It's why focussing on whether the decisions are correct or incorrect is the wrong focus, but the inconsistent application e.g only recently you got a pen for basically any contact in the box and Utd dined out on that application for a year, yet twice recently we did not get those decisions. And now it seems to have been changed again. Ditto the handball has been given, but then twice (Utd, Arsenal) it's not given So it just means games can be tilted based on arbitrary factors
It shows how bad we are that a bad pen call against us cost us 3 points - against Burnley, who just got tonked by Spurs and played a few days before us. If we can't put away a side like Burnley after we've had a week's rest, we have to face facts, we're not very good.
Well we aren't great of course, but also having an 80% chance of a goal via penalty chalked off via a bad VAR decision is quite significant in any game. I think it's not correct that you should win games despite bad reffing when you look at Leicester with their 10 penalties awarded this season
Of course, but we should have had Burnley beaten in the first half, instead we gifted them a goal and never seemed to recover from it. According to the comentator, Aubu had one shot in the first twenty minutes and no other, that was late in the second half. That is just not good enough.
Our inability to generate an effective attack after the goal when Burnley started attacking is pathetic. We can carry Willian or Xhaka and remain an threat not both.
Yeah, he seems crazy one-footed for the most part, but then that volley that Pieters blocked with his shoulder was from his right foot and I feel like he scored a decent right footer recently as well. He's an odd player --- never looks completely in control of his body. I wouldn't be surprised if that's one of the reasons Arteta seems lukewarm on him.
Here's Adrian Clarke's Breakdown: https://www.arsenal.com/news/why-our-turf-moor-draw-was-so-tough-take Which starts off with a simple but poignant comparison of the 2 goals and why they are perfectly emblematic of why playing out from the back is such a divisive issue of risk (Xhaka) vs reward (Auba). A pleasant surprise to see him give MOTM to Pablo Mari. And I have no quibble with that. And absolutely zero surprise that he thinks the Pieters handball no-call was a "clear and obvious error"... by the refs. I've thought about that play a bit more and agree that it was shockingly poor reffing. Kevin Friend was VAR that day and should get one humongous strike against him for blowing that video review, and further for not suggesting the HR look at it on the pitchside monitor. And Andre Mariner should've seen enough of that play with the naked eye to want to see the video with his own eyes, regardless. A complete fail. Which technically cost us 2 valuable points.
I don't think you can say it cost us 2 points in that the play might have changed and Burnley might have come out strong for an equaliser. I think refs are waiting for VAR to bail them out, fouls leading to goals which were obvious but the ref on the pitch didn't call it, there would be no comeback if VAR hadn't intevened. Maybe handbball and a pen, VAR didn't call it no problem for the ref. It's riduculous, a lot of refs are just not taking responsibilty for the on pitch decisions they should be making some of the time.
Sure, that's why I used the phrase "technically cost us 2 valuable points", to recognize that it's not 100% certain. However if we are to look at the stats of PK conversions, I am pretty certain that they odds are very high (75%?) that we would've scored that goal... with only 15 mins remaining to protect that lead and thus take all 3 points. During the game I wasn't as aggrieved about this non-call, but in reflecting on it since, I have come to realize the importance that this major refereeing error had on the overall outcome. Major f-up by the officials.
We're off to Greece, so new thread's up: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/olympiacos-vs-arsenal-uel-11-mar-2021.2114128/
Grrr, just watched highlights of the match, we played ourselves into trouble 3 times before giving them the goal.