I understand your point, but I really cant remember there being so many huge ref mistakes last season. Sure, those happened. And minor mistakes will always happen. But this season we have huge blunders every single week, and I can’t remember it being that bad before

I know its funny to call it a bottle job. But the fact is that even when Arsenal were 8 pts ahead, booking companies still gave Arsenal just abit over 50/50 chance of winning it. When that lead dropped to 6 pts City were favorites to win the league. Bottling something indicates that someone loses something they should have won. Not winning something you aren’t expected to win isn’t bottling it. And the reason no one expected Arsenal to win it is because City always goes on these insane win streaks when it matters. It was always going to take a miracle to keep that lead over City

I agree that this pen is a terrible decision, but saying its one of the worst you’ve seen? Did you start watching football 2 days ago? Atleast the ball undeniably hits his arm, so there is at the very least some sort of rationale you can give for why its a pen. We have seen soo many other decisions, just this season alone, where there is just no rationale for the decision whatsoever. While this decision is bad, it is not even close to the worst we have seen this season

Nah, this doesn’t benefit Arsenal at all. Karma would be if Arsenal win the return fixture by a couple dubious calls. This decision just benefits PSG who isn’t any better than the rest of the state owned clubs

That is only relevant if the encroaching player has an impact on the play, which usually means that a defender clears the ball away or that an attacker scores a rebound. Simply having a toe inside the area doesn’t cause the penalty to be retaken if it is scored.

Looking forward to Rio Ferdinand on VAR seeing a player straight up assaulting an opponent and then just say “nothing in that”. Wait, we already have that today…

Villa could have had 3 goals in the first half as well

They werent outplayed. Both teams had lots of huge chances, which is the reason Spurs were only 0,5xg higher than Villa. This game was pretty symptomatic for Angeball: lots of attacking intent, but little ability to control the match. You don’t outplay your opponent if you allow them lots of huge chances

Newcastle makes it so easy to dislike them. Not only are they now owned by perhaps the worst regime on the planet, but their team is also filled with dirty cunts.

They didn’t even have that bad of a game. If you take away Newcastles goal (which is the basis of this whole controversy) which is as close to a whole xG as it gets, Arsenal outperformed Newcastle on almost every single metric. Newcastle hardly created anything at all except for that one situation.

That game was basically two good teams cancelling eachother out, with a ref that completely lost control of the match

You mean the tackle that was actually carded and punished? We see borderline red tackles every game. Sometimes its a red, sometimes they aren’t, and sometimes they make a mistake. Havertz’ one wasn’t the only tackle that gameweek that could have been given a red but wasn’t. The point is that while I could understand a red being given, a yellow for it is not anywhere near as massive a blunder as not sending off a player for deliberately striking an opponent in the back of the head.

“Not used his arm as a weapon”… Jesus fucking christ. Does Chuck Norris have to parachute onto the pitch, sub in for Bruno, only to karate chop Jorginho in the throat for VAR to think its worthy of a red?

Where the fuck was this energy when Casemiro was sent off for slightly forcefully grabbing someones shirt collar? I don’t rememeber weaponized arms being part of the equation then.

I loved the introduction of VAR, but it just clearly shows us that these refs are just making up the rules as they go along, and no amount of tech is going to fix that

No one says they are back. But the path back seem much clearer for Chelsea than for Man United.

Chelsea have bought lots of young talent that is easy to see how they could kick on in a few years. Man United has almost the opposite problem. Several starters are nearing, or already passed, the point where they need replacing. Combined with several players who seem to contribute directly negatively to the performces, its clear Man United need a huge overhaul of the squad. Which is weird, given how Man United have been in a constant huge overhaul for the last decade. Which suggests there is something wrong within the club.

Chelsea have their issues, yes. And I would love nothing more than for that blood money funded club to fade into obscurity. But I see a clear path of improvement for then. I struggle far more to see that same path for Man United

Yes. Adjusted for inflation, the amount Chelsea spent under Abromovich is insane even compared to City.

Not even close. He actually had a season with decent a decent GA ratio and was our second most important attacker.

Not saying he was worth his fee at all, but he actually did well for a season. Some of these other flops havent been close to that

They have overperformed their xg, and their opponents have underperformed theirs. It wasn’t anywhere close to sustainable.