Btw, Borriello can fuck off and get the hell out of my team. Stealing the penalty from the designated penalty taker (and he tried to do the same thing last weekend) just because scoring goals gives him a hard-on or something (and then missing it as well)? Lame. -__- Stupid fucking mercenary.
And Adriano is now gone, that signing was such a failure, holy fuck. -__-
On March 09 2011 10:33 anImaru wrote: You have to realize that most Gunners have been trained to only be able to see calls that are biased against their team. Calls that go the other way are always completely fair and spot on.
"Arsenal fans great as always! Sorry about the result,good luck to Barca,great team! Oh yeah and the ref was good aswell...."
Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere on twitter.
"My comment about the referee was about an hour ago...before the red card....still the best referee for me, 1 decision doesn't change that"
Manchester United centre-back Rio Ferdinand on twitter
btw i gained respect for wilshere, great lad and player.
For someone from the Barca B team he more than matched his opponents
Loving Wilshere's comments. FIFA need to accept criticism of their refs when they make bad calls - if Wilshere had openly said the ref had a bad game, or made a bad decision (or several....) he would be facing a fine, the way the rules stand now. Refs cost games, yet are completely untouchable.
You may call Arsenal fans biased, but any football fan should see how the ref ruined the game last night with many poor decisions. Dictated the game. Screenshots above this prove such things, hand around neck is a red card.
agreed ref sucked, Diabi should had gotten a yellow or red when he takle messi inside the penalty box in the 1st half and should had given a penalty. Kolziesny should had gotten a yellow at least in a ludicruous takle against Villa before the whistle already went off going straight into the leg. Van Persie should had gotten a yellow when he took a swing intentionally at Alvez's face in the 1st half.
Arsenal supporters ALWAYS complain about refereeing when they lose. I see this in every football forum I visit.
On March 09 2011 09:51 Freaky[x] wrote: NO Barcelona was NOT the better team, They sure kept a lot of possession and made great penatrating runs and so on, but that is because arsenal just sat back and played the counter. Of course barcelona needed to push and had better possession. If it wern't for Fabregas's STUPID back heel pass, then the half would have been 0-0.
Also, anytime arsenal got close to a Barcelona player, he lunged himself to the ground and they got carded yet when barcelona did anything, they got nothing. Of course the players feel sickened by the ref , they can't do anything but get carded or give a free kick away when barcelona players fucking dive. If the ref was decent Dani alves should be sent off for either a straight red or 2 yellows 1 for the nasri tackle and the second for any of the dives he did. The guy should be awarded an oscar.
Also, Valdez and Abidal should also receive reds for putting their hands on the throats of arsenal players. You don't think that played a huge role?
I don't even know why Arsenal even played this game. If the UEFA and the WORLD thinks Barcelona deserve to win everything then why bother. Stop wasting the players time, the teams time and the fans time. Fuck off and just give them the Champions League Trophy and stop bothering everybody with a biased competition.
If UEFA had any balls the game would be replayed. Arsenal offered to replay a game in the FA cup in 2001 (not sure of the year), but of course this won't happen because Barcelona felt the same way as they did last year when they lost to Inter... Helpless until that throat incident. They attacked but Arsenal defended really well. So stop with the Stats BS and man up and admit you had the ref giving you all the decisions.
A bit biased but not completely wrong. Here's what I see as being true.
Truths: -Barcelona is an amazing team of passers who play beautiful football -Barcelona is also a team of divers and actors -Messi is magical - First half penalty call was clearly NOT a penalty (one of the few good decisions). Messi had the ball OUTSIDE of the box. Watch the replays before you comment. -Valez and Abidal deserve yellows (not reds) for unsporting like conduct, instigating a tense situation and most importantly putting hands on opposing players in inappropriate places (i.e. above shoulder or below belt is inappropriate) - RVP's first yellow was legit even though Dani Alves play acted to a shameful degree but then again he does that in every single game for club and country so you have to be an idiot referee to not know that about him. - RVP's second yellow was utter crap - RVP's second yellow was given when Arsenal were up 4-3 in the tie (i.e. Winning) - Arsenal went into this game with the same mentality Inter had last year. They held a tight, defensive formation and opted to clear the ball rather than play it out. They clearly had no real desire to take the game to Barca as long as they were in the lead. So people quoting stats should stop and take into account that this is a two-legged tournament game where strategies such as this are viable winning strategies.
You know, Arsenal fans are indeed a bit whiny but hey Barcelona fans, it's really freaking easy to cheer for a team that wins at EVERYTHING. Barcelona is a top quality team, there is no denying that. But it is extremely frustrating that such a quality team consistently relies on big calls like this to succeed (and sometimes not) in the Champions League. A team as good as Barcelona should not need the referee to be on their side as well.
Chelsea v. Barcelona in 2009 had 3-4 legitimate calls for a penalty from Chelsea (Malouda being wrestled down, blatant hand ball etc) turned down by the referee that resulted in Barcelona winning
Inter v. Barcelona in 2010 had Thiago Motta sent off extremely early because his hand lightly brushed Basquets face. Basquets rolled on the ground as though his eye had been gouged while peeking through his fingers to see if his opponent got carded. Once the card was shown he hopped back up 100% ok. *Note* Attempts to deceive the referee are yellow card worthy so a yellow should have been shown.
And now in Inter v. Arsenal 2011, the referee decides to send off RVP for doing what strikers are trained to do, shooting at the goal. According to this referee, who apparently is a big Barcelona fan, shooting at Barcelona's goal 1-2 seconds after the whistle is blown is yellow card worthy.
On March 09 2011 14:39 ElFuego wrote: According to this referee, who apparently is a big Barcelona fan, shooting at Barcelona's goal 1-2 seconds after the whistle is blown is yellow card worthy.
Wow ElFuego, a balanced view of a game involving Arsenal and Barcelona, maybe the world really is coming to an end
Agree with pretty much all of your points, although I would still contend that a had around an opposition player's throat is a move aggressive enough to warrant a straight red.
It is a shame to see a team filled with such talented players frequently resort to gamesmanship. The debacle of a game against Chelsea a few years back was bad enough, but following what seemed at times to be protectionism of Barca from the ref leads many people to think there is a concerted effort against English teams within UEFA. RvP was sent off, as you say, when Arsenal were winning through similar tactics they employed at the Grove - frustrate for the first half, push forward more aggressively as Barca tire in the second. Arsenal were beginning to come back into the game on a more equal footing, but a shockingly bad decision by the ref cost them any real chance in the game. Barca are arguably the best team of the past decade, any team struggles against them at Camp Nou with 11 men. Taking off one of the best strikers in the world on current form left Arsenal with little chance of getting anything from this.
As I said before Barca played well and will likely win this year if they continue to press and pass as they did last night. But UEFA and the refs need to start apologising for such blatently wrong decisions or they will be giving fuel to the conspiracy theorists.
On March 09 2011 14:15 ilj.psa wrote: agreed ref sucked, Diabi should had gotten a yellow or red when he takle messi inside the penalty box in the 1st half and should had given a penalty. Kolziesny should had gotten a yellow at least in a ludicruous takle against Villa before the whistle already went off going straight into the leg. Van Persie should had gotten a yellow when he took a swing intentionally at Alvez's face in the 1st half.
Arsenal supporters ALWAYS complain about refereeing when they lose. I see this in every football forum I visit.
(1) agreed about the penalty, and it's probably a yellow, as well. it's not a red in a million years, i would like to hear how you could possibly justify that comment.
(2) watch the highlights, it wasn't any more dangerous than a generic 50/50 tackle. and really, the 7 rolls on the ground(i just counted) weren't necessary, especially since he got up without any sign of an injury, ten seconds later.
(3) he did get a yellow. he was clearly frustrated and shoved alvez, and deserved a yellow for that, but he didn't "swing intentionally at alvez's face". this might be an issue of semantics, i guess, but that implies a much more malicious action than what he did.
i can understand referees getting calls wrong in tense moments in big games, but to send him off for something as fickle and unclear as that in a game of this magnitude is just mind boggling. if he had kicked it into row k in anger, it would be an understandable decision, but his head was down and he clearly was attempting a legitimate shot, it's just a shocking decision.
of course, barcelona were astounding as usual, played better, and deserved to win, but we knew that would be the case before the match started, and arsenal deserve their chance to best them in fair circumstances, and they were denied that.
i'm certainly not an arsenal supporter, in fact i would have been seriously raged if the roles were reversed, and arsenal won because of it. i'm getting angry just thinking about it.
at the end of the day, it's unfair on both teams, arsenal for not getting a fair chance and barcelona for not being able to win in an undisputed manner.
On March 09 2011 15:34 Sanctimonius wrote: Wow ElFuego, a balanced view of a game involving Arsenal and Barcelona, maybe the world really is coming to an end
Agree with pretty much all of your points, although I would still contend that a had around an opposition player's throat is a move aggressive enough to warrant a straight red.
It is a shame to see a team filled with such talented players frequently resort to gamesmanship. The debacle of a game against Chelsea a few years back was bad enough, but following what seemed at times to be protectionism of Barca from the ref leads many people to think there is a concerted effort against English teams within UEFA. RvP was sent off, as you say, when Arsenal were winning through similar tactics they employed at the Grove - frustrate for the first half, push forward more aggressively as Barca tire in the second. Arsenal were beginning to come back into the game on a more equal footing, but a shockingly bad decision by the ref cost them any real chance in the game. Barca are arguably the best team of the past decade, any team struggles against them at Camp Nou with 11 men. Taking off one of the best strikers in the world on current form left Arsenal with little chance of getting anything from this.
As I said before Barca played well and will likely win this year if they continue to press and pass as they did last night. But UEFA and the refs need to start apologising for such blatently wrong decisions or they will be giving fuel to the conspiracy theorists.
you can't really compare today to the semi final against chelsea. it was a silly decision, but he kept control of the game and was fair throughout. the chelsea game was one of the worst debacles i've ever witnessed in football, the referee lost control of the game, was clearly completely out of his depth and should have never been assigned to a game of that importance.
arsenal got two yellow cards today for time wasting, yet probably wasted a 1/10th of the amount of time that inter did last year at the nou camp, heh.
argh, it appears you used the word debacle as well, now i look like an idiot
Heh fair enough. Thought the ref was pretty bad in the Arsenal - Barca game, but the Chelsea - Barca game has to go down as one of the all time debacles of refereeing.
There you go, i used it again too. Now you're not alone
On March 09 2011 09:51 Freaky[x] wrote: NO Barcelona was NOT the better team, They sure kept a lot of possession and made great penatrating runs and so on, but that is because arsenal just sat back and played the counter. Of course barcelona needed to push and had better possession. If it wern't for Fabregas's STUPID back heel pass, then the half would have been 0-0.
Also, anytime arsenal got close to a Barcelona player, he lunged himself to the ground and they got carded yet when barcelona did anything, they got nothing. Of course the players feel sickened by the ref , they can't do anything but get carded or give a free kick away when barcelona players fucking dive. If the ref was decent Dani alves should be sent off for either a straight red or 2 yellows 1 for the nasri tackle and the second for any of the dives he did. The guy should be awarded an oscar.
Also, Valdez and Abidal should also receive reds for putting their hands on the throats of arsenal players. You don't think that played a huge role?
I don't even know why Arsenal even played this game. If the UEFA and the WORLD thinks Barcelona deserve to win everything then why bother. Stop wasting the players time, the teams time and the fans time. Fuck off and just give them the Champions League Trophy and stop bothering everybody with a biased competition.
If UEFA had any balls the game would be replayed. Arsenal offered to replay a game in the FA cup in 2001 (not sure of the year), but of course this won't happen because Barcelona felt the same way as they did last year when they lost to Inter... Helpless until that throat incident. They attacked but Arsenal defended really well. So stop with the Stats BS and man up and admit you had the ref giving you all the decisions.
A bit biased but not completely wrong. Here's what I see as being true.
Truths: -Barcelona is an amazing team of passers who play beautiful football -Barcelona is also a team of divers and actors -Messi is magical - First half penalty call was clearly NOT a penalty (one of the few good decisions). Messi had the ball OUTSIDE of the box. Watch the replays before you comment. -Valez and Abidal deserve yellows (not reds) for unsporting like conduct, instigating a tense situation and most importantly putting hands on opposing players in inappropriate places (i.e. above shoulder or below belt is inappropriate) - RVP's first yellow was legit even though Dani Alves play acted to a shameful degree but then again he does that in every single game for club and country so you have to be an idiot referee to not know that about him. - RVP's second yellow was utter crap - RVP's second yellow was given when Arsenal were up 4-3 in the tie (i.e. Winning) - Arsenal went into this game with the same mentality Inter had last year. They held a tight, defensive formation and opted to clear the ball rather than play it out. They clearly had no real desire to take the game to Barca as long as they were in the lead. So people quoting stats should stop and take into account that this is a two-legged tournament game where strategies such as this are viable winning strategies.
You know, Arsenal fans are indeed a bit whiny but hey Barcelona fans, it's really freaking easy to cheer for a team that wins at EVERYTHING. Barcelona is a top quality team, there is no denying that. But it is extremely frustrating that such a quality team consistently relies on big calls like this to succeed (and sometimes not) in the Champions League. A team as good as Barcelona should not need the referee to be on their side as well.
Chelsea v. Barcelona in 2009 had 3-4 legitimate calls for a penalty from Chelsea (Malouda being wrestled down, blatant hand ball etc) turned down by the referee that resulted in Barcelona winning
Inter v. Barcelona in 2010 had Thiago Motta sent off extremely early because his hand lightly brushed Basquets face. Basquets rolled on the ground as though his eye had been gouged while peeking through his fingers to see if his opponent got carded. Once the card was shown he hopped back up 100% ok. *Note* Attempts to deceive the referee are yellow card worthy so a yellow should have been shown.
And now in Inter v. Arsenal 2011, the referee decides to send off RVP for doing what strikers are trained to do, shooting at the goal. According to this referee, who apparently is a big Barcelona fan, shooting at Barcelona's goal 1-2 seconds after the whistle is blown is yellow card worthy.
Well said ElFuego. I hate Arsenal more than any other English team, but it sickens me to see this kind of injustice year after year. Whenever Barcelona have a difficult tie, there are huge, incorrect decisions that go in their favor. You can call me a bitter Chelsea fan if you wish, but it's disgusting the way Barca progress every year - especially considering that they are so good that they shouldn't need this kind of help. Teams come up against them, put in heroic performances in order to hang with one of the best teams of all time, and the referees take the game out of their hands.
I almost feel bad for laughing so hard during the Carling Cup Final now...+ Show Spoiler +
I know most won't care about this as it's not 'top flight' stuff.. but at a match earlier with my team there was an injury in the same vein as the Eduardo one from a few years ago.. absoloutely horrific. Foot twisted entirely the wrong way round, and even some of the opposition players were in tears. However, in a time when stories of Rooney, Cole, Lennon and McCoist have been dominating the headlines, it shows that lower down there is still some compassion between players.
All the best Anthony Pilkington, wishes for a speedy recovery.
On March 09 2011 16:39 Runnin wrote: I almost feel bad for laughing so hard during the Carling Cup Final now...+ Show Spoiler +
almost
Don't forget about the choke job against Newcastle too.
Yeah, that was an atrocious red card. Seriously though, how bad was Bendtner break? I'll never understand why Wenger thinks he's good and defends him. He's always killed them. When bringing in Chamakh to a top EPL team is an improvement to your strike force, you're probably not winning the Champions League.
A bit biased but not completely wrong. Here's what I see as being true.
Truths: -Barcelona is an amazing team of passers who play beautiful football -Barcelona is also a team of divers and actors -Messi is magical - First half penalty call was clearly NOT a penalty (one of the few good decisions). Messi had the ball OUTSIDE of the box. Watch the replays before you comment. -Valez and Abidal deserve yellows (not reds) for unsporting like conduct, instigating a tense situation and most importantly putting hands on opposing players in inappropriate places (i.e. above shoulder or below belt is inappropriate) - RVP's first yellow was legit even though Dani Alves play acted to a shameful degree but then again he does that in every single game for club and country so you have to be an idiot referee to not know that about him. - RVP's second yellow was utter crap - RVP's second yellow was given when Arsenal were up 4-3 in the tie (i.e. Winning) - Arsenal went into this game with the same mentality Inter had last year. They held a tight, defensive formation and opted to clear the ball rather than play it out. They clearly had no real desire to take the game to Barca as long as they were in the lead. So people quoting stats should stop and take into account that this is a two-legged tournament game where strategies such as this are viable winning strategies.
You know, Arsenal fans are indeed a bit whiny but hey Barcelona fans, it's really freaking easy to cheer for a team that wins at EVERYTHING. Barcelona is a top quality team, there is no denying that. But it is extremely frustrating that such a quality team consistently relies on big calls like this to succeed (and sometimes not) in the Champions League. A team as good as Barcelona should not need the referee to be on their side as well.
Chelsea v. Barcelona in 2009 had 3-4 legitimate calls for a penalty from Chelsea (Malouda being wrestled down, blatant hand ball etc) turned down by the referee that resulted in Barcelona winning
Inter v. Barcelona in 2010 had Thiago Motta sent off extremely early because his hand lightly brushed Basquets face. Basquets rolled on the ground as though his eye had been gouged while peeking through his fingers to see if his opponent got carded. Once the card was shown he hopped back up 100% ok. *Note* Attempts to deceive the referee are yellow card worthy so a yellow should have been shown.
And now in Inter v. Arsenal 2011, the referee decides to send off RVP for doing what strikers are trained to do, shooting at the goal. According to this referee, who apparently is a big Barcelona fan, shooting at Barcelona's goal 1-2 seconds after the whistle is blown is yellow card worthy.
SO GODAMN TRUE Agree with every single word. While I want to say with the referees these days sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but the late record for Barca is somewhat fishy. Barca is playing amazing football, but all of this "mes que un club" crap make them think they are gods and they just a football team with divers and actors no less than CR7, and the aftermath of the game against Inter last year was a disgrace. All who wave the 0(0) shots please look at the same statistic last year against Inter and tell me who won the champions.
About the red card, IMHO it went right. First yellow -> no comments. Second ->Camp Nou was pretty silence that moment, so his comments about not hearing the whistle is kinda weird. Also IMHO if he wouldnt have heard the whistle he would have gone closer to goal atleast 1-2 steps and/or atleast shoot better... Not the first red to RVP, definetly not the last.. Blame the Dutch not the ref.
Did people completly forget about the first game? 1 cancelled goal, several hands-on-ball situations by arsenal in their own field and a penalty in the first half of the second game not given.
Overall there were more ref decisions in favor of arsenal...