Incompetent Riley Whips Up A Storm In FA Cup
Mar 17th, 2009 by 'holic
Once again there is danger in blogging too soon after the final whistle has been blown. There is much emotion in the immediate aftermath of the contest and there may or may not be repercussions to wild accusations that have been made, possibly in haste, tonight.
Let me set my stall out. For me Hull came once again to surprise by attacking when in possession. That is admirable and made for a fascinating first-half. In grabbing a thirteenth minute lead they set themselves a problem. How much time should they try to take off the clock? I’ll say straight away I have no problem with them trying it on. They were being good professionals and we would possibly have done similar if given carte blanche by the idiot who was charged with managing the game.
I actually enjoyed the first-half because two sides were going for it. Yet as last week in Rome the opposition were never going to keep up that workrate for ninety minutes, and in the second half the Gunners took complete and utter control.
The inevitable equaliser arrived when Arshavin showed wonderful selflessness to tee up van Persie’s ‘chocolate leg’ for another critical strike. The winner, although thoroughly deserved on the balance of play, owed everything to Mr Magoo and his assistant. The supreme irony was that moments after Gallas was wrongly awarded a goal, Bendtner was denied what appeared a perfectly good effort by an erroneous flag for offside against Arshavin.
The circumstances surrounding the clincher, allied to the mass production of yellow cards in a game where next to no bad tackles were made, provoked a response from Phil Brown and his team that hopefully they will regret in the cold light of day.
Hull cannot be blamed for time-wasting. It was Riley’s job to nip it in the bud, and he failed spectacularly in the opening half. The booking that was finally dished out to Myhill, the chief culprit had been a long time coming. Some of the others were laughable. Gallas was first to see yellow for having the gaul to tackle an opponent cleanly! Both sides were suffering at the hands of the idiot with the whistle.
The post match accusations were the stuff of the playground, and hopefully those who have fashioned an admirable first season in the top flight will take time to consider their actions before adding to what is sure to be a media frenzy.
I wonder if that frenzy would even be taking place if a more confident and competent official had been appointed to control the match. It’s time that Riley was pensioned off, for his own good, and for the good of the game.
39 Responses to “Incompetent Riley Whips Up A Storm In FA Cup”
As I said, triple absinthe, a speedball and a reality check please
2nd goal was onside, cums off da goalie. .. Cesc spat??
Evening G. agreed, not a great performance again. The sides that the gaffer picks reminds me of the words my teachers used to write on my reports. ‘Just does enough’. Thought we had some poor performers tonight, but don’t want to be overly critical of them when we win. In the same way I would like to highlight the referees shortcomings when we win, rather than when we lose and be accused of sour grapes.
Totally agree. Riley=Wiley=Bennett=all the rest of the current corruptibles/incompetents.
But above all others (now that Poll has left the stage) there is Howard Webb.
Search and Destroy. . . .
For once I agree with what Wenger said about the winning goal before he even said it. The ball DEFINITELY comes off Myhill’s glove after Djouru heads it. Gallas was CLEARLY onside when the free kick was played. So a goal in any fair minded person’s book.
Now, whether or not the linesman ACTUALLy saw that or just thought he did is another question.
Unfortunately for the media another British Bulldog manager has fallen. Had the winning goal been for Hull, Arsenal would be told “that’s football” whether it was offside or not.
When Myhill collides with his defender Gardner, it’s “an unfortunate collision” according to Setanta. When Djouru doesn’t make a clean clearance, he’s “all over the shop” according to Setanta.
And why get that idiot Sp*rs employee Sherwood to comment on Arsenal??? What a bunch of bumbling fools the Setanta pundits are. I’m almost glad Sky stitched them for the telly rights.
You think time wasting makes a good professional?
What a larf.
When kicking a ball away is a bookable offence for time wasting then ANY time wasting in general is also an offence and therefore not within the laws of the game.
Good enuf Hull….you got what you deserved!! Especially your shit manager.
nice going from the lads. kept their cool, kept attacking and got rewarded. it’s not often we come away with something at games like that
diaby was good, song as well; arshavin had another nice 90 mins, vela was promising and theo certainly gives us that little bit extra pace we so desperately needed over the last few months.
cheers everyone!
The ball DEFINITELY comes off Myhill’s glove after Djouru heads it.
Agreed DAF. The moment Djourou gets the first touch Gallas is offside. The keepers touch after that doesn’t change the fact.
Riley’s incompetence is no reason for us to fall out however. When you look in the record books in years to come, it was a goal. It won’t say Stevie Wonder was the ref!
DAF, i salute u! the comentator in norway said: – “arsenal escaped a defeat!”. WTF??!! DEFEAT??! a DRAWN at worst!
let me finish by saying:-“fukk the rest!”
gallas’ winner may be lucky, but we’ve our lions share of unluck, haven’t we?
Evening ‘holic. Yep, very much agree.
What wories me is the comment I used to get on my report – “lacks the ability to listen and think” – is all too applicable.
In my dotage I think I’ve just about got round the problem; I still not sure the team has.
I still think pick a team and play them ’til they drop is the best policy but hey we’re of to Wem-ber-ley in the merry month of ….. April.
Er, doesn’t quite have the same resonance
Finally a bit of luck coming our way. Riley should have sent off Ferdinand for rugby tackling Ljungberg at Ole Trafford years ago and horseface, too, even if it was an attack on Cashley. I can’t believe I just wrote that. Clearly the trauma is still with me.
I followed your lead and had me a few too many Guinness. Happy St Patricks Day n all! Anyways, might be the drinks but I do agree on your match views yet again. Spot on even thought I’m not really sure how to handle the possible offside goal. Goalie goes for the ball with purpose so it’s not just a deflection on a outfield player. If he had grabbed it and then dropped it (as he did earlier) it would’t have been offside at all. Now he went for punching and the line is very thin. Went for the ball on purpose and tried to play it away. I won’t go so far to say that I would have been fuming if it had been disallowed but I wouldn’t call it a blatant offside as some have reported it. Is a bit of 50-50 and we got the decision this time.
Regarding the post match locomotion I wouldn’t give it too much thought. Cesc went out on the pitch, doing what a Captain should do, taking charge in some heated discussions. If he did pull off an old-fashioned southern-european spit on the ground to show what he thought about a remark made by the assistant manager I say fair play – as long as it wasn’t aimed at him. We all articulate in different ways and some spit on the ground isn’t worse than some of the words that were probably exchanged and are exchanged most games.
I’d like to see some more going into the box from our wingers and challeging the defenders and I would like Diaby to release the ball a bit more than he does and I wouldn’t mind Djourou stop looking shaky for the first fifteen minutes in every game but all in all a good attacking display and Bendts did a great job giving us some weight when he got on the pitch.
All in all a good evening with some team spirit and some Guinness.
Keep it up ‘Holic and keep keeping the faith!
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/comment-from-club-captain-cesc-fabregas
If only that could be the end of it. On BBC the spit thing is the top story, not the match…ridiculous.
Exactly Sam. He has been incompetent for years. They should put the tosser out to grass. Look at the trouble he has caused tonight.
There’s only one way to stop time-wasting; do what they do in rugby – take the watch from the ref and give it to the linesman.
He is then in charge of time and stops the watch every time the ball goes out of play and restarts on goal-kick/throw/corner etc.
Sepp Blatter – get your nose out of the trough and do some work!
Pint of old spitoon please ‘holic.
take the watch from the ref and give it to the linesman.
Joe, it would be better if they took the breath from Riley and gave it to the linesman. Useless twat that he is.
Evening Esso. Been celebrating, have we?
No mate, unfortunately. Watched it on me lad’s PC supping Tea! Back home now and just found a bottle of Havanna Club 7 year old I’d forgotten all about. Only trouble is gotta be up at 6. C’est la guerre. Hope to see you soon Geezer.
Spot on `holic.This fool according to the FA is supposed to be our top referee.Our second best rated by the FA is Howard Webb.God help us.
To the think our unbeaten run was ended by this clown at Old Trafford still makes my blood boil.
Why is the prat always blowing his nose.He looks like Stephen Stills on a night out in Bogota.
Enjoyed the game.I thought Nasri made a big difference when he came on.He really is a class act.
G’night all.
Hull fans, don’t be afraid to tell me I’m right about Riley. You are among friends here 😉
Riley’s call of hand ball on Van Persie was also laughable. He was about 5 metres away from the player!
Looking forward to a semi final that our performance deserved. On the way home heard the shite that Brown was spouting so checked out the recording on Setanta. What is the bloke on about? He can employ those tactics all day long, but please do not tell me he expects to gets cheered to the rafters for it. The Gallas goal will always be controversial. However, my understanding is that if there is any doubt it should go to the attacking team. If Riley and his merry men thought that it had come off the keeper then so be it. The direction of the ball does tend to support that. Quite frankly I am not that bothered. We have been on the wrong end of so much bad luck this season that I will willingly accept that one.
Not our greatest performance but one full of character again. 4 weeks ago we would have got nothing out of that game. We now seem to have the confidence and drive to turn games like that. You only need to look at the stats to see how we dominated.
Riley was shocking. Really shocking. I dread to think what would have happened if the game had been controversial. He just is not up to it. Book Myhill in the first half and none of the rest follows.
I also agree with some of the posts re Setanta pundits. Got home to listen to the comments after what I had heard. Sherwood is dreadful. All I heard him say was how poor Theo was against Dawson. Then he says how Lennon roasted him when “we” played them. How do they put up with that shite. Setanta being cancelled on Monday….. After the geordies game of course…..
A great right up holic.
Keep the faith.
Gallas was about a mile offside.
I’m not complaining though.
Infact, I’m loving it!!!
It’s about time we had some luck roll our way.
Riley has been an appalling ref for years, with an unnerring ability to always ensure both sets of fans are unhappy with him. Though Brown is an eejit, as its the linesman’s decision for the goal and nothing to do with the idiot in the middle…
Bushmills and a splash for me tonight holic.
“Phil Brown started his career playing Sunday league football for South Shields side Red Duster .”
welcome to the Premier League, Phil.
Cesec is miles out of your league and real class, you low life knacker!
ALL refs make mistakes and ALL sides benefit!
Phil Brown!
What a paddy’s day buzz kill!
Cheers all here
both the anti football numpties — fat sam and his minion — has been defeated within 4 days at the Grove … phil brown cant even decide where is Cesc spitting face/foot/ of his assistant coach.
2 games away from FA Cup 🙂 … it is a good day to be a gooner.
3 points against the barcodes plz in the weekend.
I don’t care if the goal was or wasn’t offside! Goals are sometimes disallowed incorrectly for offside and goals scored from an offside position are sometimes allowed, it is called human error. Who among us can claim truly never to have made a mistake or an error of judgement.
As to the alleged spitting incident, why do we all get so uptight about spitting anyway? According to Sky this morning Cesc spat on the ground and not on the assistant manager whilst Cesc has issued a denial of spitting at all. Spitting on someone isn’t a nice thing to do but it doesn’t hurt or cause injury and the saliva is easily washed away. It seems more acceptable to many to punch kick or head butt someone than to spit on them, personally if I had to endure one of those forms of assault I’d take the spitting every time. I’m not trying to excuse or justify the spitting if indeed it took place, but trying to show the very minor nature of the alleged ‘assault by spitting’ and put it into context.
Phil Brown made himself look a right plonker and a bitter and sore loser with his post match rant and sucks to the media for trying to make so much out so little. They really are a load of wankers!
With the benefit of hindsight I really do think I was far too gracious in victory. Brown is an ill-mannered cock with no grace. Such a shame because I really do think Hull’s team and fans have been a credit to the Premiership. What a pity their manager is such a bitter and twisted plonker.
True, the ref was crap – but I don’t agree that there were “no bad tackles”. Arshavin and Djourou were both taken out in the opposition box. And Djourou made a terrible tackle right at the end which Riley missed.
Hair of the dog.
Feeling ruff, Ollie?
I sit behind the dugouts and Brian Horton deserved to be spat on. He was goading/abusing the 4th official, the linesman, the fans nearest to him and Wenger constantly. Everytime AW questioned the amount of time being wasted (as he does every game) Horton was shouting at Wenger and the 4th official and should have been sent to the stands a while before half time.
In fact I blame 4th official for (once again) having no bollocks to deal with Horton and then Brown in the 2nd half once he came down from his ivory tower in the stands
refs need to learn from rubgy referees how to deal properly with managers/players and have some f&*&g authority!
That so called Manager made a complete ass of himself! Making a claim that Cesc spat on his assisstant was an utter untruth and in essence a defemation of character. Cesc should take this son of a bitch to court and obtain an apology.
I enjoyed the game, but I agree it was spoilt by the ref. I`ve nothing against teams employing any legitimate tactic but even in the first half Myhill was placing the ball far upfield, until later it was only a few yards short of the halfway line. Such blatant timewasting is to my mind appaling, and I was half wishing we still had Lehmann between the sticks just to see how the mad Kraut would react once we had taken the lead! He would probably have gone in the book immediately. How can Phil Brown bleat that Myhill was only booked because of the continued complaints to the 4th official by AW. Le Boss was right, and I can just picture a frantically-chewing red-faced Fergie going mental in the same situation. This morning I have heard and read comments that should we win the cup it would be forever tainted by the goal that never was; as if it cost Hull their semi- final place. I believe that had the goal not stood we wouldn`t have taken our foot off the gas and would have still squeezed out a winning goal. But as people say to me when Arsenal have been robbed `that`s football; learn to live with it`.
As for the Fabregas spitting incident, it was very unfortunate, but having seen the notorious clip of Cesc and Ballack, it is hard not to conclude that Cesc was spitting into Ballack`s face, so, much as I want to believe him I can`t. I`ve heard reports that Brian Horton was being employed to bait the Arsenal Bench.
good stuff, holic.
I timed goal kicks when Hull were 1-0 up, they were taking 25 seconds to return the ball into play, when they were 2-1 it took 5 secs.
Riley was a disgrace
Seems to me “blogs” got it spot on today:
“All in all Brown has stirred something which, I hope, has served an important purpose. For too long this season we’ve coasted along with nowhere to focus our ire and frustration but on the team. I’m not saying that it was unmerited but nights like last night remind who the real cunts are and as frustrating as some of our lot are, it’s not them.”
I’ve been as guilty as anyone on that front, and I probably will be again – there simply is no excuse for some of the rubbish we’ve seen this season – but overall it is us against “them”.
Brown’s mini-me impression of F-C Allardyce does Hull no favours and the sooner they go down to the conference the better.
I was watching Setanta on a live stream, but closed the browser at the final whistle so I missed all the fun. Brown was clearly in a rage long before the end of the game, and Horton was ranting at the fourth official.
I don’t know whether Cesc spat or not. He does seem to have spat at Ballack 4 years ago, and there is a rumour that he’s the one who threw the pizza at Old Purple Nose. He also took the piss out of Sparky, but you’ve got to admire him for that. I do think he’s grown up a lot since then and you couldn’t ask for a more ‘model’ professional now.
The thing is, I’d be more inclined to believe Brown if he’d said anything else that was rational.
Gallas’ goal might well have been offside, but it’s extremely difficult to tell whether the ball came off Myhill’s fists or not. The lino clearly thought it did, but Brown is certain it didn’t. Mike Riley (who is an appalling ref) made loads of bad decisions, including booking Gallas for a perfectly judged tackle and penalising van Persie for a non-existant handball. He got loads of decisions wrong which affected both sides.
One thing he did get right was booking Myhill for time-wasting. In his rant, this booking was somehow a turning point in the game, and Riley only booked him because of ‘local pressure’. Like Arsene and the fans are wrong to complain when Hull started wasting time around the half-hour mark.
The ‘spitting’ incident: firstly Cesc spat at Horton, then it was at his feet; firstly it happened on the pitch, then it was in the tunnel – and no-one else saw it except him. Then Cesc has got no right to step onto the pitch after the game. Then he shouldn’t be dressed the way he was! (wtf?)
Then (omg!) Arsene didn’t shake his hand!
Seriously, Brown’s game plan was to have a go early on, hope for a goal, then shut up shop and waste as much time as possible. It failed, and he’s completely lost it. Most Gooners showed respect to the Hull team that beat us in September, but Brown has lost that respect now. Frankly, I hope they go down.
I’m just glad that our beautiful game beat Hull’s anti-football.
Platini is a modern day hitler, trying to ethnicly clense football. whens the football world going to realise what an idiot the guy is.