Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Ode to a Referee: Part II

To the referee of the Arsenal v. Liverpool Champions League match played at Anfield on Tuesday, April 8, 2008:

The following is not a foul:



The next time you are presented with such a situation, please respond accordingly and do absolutely nothing. Also...


SWALLOW YOUR FUCKING WHISTLE, YOU USELESS TWAT!

14 comments:

Pug said...

Glad you don't referee around here.

The NY Kid said...

@Pug - Really? You think that deserved a PK? At what point does Toure "pull down" Babel? Toure places his hand on Babel, then brings his arm over Babel's head without touching him, and Babel goes down in a heap. Absolutely not worthy of a PK.

Eladio said...

Exactly right, NY Kid. There were plenty of comments on the Hleb penalty that wasn't called, calling it "borderline", and "not surprising that it wasn't called". How anyone can look at that play and this one side by side and say this was worse (which is must be, because the 1st was not a penalty, and this one is) has their head so far up their ass they puncture their scrotum when they clip their nose hairs.

But on another note -- HOW COULD ARSENE KEEP THEO ON THE BENCH FOR MORE THAN AN HOUR??? That kid's run was incredible, and I'd have to think if he was out there the full 90 he would have created at least 2 or 3 other good chances. Eboue MUST have photos of Wegner blowing Berbatov.

Pug said...

Yes, I do. What part of defending has to do with your arms? You do that from behind and you deserve whatever the ref wants to do.

And I also think you were correct last week about Hleb.

EbullientFatalist said...

how can you blow the whistle? the best ref is one who you don't talk about after the game . . . at least now I've got a reason to hate Norway.

The NY Kid said...

@Pug - OK, I will accept that argument. My beef has been with individuals (as Eladio noted) who have said that last week was not a penalty against Kuyt while this week it clearly was was a penalty against Toure.

Either they were both deserving of a PK, or neither one was - you can't have it both ways.

Unknown said...

NY Kid, and all Arsenal fans, for that matter:


let. it. go. I thought it was a PK, but all the analysis in the world isn't going to change or alter the fact that Gerrard scored the penalty, and Babel put the cherry on top a couple of minutes later.


Liverpool played their most determined football I've seen in forever, but of course that's overlooked.

99.9 percent of the time, penalty decisions are like this. A 50/50. You rarely see the blatant trip/foul/handball any more. Sometimes you get the call, sometimes you don't. It doesn't matter any more.

/begin firestarting

[to the tune of our anthem]
Moan on
Moan on
with doom in your heart
and you'll not win shit this year
you'll not win shit
this year

Both of these refs will be at Euro '08.. Vink and Frojveldt. Hilarious!

/end firestarting

Unknown said...

Losing is never Arsenal's fault, is it? There's always something else to blame.

Fact is, Adebayor should have buried his first glaring miss, and then the rest wouldn't have mattered.

Penalties, schmenalties.

Ian said...

Back, and to the left. Back, and to the left. Back, and to the left.

Pug said...

Good stuff, NYK!

Toure as a right back?
No Walcott?
Adebayor honking a sitter?

That's grist for the mill for Gooners.

Inspired effort from Liverpool. Well deserved.

Eladio said...

Absolutely, Arsenal did not lose this game because of that one decision. I totally agree with Arsene (Shut up, Wenger!) that the team completely sleep-walked after the restart, though considering there wasn't any TV coverage until basically Babel has the ball next to the box, it's hard to point blame.

But as they say in Japan: Fix the problem, not the blame. The problems here are lack of depth and a lack of a physical defender in the middle.

Autoglass said...

First off, these aren't really "Odes" to referees, are they? Screeds? Whignings? Perhaps. But certainly not Odes.

Second, it was a clear penno. Deal with it.

Third, Arsenal have won fuck all AGAIN this year. What a beautiful day!

The NY Kid said...

First, if Chelski beat Liverpool (and damn you, James - don't make me root for the Blues), Liverpool will also have won fuck all this year.

Second, yes, Liverpool played the better game yesterday and the loss is squarely on Arsenal. I've said time and again that Senderos is absolutely dreadful, and I believe that I would have preferred Hoyte or Traore back there yesterday.

Third, anyone who says that the PK was "a clear decision" is clearly (see what I did there) looking at things through Red-colored glasses. It was a 50/50 call at best.

Unknown said...

NY Kid, you need to relax. Really. Focus on the gorgeous passing, the one-touch moves, and before you know it, August will roll around and the French teens can frolic anew.