The Arsenal vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers, Premier League Matchday 22, 10 February 2022

It’s the fourth game in 6 weeks that Arsenal have played with 10 men and the only one they’ve won, of course they are going to celebrate.

 

not sure who martinez is but jimenez got a (shit call) yellow on the foul and the play was stopped. he then subsequently stood blocking the free kick where he got a 2nd yellow. not nearly the same as what happened today with martinelli.

 

yeah, neves can go fuck himself.

Ruben Neves: "We saw the way they celebrated the win and that shows the level we are. I didn't see Arsenal celebrating like this in the past 10 years - it was like they won the league." [BBC]#Wolves #AFC

— Ben Dinnery (@BenDinnery) February 10, 2022

 

I thought the red was BS. When Martinelli committed the second foul, he had not yet been cautioned. He didn't have a chance to adjust his approach and, knowing he was on a yellow, avoid a second offense. I don't know that playing advantage should give a player free license to foul, but giving two yellows back to back defeats the whole purpose of a warning.

 

I tried to focus on Neves since he is supposedly an Arsenal target. He whined more than any player on the pitch. And he's clearly a graduate of the Mohamed Elneny School of Backwards and Sideways Passing. One or two threatening balls into the box, but just as many wayward giveaways, plus a yellow card.

 

Pretty funny discussion today on Martinelli's red. I don't think you can really say "divided" though.

‘WHAT?!’ ESPN FC crew divided over Martinelli’s red card | ESPN FC - YouTube

I have to say, we showed some real spine today. That could be the real deciding factor on who gets that fourth ticket to the Champions League: mental toughness.

 

We won with a man down away. While our competition drew or lost. What's so hard to understand? Butt hurt midget.

 

seriously. like, wolves better not celebrate for the rest of the damn season if/when they win a game.

 

The martinelli incident is weird

maybe he deserves it but the ref should’ve blown for the yellow on the throw

I feel like they should change the law. No advantage played if it’s a yellow card

 

The first fowl was for impeading a restart. Considering that the ball was technically already dead, "advantage" should not have been allowed and if Martinelli didnt technically impead the throw such that advantage could have been called then it should not have been a cardable offense.

 

Yes, the refs are out to get us

These stats are taken directly from https://t.co/aYyDDLJ8Qn, so who am I to argue? Arsenal commit 1.55 fouls per game, apparently (seems very few but there you are). Of these, *96.9%* result in a yellow card, and 5.7% a red - one in every 17 fouls is a red card. pic.twitter.com/M6Gx1Sboky

— Matt Scott (@Matt5cott) February 11, 2022

 

Haha smart ass. Sorry I did a mental typo on Martinelli's name.

p.s. Nobody said it was "the same", just that it was comparably quick. I'd say that Martinelli's situation was very odd and rare, if not unique. I can't recall ever seeing a delayed yellow being issued simultaneously with another subsequent yellow infraction. Seemed a bit harsh, but by the letter of the law...

 

Hello? 96.9%?? Someone contact the league's webmaster?!

 

I was intrigued by the tweets on the fouls vs cards and pulled the last 4 years from fbref (no card data further back) and only kept teams that have been in the EPL all 4 years. That is a total of 15 squads
.
Over the 4yr span, Arsenal has received the most red cards (15) and Burnley the fewest (1). The general distribution of reds in that timeframe is not striking with Brighton (13), Southampton (12), Everton (10) & New Castle (10) also having double digits but we did receive considerably more than the other big clubs. The 18-19 season had us ranked middle of the pack but every season since we are ranked #1 in Red Cards per Foul Committed.

For yellow cards... the 18-19 & 19-20 season saw us with a high number of yellows but since our total yellows have been middle of the pack. The more interesting deeper dive shows that our Yellow Cards per Foul Committed ranks in the top 6 each of the 4 seasons and is #1 over the 4 season span while our Fouls Committed per 90 is bottom 3-4 in that span. That means we are either committing more egregious fouls than the average team or we are truly being picked on.

 

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You have to look at the context before deciding the referees are biased against Arsenal. Who picked up the cards, how many yellows were for dissent, how many for time wasting, how many reds were for denying a goal scoring opportunity, and how many for serious foul play. For example Xhaka clearly has more than his fair share of both yellows and reds. Yesterday he picked up a yellow, deservedly, for pulling a shirt because he lost control of a situation he shouldn’t have. He recently picked up a red for a shirt pull in the box when he thought he was going to be beaten. He also picks up cards because he is awkward or late when tackling. His quickness deficit and his reaction when he is going to be beaten because of that deficit are directly responsible for most of his cards. I suspect Mustafi was also responsible for more than his share of the yellow and red cards. Mustafi liked to go to ground every chance he got and when you mistime slide tackles you are going to pick up cards, mistime tackles in the box and they’ll be red cards. The other card magnet was David Luiz. Other than his red, when he was kicked in the knee while chasing a player in the box, I don’t remember any of his cards, so I can’t explain why I think he was a card magnet.

Because each of these players developed a reputation, they may pick up cards that referees would let go in when other players commit similar fouls, but that’s not necessarily a bias against Arsenal, it’s a bias against players in the Arsenal team.

Finally, while Martinelli’s two yellows in about 10 seconds was highly unusual, I’m not sure I disagree with it. His first yellow appeared an attempt at a tactical foul, the second appeared to be petulant. On their own, each is clearly a yellow card offense and you can’t take the advantage away from Wolves by blowing their quick throw in dead because Martinelli pushed the the player as he was releasing the ball.

 

Those numbers seem wrong. No way we only commit one foul a game.

 

With all the yellow cards dished out yesterday can someone please explain how this wasn’t a yellow pic.twitter.com/Zksjl7HGZE

— puddings is massive (@1GoldPLTrophy) February 11, 2022

 

These refs dislike us. It's been the case since Wenger's time and he called it out when the opposition were butchering our players.

 

That ball can be finished in a number of ways: you do not have to curl it to the upper 90 at the back post. Any ball low, just by the 'keepers ankle is a goal....

 

Very interesting. Assuming these particular data from Ed Avern (who the hell is he?) are in fact true facts, unlike the previous "data" which prompted this little discussion.

 

I think reds/yellow isn't the best metric, but OMG that first graph.

Thing is red cards are such low frequency events that drawing conclusions is hard.

 

Take Xhaka and Luiz out of the data and suddenly Arsenal’s red card data is middle of the pack.

 

Yes, and that's an overly simplified reason for why I didn't/don't want to keep either of them.

Of course their replacements don't necessarily go down to zero cards. But if Luiz->Gabriel is the guide, then Xhaka->???? should also help quite a bit.

That said, the problem seems a little broader than just 2 CD/CM's, so I'm praying Arteta/leadership can figure this out!