look, im not trying to whinge and moan.. but this guy has a notorious history when refereeing matches when manyoo are involved.. i know he has given MANY dubious penalty decisions and he seems biased, IMO. I understand they want an experienced match official for this clash, but this guy seems to be lousy. Actually, an official who i thought was excellent was a new guy.. cant think of his name, he did the norwich/everton game~ THANKS FA!! A BIG FCUK YOU!
It's not all bad though. Reily should be one of the more card-happy refs this year, which hopefully could give ours boys some extra protection from ManUre's "physical" tackling. And anything is better than The Thing From Thring. KJ
I think you know better than to think I'd ever offer an excuse for Arsenal, Motterman. You've surely read my thoughts on the Man U forum. But Riley is a card happy ref, and has definitely awarded penalties that others would simply wave on. Give my choice of fairnesses, I'd probably go with Neale Barry, but...that's the assignment, and we're stuck with it. You'll be saying the same after the first four yellows come out and they're not all on Arsenal players...
MY POINT EXACTLY.... how the FA lets this guy ref matches at OT is amazing... he must of had a pretty quid on it what a joke of a penalty... AND MOTTER.. why dont you show that pic of pires diving... no wait, why not of wayne rooney doing the most blatant dive ive seen....
I didn't think he was that bad, comming from a nuetral point of view....honestly. It did seem that a fiar amount of calls went United's way, but pretty even. However, Rooney's dive was one where he knew he had no intention of getting the ball, and when he saw Campbell's leg go out felt he should take full advantage of it.
I'm sure if Campbell had made any contact with Rooney (at all), we'd all feel much better about the penalty.
And what of RvN stamping on Cole? How does he not miss that? What about Freddie taken down by Rio? How does he miss that? The bias of Riley is unbelievable. Look up his record of penalties given to ManU at OT vs PKs given to the opposition! This man should be run out of soccer.
Don't feel bad, Arse fans - he did not give a legitimate penatly when Cole took down Ronaldo in the box a while later. Sooner or later, the ref was bound to call a penalty with two clear chances to call one. Also, 10 out of 10 refs and linesmen in the pitch positions they were in would've called Rooney's dive a penalty. Player A makes a move, player B is fooled and sticks his leg out, Player A falls down = penalty. In the position the refs and linesman was in, it looked clear cut... Until they add instant replay into soccer, that will get the call 100% of the time - it just looked too good (until the replay, of course).
From my neutral point of view,Riley has been awful. First half,1 obvious red card on Van Nistelrooy(that play with Cole on the corner).Missed.Not even a yellow card. 1 obvious red card on Ferdinad(he was the last man on defense and he clearly fouled Ljunberg).Missed.Not even a foul. Those were his worst mistakes,but there were some other,almost always going on Man.Utd side. Second half,well,Rooney dives and Riley happily gives Utd a PK. I don't know Mr.Riley past in Man.Utd o Arsenal games,but today he has been a key factor in the outcome of the game.
The game was not the same in that moment. If Riley had not given the first PK,the second one would not have probably happened because Arsenal needed to attack being 1-0 down. Also the PK was not the only Riley's mistake. LOL Player A makes a move,player B sticks his leg out,there is no contact,player A dives. No PK and a yellow card to player A. Saying 100% of refs would have called that PK is stupid. It is an undestandable mistake,but there are many refs that would have not bought Rooney's dive.
I think what is so frustrating here is that while we were not worth three points, neither was United - by a LONG shot. And we were certainly worthy of a draw, and in fact the better and more dangerous side, particularly in the second half prior to the "penalty". It quite simply decided the match in their favor. And seeing that it was not only a VERY dodgy penalty at best but that there was less contact than when Henry was brought down similarly and more importantly in space to shoot at goal, it cannot just be ignored away, especially given Riley's history reffing United matches. I saw some indicate the two sides records in matches he presided over and I wonder if that fellow has the statistics for penalties awarded for and against both sides in those matches. The point is even newspaper writers made jokes about Riley's habit of awarding dodgy penalties to United as far back as two seasons ago. That the FA ignores all of this is bizarre. I wonder if they will bring VanNistlerooy up on video for stamping Ashley Cole's knee even? Or will Riley even be questioned for not at least booking if not sending off Ferdinand? The one disturbing thing here is this is not new or confined to Riley now. By my reckoning United have gained six points directly through bad decisions in their favor - at Blackburn and Bolton, where illegal equalisers were allowed to stand, and home to Everton where a blatant hand-ball in the box was seen and unpunished, and of course today. But looking at them today this kind of refereeing incompetence or collusion is still the only real chance they have of challenging for the League. Today means little else than that a wonderful run came to an end. Not our first but certainly not our last such run, either. The only complaint can come in how it ended through a poor refereeing decision that was made suspect by the fact that he ignored a similar and more obvious collision in United's area and how it was hardly a surprise considering the referee today and his history in United matches. Had Rooney's goal been first and even the only goal it would be much less hard to accept. We were cheated by Mike Riley at both ends and we're not the first side when it United he's reffing. The real shock is the FA ignored the history of Riley's matches involving United and that's not even too great a surprise. The funny thing is that while we were crap today and nothing like I expected I still had only one worry and it was the same as before the match when I felt if we took the match to them and went ahead we would win easily was when I heard Riley would be the referee. Since this thread started days ago and such concerns appear throughout our board here and numerous others and even in papers and magazines surely the FA should have re-thought having him there. There is no problem in being beaten, but being cheated is another thing. Arsenal were cheated - out of a deserved point and perhaps two more by match's end, and by someone it would surprise no one to know had done it except seemingly the FA. Just a shame really...
But that's football, it happens... it happened to United when Scholes had a legit goal disallowed against Porto, it happened to England when Terry got called for a fould he did not commit... things happen, but as they say, fortune favors the brave... while it was a close game ManU had more chances and deserved to win. In the pub when I saw it live everyone thought it a good call at first, including several Arsenal fans, but only after 2 replays did we see it was a bad call. BT said what I thought had happened... the ref saw Rooney go around 1 player and about to go by another when he fell/dove. As far as Rio vs. Ljunberg - i thought that Rio had used his shoulder and indeed he did... there was no forearm or a push by him... last I checked, defenders can do that. Also, Riley clearly tried to call the game like he did that call only giving fouls when he thought they were blatant. You may remember Ronaldo trying to start a counter on United's left flank and being muscled off the ball by Freddie and that was not called a foul... now Rio certainly made more contact, but he is a strong lad, there has to be an advantage that comes with that. As for it being a red, that's bloody laughable, maybe a foul if u are not allowing the players to play at all but never a red. the stats of the teams when Riley refs is an interesting factor... perhaps he is hard on Arsenal however United's record is not suprising to me... after all we are a top team and that kind of dominance is standard for us and I am only being halfway faceitious. Oh, and welcome to the best defence in the prem...
So the hand on Freddie's back pushing him down was simply an illusion, is what you're saying? It's called "being the last man back." Acquaint yourself with the rules.
Never a red? While,sorry,but Ferdinand was the last man back and Ljunberg was towards the goal. It is always a red. I think Riley didn't call the foul because he knew if he called it he would have to show a red card to Ferdinand. And,emmm,let's just say Riley didn't like the idea of ejecting a Man.Utd player. Only that can explain why he didn't eject Van Nisteelroy after that vicious tackle on Cole.
The guy is rubbish, but we already knew that. Just a shame that the referee has such an enormous impact on the outcome of this game. But hey, everyone knows when they go to Old Trafford that the referee will give the calls to ManU, and especially when it's a ref such as Reilly. Lousy way for the streak to end, but in the long run, this'll get Arsenal even more fired up for the rest of the season, so in the end the gifts wich ManU got in this match could very well backfire on them.