There is not much to talk about the match. You all watched it and it was a shame Michael Oliver decided to be the main character of it. If it’s the referee who is ‘talked about’ the most after a match, something is wrong.
A brief match report – City opened the game really well, made us suffer for the first 15 min but we gradually took control of the game. Calafiori scored a brilliant one in his first start for Arsenal to level up and Gabriel provided the lead with a brilliant header soon after. We got to see a lengthy added time when Leandro Trossard, who was already on a yellow, made a shoulder barging challenge and kicked the ball in about 1 second since the whistle. Michael Oliver decided that it was a big enough incident to award him another yellow and putting us to 10 men. Fine. But Doku kicked the ball in similar manner like 2 minutes back, Michael Oliver had seen that and decided that it didn’t deserve a card. With 10 men against one of the best teams on the planet, Mikel decided to switch to a 5-4 system, brought White in place of Saka and we defended like our lives depended on it. We did it for 45 minutes and again, 7 whole minutes were added to the game. City scored 7 seconds before the game ended, in the 98th minute. Yes, you read that right.
A 2-2 scoreline at the end of the day, with Man City celebrating a draw at their home ground, and Arsenal gutted to lose 2 points after giving all they had. That’s all.
Now, lets get back to the real concern. When are the PGMOL and the referees stop ruining games for their bias and incompetence is ruining the experience for the fans, players and the teams? At this point, it’s not even incompetence but a bias because the law of average would average it for teams like Arsenal.
Last weekend, Szoboszlai of Liverpool was on a yellow and kicked the ball away. The time between the whistle and the kick was 1.13 seconds. For Trossard, it was 1.07 seconds. Only one of them got the second yellow and sent off. Heck, just a few minutes back before Trossard was sent off, Doku kicked the ball away and delayed the restart right in front of Michael Oliver and Oliver did nothing. Doku wasn’t even carded yet, so it’s not like a decision which could have hampered the game right (sarcasm intended) ?
Do you remember the game against Man City last season when Kovacic had a challenge on Martin Odegaard which should have been a RED? Well, the 4th official came out in public and told everyone that Kovacic deserved a Red card but Michael Oliver didn’t like to have a negative impact in a big game. Well, he did last night. So, lets rephrase that ‘didn’t like to have a negative impact in a big game’. Michael Oliver don’t like to take a decision that has a negative impact on Man City and he is perfectly fine to award yellows for no reason if it favors Man City.
Mark Goldbridge, a Manchester United supporter, calls out Michael Oliver and Howard Webb, calling them idiots for those decisions. It takes some real talent to make a United supporter speak in favor of Arsenal.
Right, so call it incompetency or bias whatever you like. Is there no one who looks at it and says what the fuck is going on? How is Michael Oliver ending up as a ref in games where he shouldn’t be? If Howard Webb found out the Kovacic red cards should have been given last season, how did Michael Oliver still ends up in the game where Man City and Arsenal are playing? People get fired for those kind of incompetence.
Lets move to the positive – we are winning the league this season. I was furious when we bought Calafiori when we needed a midfield and a CF on priority. I think I understand the logic behind it. We started the game with Calafiori as LB and Timber on the right. Both playing in their natural positions and both were quite good. A new back 4 where Timber didn’t play a single game as a RB and Calafiori has not started a game yet, did well to manage City. It will improve and I think we would eventually end up with this back 4. We are playing a lot of games and Ben White will get his chances. Zinchenko and Kiwior – not so much.
Secondly, Mikel is learning to adapt. Bringing off Saka for White after the red card was a decision I was praying for but didn’t expect. Arteta read the situation, said fuck it and put everyone behind the ball. There is no shame in fighting dirty. Specially when you are playing a game 10 v 12 where one of your player was sent off for god knows why and the referee is a City player, only not wearing the kit himself. We fought, we fought well to keep the lead and we would have come back with 3 points if there was not deflection and if there was not an ‘eternity’ of extra time awarded. We were sad that we drew against the current champions, at their home, with 10 men. We are gonna be fine in coming days.
Lets go back to game again and count the cunts. Referee, already talked about. Haaland was so eager he added himself to the list. Throwing a ball to Gabriel’s head from behind when the player has tshirt over face is as cuntish as it can get. Calling the opponent manager to ‘stay humble eh’ after a game when you haven’t been one yourself is idiotic behaviour. Asking a 17 year old kid ‘who the fuck are you’ and trying to be the strong one just shows his man child nature. You can have Zlatan’s attitude but not his grace. So, fuck off.
Bernando Silva. Silva in his post match interview praised Liverpool and told everyone that Liverpool had already won PL title and Arsenal haven’t and that Klopp’s team always faced them with clear intention of winning the game which we didn’t. What a wanker. Liverpool didn’t get yellow carded for no reasons and reduced to 10 men whenever they played in a big game. With 10 men, and a 2-1 lead, do you expect a clean fight? Are you daft or what? And if you do, tell Michael Oliver next time that you don’t need his ‘favors’ to win games. WE are waiting for you at Emirates, will see how much intent you bring.
Manuel Akanji – branded Arsenal the masters of football’s ‘dark arts’ – but claimed it will not be enough to take the title from Manchester City. Well, mate, we will take it from you this season. And the dark arts you are talking about, our manager learnt it from yours. It’s just that we are doing it better and not adding ‘cheating’ to it. Do you have ‘dark arts’ in one of those 115 charges by any chance?
I have a lot more to talk but it’s almost 3 am and I am still upset with the game. Win, lose, rivalries – all are part of a game and frankly, I would have taken a loss if it was a fair fight. But some very incompetent decisions made the game between no.1 and no.2 team a boring fest. People watching it felt cheated because they expected a game but what they got was a team with 10 men trying to hold on to the lead and a team putting everyone bar their GK in the opposition half.
Lets not ruin the games. If City does better than Arsenal on it’s own, let it be. If not, let it be, as well. Don’t try to be a hero.
I should go get some sleep. I would read everything you say in the comments. Please ignore any grammar mistakes and have a good one.
Put the tin foil helmet away, Ambarish, it’s not good optics for you. You’re getting petty mate.
Time wasting and dark arts is El B’s brief to his players; he can’t win without cheating it seems. he sent Lewes-Skelly to tell Raya to waste time who was booked for it.
Are you happy with those tactics, Ambarish because I am not at all.
Refs are going to be inconsistent; they always have been. In the end, the season evens itself out with decisions. VAR has improved a lot and is still improving to help refs get their decisions right.
Reality is what has been written here since the game; you’re on your own with blaming the refs’. other then the LG tin foil community with Pedro leading the “it’s not fair” charge of the Gooner brigade.
It’s simple enough: If you are on a yellow, 2 things should happen:
1/ the manager sub’s a carded player to be safe
2/ the player makes sure he doesn’t break any further yellow card rules – it’s that simple Ambarish.
Don’t become a fanboy, Ambarish please.
We need to stop the dark arts that arse licker Keown is saying we “don’t do”. Keown may have been a legend, but he’s a ‘yes man’ now, and El B PR spin merchant after wrongly blowing smoke up Wenger’s arse and was proven wrong and who clearly has lost sight of today’s game and clearly doesn’t understand the game today.
Like many pundits of his era he should be put out to grass, and enjoy retirement and stop talking utter bollocks. He’s past his football sell by date, and the game has changed beyond recognition to Keown’s playing days.
Now Keown just embarrasses himself with saying our use of dark arts is utter nonsense. What a selectively blind prick.
Sorry, Ambarish, can’t agree with you here. I know you want to be positive, and I was before the game saying I was hoping we’d get a draw. We got that but not the way I expected.
Ambarish, we can’t score from open play – only from set pieces and you worry yourself senseless over ref inconsistencies?
You made your call; El B has to win this season. It was the right call when you take the last 5 years into consideration.
Now stick by it and call it like it really is, it’s what I respect you for. When it’s good I write positively, when it’s dire like this season, I tell it like it is because it’s the truth.
Dreaming up conspiracy excuses is not going to help us win the league.
Only an experienced young manager can do that, not El B. I’ve said for 5 years El B will not win a major trophy; all we can expect is the minor tin cups if we’re lucky.
I promise you, Ambarish it give me no pleasure writing this post.
We all want to win, I just want us to win with our heads held high unlike Shitty today and their ill gotten wins, and same with Manure under old Red nose.
Mate! Have a word……….
TRVL
City haven’t lost with Rodri playing says it all. It’s hard to call them a one to two player team, but they do rely heavily with KDB and Rodri.
We said this last season when Rodri was out and there form dipped a bit.
Pep is too good a manager and with an elite squad; he’ll make the right fixes – he aways does.
He’s also does what El B doesn’t and change his tactics to suit the replacements better.
I feel the only way to win the title is for City to be docked points and relegated – something they feel sure isn’t going to happen where they were reported to have forcibly informed their squad not to worry or even think about it; City is not going to lose the case.
I wouldn’t want to be their lawyer when they do lose…….. I imagine he’s fond of his body parts.
Their arrogance is for all to see………..
Tony—I agree wholeheartedly with your anti-tin foiler commentary, I just didn’t want to pile on…how quickly some forget how our first tally was set in motion by a quick restart while Walker was still talking to the ref and/or our set piece “dark arts” nonsense, which would have raised the ire of every Arteta fluffer if we were on the receiving end…of course, no one wants to see red cards being issued so early in a match, especially when both came about as a result of easily avoidable yellows, but you can’t really blame the officials for either incident because the players in question committed multiple infractions, thereby forcing the ref’s hands
I guess you read my last two posts on the previous thread regarding Watt’s comments about White’s omission and Rodri’s pending season-ending injury…as to the former, I guess the saving grace is that it could open the door to a continuance of the Cala/Timber experiment, even if the reasoning behind these changes is utter bullshit…regarding the latter point, if Rodri is going to miss the entire season, I’ll be intrigued to see how Pep deals with this scenario, as they don’t have what I would deem as a logical replacement, as Kovacic has neither the length or physicality required…maybe it’s Stones or another defender, or maybe he’ll have a formational rethink…either way we all know who will be rolling out his poor man’s version, so let’s hope it’s something that won’t require us to increase our shoehorning budget
Tony
Don’t be blinded by the hate towards Mikel because referee had ruined that game. If Trossard was a yellow, so does Doku. So does Kavocic last season. It was the same Michael Oliver who awarded two yellow cards to Martinelli in a single play of game. He is incompetent and biased and PGMOL is doing nothing about it.
TRVL
I don’t see Stones as good enough to fill Rodri’s big boots. A formation tweak that could well make them better as they could be got at during a game. Then it’s about taking your chances.
Our first goal was farcical and the ref was certainly good to us by allowing the goal. Then there was the blatant push in Romero’s back we got lucky again with where the goal stood.
We are scraping by with set piece goals so some blame the refs…. Ho hum
Ambarish
No blind hatred for El B. Just want a manager who can win major trophies after amassing a £1.1b squad.
It’s true I don’t like the man for the way he treats others if that’s ok with you, then we see things differently, don’t we?
Let’s see what happens going forward…….. The next 2 league games should give us 6 points. PSG I’m not so sure about. TRVL will give us a better balanced view of that game.
Is tin foil cheap in India? lol Do you buy in bulk……
Ambarish—in this cake and eat it too world I can understand why you might lean into this all-too-familiar narrative, but I beg you to resist any such temptations moving forward…as I stated, we too benefited greatly from the actions, or lack thereof, of the on-field official, so to only focus on the negative would land you squarely within the ranks of the AKB simpletons, at least on this particular issue
as someone who has officiated a variety of different sports over the years, I can unequivocally state that even though it’s impossible to rid yourself of all biases, there’s no chance whatsoever that an officiating-wide conspiracy exists…keeping in mind that these “biases” only exist as a result of the untoward behaviour of others, which might be taken into account when metting out any disciplinary actions against habitual offenders or those who’ve consistently slagged your profession publicly…so if we were smart we would collectively request that our manager stop incessantly blaming the refs at every opportunity, especially considering our embarassing history in this regards under Wenger
simply-put there’s no such thing as a perfectly officiated sporting event, but the law of averages suggests that it will all even out in the end, so let’s try to leave the refs out of our mouths unless something so egregious occurs that remaining silent would seem almost impossible…what transpired in our last two matches would by no means fall into that category…I’m sure if you looked at our opposition’s fansites you would find that they too felt that they had been similarly aggrieved
for sports that are highly nuanced and involve a high level of human contact, unlike tennis where some form of replay can be employed with near perfection, there will always be decisions made that will evoke feelings of consternation or worse…the only way they might alleviate these scenarios is if they left all decisions in the hands of those in an “outsourced” replay booth, who would then be required to punish every infraction without impunity, which would make each match incredibly disjointed and ridiculously long…until such a time there will always be highly contentious decisions made, so instead of continually bashing our heads against that particular brick wall, we should do everything within our power to not leave our fate in the hands of what will always be viewed as an inherently flawed system, especially if you’re expecting some sort of unattainable perfection
I just watched a rather intriguing clip from the end of our match where Haaland gave MA a pat on the shoulder and twice told him to “stay humble”, at which point Jesus came to his manager’s defence…now if this was just some random one-off encounter, where neither party had any real “inside” connection beyond the pitch, I would pay it little to no heed, but considering MA’s supposed close relationship with Pep and the fact that Haaland is extremely tight with our captain, it does make me think about what has been said that would prompt him to do such a thing…one would think, if you took Pep and Ode’s public statements regarding MA at face value, that such a commentary would have no merit whatsoever, but maybe just maybe what we’ve been led to believe couldn’t be further from the truth…is MA’s ego-tripping self so over-the-top that what Erling heard disturbed him so much that he actually felt compelled to make a comment in mixed company…of course, I wouldn’t be surprised by any such notion, as we’ve seen ample examples of our manager’s egomaniacal self, but could he really be so “bad” that the best Striker in the world actually couldn’t bite his tongue anymore…I doubt anyone involved will spill the tea on the reasons behind this encounter, but it has given me cause for pause
Ambarish—I apologize if you felt that I laid it on a little thick, but I’m convinced that we won’t truly reinvent the culture here until we rid ourselves of our longstanding conspiratorial bugaboos…in the main, you’ve been very level-headed in your approach to most club-related matters, of which I must commend you, so hopefully you realize that my comments were more directed at those who’ve gone off the rails, in this regards, at seemingly every turn…ultimately I just want us to become the kind of championship level organization who matters because of what we’ve accomplished on the pitch and not because we somehow managed to win the lionshare of the supposed disputed calls…Cheers
“Dark Arts” WTF, call it what it is Sh*t housery. We got fucked over by MOM Oliver, therefore what were our options winning the game at being up 2:1 with 45 minutes to go? Sh*t housery par excellence. The only problem we were not very good at it and this should now be part of the training ground exercise in case we meet another MOM Ref. I don’t like it but when the Ref is not making consistent judgements or makes blatant errors and we end up on the short end, then all bets are off and it is absolutely called for.
First problem our Sh*t housery should have started shortly before the 50th minute not in the 60+ minute. Furthermore, we needed to be more inventive and pull a couple doozies out of our hat that would have impressed the neutrals.
The game was ruined when we went into the break and nothing could have made it worst and we needed to make sure that City was not trouncing us. Therefore we should have put on an unforgettable show of Sh*t housery and if we would have won 2:1 than Arsenal would have not only been feared because of their defense, but in view of an anemic offense we have another secret weapon Sh*t housery par excellence.
TRVL
Excellent narratives that were eloquently put.
Ambarish
I hope you take TRVL’s words as speaking for me, too, as I don’t have the prowess with football reasoning VL has through a lifetime of experience in many sports, which we have discussed away from LIR and I’ve found very interesting. It’s why I like to discuss tactical solutions or the lack thereof here with TRVL.
My hope is we make it interesting tactically speaking for any readers with pre and post game analyses. In game posts are starting to add good chatter to the live game commentary to add spice to the game.
As with VL, I hope you take our differing slants on similar views regarding the ref/VAR conspiracies in the manner in which they are meant: more serious reasoning from VL and more banter styled from me. Neither were personal towards you and you are no shrinking violet – more the hard partying animal (meant as a compliment) when you can get weeks away for celebrations. Fair play if you can do and we’ve always got your back here to give you peace of mind.
LG started the tin foil hat brigade to boost El B’s rep where I imagine they are the hard core of LG these days.
You’re better than that in my & VL’s viewpoints and why we have joined you with LIR.
If you feel El B is the man to win us the PL and eventually CL (he told Willian 3 years), I have no problem with that; you are young and impressionable. lol.
As much as I find El B repulsive with no class or love/understanding for anyone or thing but himself, it doesn’t cloud my football and Gooner judgement. If El B won the league I’d be happy but my views on El B would never change.
Personally, El B needs a points deduction or something to get our hands on the PL trophy. Same way we won the FA cup.
We are now playing outdated Mourinho style football after copying Pep has failed. I look at other PL managers playing with their identities and wonder which one El B will copy next?
To sum things up El B likes to cheat (dark arts), and bend the rules as much as is possible, where our players have had that drummed into them with failure a non negotiable waiting to happen. I don’t blame Trossard or Rice they were just blindly obeying orders: waste time!!!!!!!!
Why?
Clearly because El B is scared of losing, and knows we have a lopsided squad without injuries, but now even more: only him and Edu to blame but hey blame injuries and anything not related to them both.
They play the blame game ever so well with the full PR spin machine behind them. They have you believing it.
We are playing badly because players are off the pace, and we only attack down our left, so easy to defend against – at City we were disjointed and only playing well in very short patches.
The press optics on us and El B are not good, and with good reason. Sending Lewes Skelly to tell Raya to go down to waste time is simply cheating – no other word for it.
That’s not how I want The Arsenal to play.
We all want to win a trophy, probably none more than supporters like you who haven’t witnessed winning a PL trophy, same we haven’t won the CL cup.
I just hope our next PL trophy win hasn’t been gifted us through points deductions or winning through nefarious ways: neither would really satisfy us because there would always be shitty banter thrown at our hapless trophy win.
LIR
Pep has no love for El B now. Pep said today in a pop at El B that he wouldn’t use Rodri and KDB’s injuries as an excuse, said because El B s always offering excuses for the slightest thing.
Pep had El B over with Zinchenko, now out injured once again and Jesus, and maybe El B is realizing that now. Before the game they were all hugs and besties with Pep’s back room all showing the love.
Now? I think El B’s antics during and post game has soured their friendship and respect to a level that may not be repairable.
Problem is El B’s ego is still growing, as more people massage it for him with lip service because of the consequences of telling the truth.
How now do we judge El B after 5 years?
Under Wenger’s first decade we had class and classy innovative football.
Under GG we had resolute football with our 1:0 to the Arsenal including a Euro cup trophy. In
Rioch we had safe football, but he bought Bergkamp which was better than winning any cup or league that season.
How does El B compare to Arsne’s first decade or GG’s short lived winning ways? Both along with Chapman are our greatest managers whatever order you put them in.
They are the barometers or yardsticks from which to compare because El B actually thinks he’s a great manager even though winless in 5 years bar a covid cup.
How should we compare El B to our past, and the PL’s current crop of young manager’s?
Anyone?
Good stuff Kilroy.
Winter home internationals soon should be fun. The Kiwis look like beatable now in that they can be got at but still a lethal team.
Watched the Pumas v Boks playing in Argentina in the Rugby Championship absolutely riveting. Even with a bonus point win over the Kiwis the Aussies will finish dead last. This weekend’s match between the Pumas and the Boks will be in South Africa and I don’t expect the Pumas to win. Loosing bonus point and scoring 4 trys for another bonus point is the best they can hope for. At the same time if the Kiwis don’t get a bonus point win the Pumas may finish second.
For the Pumas to win the Rugby Championship they need a bonus point win in Nelspruit and have to win by 17 points to finish top of the ladder.
The end of the year competition in November looks very tasty England v NZL and RSA, Ireland v NZL and ARG. Waiting if I should subscribe to FloRugby or just go the free route.
Thanks Kilroy, I missed the southern hemisphere rugby this season; only saw the last Kiwi v Boks game and highlight so their previous clash.
I am looking forward to the Nov test games. Got to love the Pumas rise in the game. No longer minnows.
Tony—the whole “style of play” debate has always been a spicy fucking meatball at this club, especially since our move to the Emirates
early on we witnessed a collection of Wenger-led sides attempt to deliver their respective versions of the beautiful game…at first, most within the fanbase, including myself, were willing to accept that there would be an expectational dropoff due to the supposed financial constraints surrounding the new build; although knowing what I know now, I’m not convinced the monies weren’t available…regardless of the mitigating facts, our lack of fiscal intent invariably led to a substantial talent exodus, most of whom were replaced by lesser quality pieces…instead of flipping his preferred tactical script, Wenger remained steadfast, which somehow endeared him even more to his legion of supporters…they simply saw him as both a victim of circumstances beyond his control and an absolute saint for staying the course
in reality he should have either walked away with his head held high or made the necessary tactical adjustments…even when the purse strings loosened a bit and he made a somewhat concerted push, during the Sanchez/Ozil era, he was unwilling and/or unable to get some key windows right, most notably the summer of Cech…at least at that time there appeared to be a plausible excuse, as the always lingering stadium-based budgetary ruse provided him with ample cover so long as he continually rolled out some sort of dumbed-down version of the beautiful game
the key difference when it comes to Arteta’s current tenure is that, minus one brief period 2 seasons ago, he’s failed to provide anything resembling the beautiful game, even though he’s been backed at an unprecedented level…so the old excuses no longer carry any weight…in fact, I would contend that just about any manager of consequence would have achieved higher heights by this juncture, given the inherited talent, our new fiscal practices and the watered down competition, specifically regarding some of the more traditional top 4 powerhouse sides…at the very least we should be playing an attractive brand of football and have won no less than one the last two league titles
so whereas some will be quick to defend his almost not empty trophy cabinet, I would be more inclined to focus on his obvious failures, considering the above circumstances…after all, who the fuck invests a shitload of time and money if the end result is a poor man’s version with a penchant for negative Jose-esque football from a bygone era
Sums it up perfectly, TRVL.
Ambarish
It appears a lot of people agree with your anger – Oliver seems to be inclined to dish out more swings than roundabouts. Even super cool Tim couldn’t hide his anger and left the Directors box without offereing a handshake. Even some pundits have voiced opinions favouring AFC – rare indeed.
Ambarish
It appears a lot of people agree with your anger – Oliver seems to be inclined to dish out more swings than roundabouts. Even super cool Tim couldn’t hide his anger and left the Directors box without offering a handshake. Even some pundits have voiced opinions favouring AFC – rare indeed.
Tony / TRVL
Let’s agree to disagree.
Killroy
Media houses suddenly forgot the blocking of Aaron Ramsdale against Aston Villa.
https://x.com/wallacemenace/status/1838562299939881377?t=zsZrOBAzBDlvPV6-YWKzyQ&s=19
NORG
There is a pattern for sure. It could be incompetence, bias, corruption but that’s ruining games. It’s not only with Arsenal. Last season, Wolves were denied a penalty against Manchester United when Andre Onana fouled Sasa Kalajdzic. I somewhat understand if it’s the on-field referee making a mistake, he is in the game running along with players, can have his views blocked, can be a lapse in concentration etc. but what is VAR doing?
If it’s a clean wrong decision and a yellow is awarded, VAR can’t interfere. What kind of logic is that? We should get neutral referees and the laws of averages will apply. Limiting VAR intervention is a good thing but it should be implemented differently. Why not introduce a ‘cricket-style’ review? Let the captain decide if wants to go upstairs for a decision, and let the world hear the ref who is making decisions on the live TV.
We are accountable in every aspect of life. If you are telling me, the refs managing the biggest league in the world, that generated more than 5 and half billion pounds (2021-22 season) are not accountable? I would say the term I loved most when I was in London – BOLLOCKS.
TRVL,
Just read your style-of-play comment. I agree with that to a bit, I miss the Ozil/Sanchez and wenger’s style of play and I have been an advocate of Klopp’s football in recent times than Pep/Arteta’s positioning play and frustrating the opponents by passing a hundred times among ourselves.
I remember some of the beautiful goals from Wilshere, Walcott, Sanchez, even Aubameyang which gave goosebumps. The style of play Mikel and Pep plays bores the game.
The problem is, you can’t fight this possession-based football with a free flowing football. That’s why even the likes of Brighton and Aston Villa are now switching to play-from-the-back. But it’s just a phase, it will pass. Tiki-Taka, Mourinho’s park the bus, Wenger’s no defence only attack football has all been replaced. Someone will come up with a better alternative and football will evolve.
New post.
Ambarish—two points:
(1) I’m by no means defending the actions of the officials, as I’m of the belief that the professional standards have actually dipped since the introduction of VAR…that said, I think it’s important to note that things were already reaching a crisis point prior to it’s introduction, which directly impacted how this particularly flawed VAR model was going to be implemented…instead of choosing this papering over the cracks version they should have adopted the same model FIFA had used on the world’s stage…by not doing so, no outside eyes were allowed in the room, so the underlying issues continued to fester
until a new level of trust is forged between the players/managers and the officials, these problems will continue to not only persist, they’ll actually flourish, to the detriment of the product on the field…in order for any real change to come about an independent oversight committee needs to be formed to root out the systemic problems, then they can finally turn the page…to ensure future success I would tie their wages to a much higher level of accountability, so that although I would pay them vastly more, which would likewise lower the chances of any funny business, they would face far more severe ramifications, including termination, if they failed to live up to the newly established higher standards
on a side note, I would personally like to see some sort of “sin bin” situation in all of football, especially when it came to dealing with more minor, non-violent infractions
(2) no one is suggesting that MA should deploy an all-out blitzkrieg-like attacking model, but there are other ways to skin a possession-based cat…knowing full-well that City was always going to our biggest stumbling block, it was imperative that he devised a system that would be most effective against our chief competitor…if you look at the tape City is most vulnerable when playing against counter-attacking sides, so why not invest heavily in a side that could become the world standard when it came to countering with numbers and pace…instead he’s been hellbent on constructing a poor man’s version, which I find to be a rather depressing blunt instrument managerial model