Dean could have changed his decision. VAR won’t be perfect, football is not an exact science, as every incident is different, but it’ll certainly help.
Wenger complained after the match about our fixture scheduling. He was irked how we had three days to prepare for this match but West Brom had five and how we’ll get one less day to prepare for Chelsea than Chelsea will. And there is clearly no doubt that Wenger is right: TV scheduling has ended all teams playing at the same time and there is an undeniably unfair contrast in recovery time and travelling.
But Premier League clubs handed over their rights when they signed up for TV riches. There was a crushingly futile irony for Wenger to complain about scheduling to a Sky TV reporter, in a live post-match interview, after the final match in a round of contests that were mostly played the day before.
The scheduling horse has long bolted, for clubs, fans and broadcasters. Clubs get varying time to recover and prepare, fans travel at random times and broadcasters are paying over the odds for a product that is becoming less interesting.
Happy New Year!
Ed’s note – I was sent a text message from Doktor Schneide this morning. Too good to waste it so here goes…
Arsenal supporters leaving the Hawthorns last night were unanimous in their condemnation of one of the poorest judgements affecting their club. A typical Arsenal fan vented his fury by stating 'How on earth that decision was made I do not know. It's a scandal!' When asked for his opinion on how similar incidents affecting Arsenal could be avoided, he answered 'Well Kroenke has to go with Wenger following for a start...'
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