The Costa Dean’s Incompetence On Saturday Yet To Be Calculated
Sep 21st, 2015 by 'holic
After the minimalist (perm either of two words with disgrace) report from an alehouse in North End Road after the farce that was Saturday, I should comment on today’s announcement from the Football Association. At the outset I shall try to avoid the language that seemed entirely appropriate in the hours that followed the fiasco in Fulham.
Firstly, it will be a surprise to nobody, even those of the bluest hue, that Diego Costa is being charged retrospectively for his clashes with Laurent Koscielny. At this point it should be noted, on the credit side of the balance sheet, that Mike Dean and his officials have accepted (probably under advice) that they did not have a clear view of the incidents.
Apparently not a clear view of Costa flooring Koscielny. The odour of rodent is unmistakable.
The Football Association have gone further though. Gabriel finds himself on a further charge for not immediately leaving the field of play, simmering as he was at the injustice of what had just gone down. However we cannot condone what he did and any further punishment should be accepted without complaint. Interestingly the club have already appealed the three match ban citing the reduction from three matches to two for Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic in February as a precedent. This may offset any additional punishment for the Brazilian.
Interestingly skipper for the day, Santi Cazorla, was also warned about his behaviour when leaving the field. He was engaged in a discussion with the fourth official about the nature of his second yellow card. Again we should accept this, learn a lesson, and move on.
Finally both clubs have been charged with failing to control their own players, and again, in the cold light of day it is hard to contest either charge.
There is one team however who totally failed to control what happened on Saturday, but nowhere will you see a charge laid firmly at the door of Mike Dean and his selectively sighted assistants. His punishment? He gets to referee West Ham against Norwich this weekend. Those with better eyesight will note that if Cyclops and his guides had spotted the Costa assaults on Koscielny and produced the entirely appropriate red card, then none of what followed would have occurred.
They directly affected the result of the match, they allowed a situation to arise which culminated in today’s additional charges, and their punishment? Another pay day, another opportunity for the egotistical Dean to be the star of the show.
Ugh!
105 Responses to “The Costa Dean’s Incompetence On Saturday Yet To Be Calculated”
Just saw a headline that went ‘DIEGO COSTA CHARGED WITH ‘ and my brain automatically read ‘violent conduct’ as MURDER.
🙂
In the style of Max from Hart to Hart.
Nice dissection of Saturday’s events H. All we are left with now are the left overs of Dean & his assistants sheer incompetence. We will have to pick up the loss of 3 points, loss of a player for 3/4 matches and some wedge for their trouble. Meanwhile Dean & Co will move onto their next assignment without any penalty whatsoever. If the PGMOB had any sense of fair play, those officials should be publicly shamed and given a similar ban from officiating matches. In fact they deserve to be only given low grade fixtures in future to match their low level of competence.
Glad to see you took solace in a watering hole in Fulham before venturing back into the normal world.
Pathetic and sickening, Holic.
The potential outcome, that is – not the post ! 😉
‘Holic, I really don’t know what to say.
I didn’t see much of the match due to the nuptials of a very dear friend, and I had to follow the match on arseblog live. I did see the highlights later, and I was just staggered. How they missed the slaps, the chest bump, and somehow saw Gabriel flick a leg out at Costa is just mind-blowing.
And the picture above proves that they DID see it, but chose to ignore it. A field of rats wouldn’t account for the stench emanating from Chelski.
It’s a very imoortant aspect of those events to me, that Costa should have been back in the dressing room before any of the Gabriel cards were dished out,
Brilliant Holic.
Of course what should happen is that the game should be replayed on the basis that the charge of violent conduct is, in a way, an acknowledgement that the referee got it all wrong: as you say, how can a referee, 2 linesman and a 4th official seriously claim not have seen physical abuse perpetrated by Costa yet somehow detect the comparatively innocuous flick by Gabriel…? The decision negatively influenced and arguably determined the outcome of the game from our perspective. The retrospective charges in determining bans and fines are actually cosmetic lip service and utter piffle in the greater scheme of things. If they want to make amends then replay the match and uphold the spirit of the game in the same way we did after the Sheffield fiasco. Or bring in video analysis. But….fines…bans….sanctions…..against a club with their resources……do me a favour.
What a FArce…
Punish Dean extralegally then. Simple as the end of my nose.
Still feel a bit sick about it all. Mostly about the fact that, as so eloquently pointed out in the blog, that the real villain(s) of the piece emerge intact, unblemished and still able to earn a (serious) living as complete incompetents.
I’ve heard football described as an industry. Pray tell me any other ‘industry’, apart from possibly banking, that has a governance and regulatory structure staffed by complete morons? Yep you’ve got it, those that regulate themselves – like the newspapers. Fuck me even the Police had to serious about independent regulators eventually. It will never happen in the football ‘industry’.
Things will get worse before they get better, but I may be long gone by then anyway.
We Holics are going to have to find another hobby for Saturday afternoons ( or evenings or Sunday afternoons) as so many of us have got the hump at this incident.
I get Joe’s point about the replay but frankly there have been so many refereeing cock- ups in the recent past we’d be doing it continually. I’m not a fan of TMO like we saw on Friday but it seems daft to have it in a game like Rugby and not in a game that generates cash sums about a hundred times greater.
PGMO have a problem if they stand down Dean because it creates a precedent that might embarrass them time and time again during the season. I will be delighted to see Costa go down for three games and as Holic says the rest of the punishments will just have to be sucked up.
At least we rarely get that tiresome stat that we used to when we had players sent off….’ The xxx player sent off since Wenger was appointed. ‘ it dawned on the media that Wenger was unlikely have sent players out to kick the opposition but it took a long time.
Don’t fancy our next two games as we are so depleted and in no great form. Sadly Reine Adelaide is now out for two months do he’s settling in well to life at Shenley! My mate who knows a bit about the youngsters thinks that Iwobi may well get a game and the others who might are Pleguezelo, O’ Connor and maybe Bielik. The DM at that level is Kamara
but not sure if he is close to first-team level yet.
Hope not Esso, although we will both be watching in the pub before too long, I suspect.
I’m not paying small fortunes to watch the referees take over the show.
Spot on Holic.
Dean’s failure to control the game properly was staggering. It lead to players telling the officials what to do, a second red card and also a couple of extremely heavy looking challenges in quick succession from Kos and then Oscar, both of which looked far nastier and more laced with intent than anything Gabriel did.
Refereeing like this is how people get hurt. Fingers crossed it’s a long time before Dean is appointed to an Arsenal match again. Fingers crossed also that the FA has the decency to sentence Costs to a public beheading.
COYG
Well of course Ttg – a replay is never going to happen and the ultimate acknowledgement of a wrong – but it is nevertheless, arguably the best remedy for the situation. I can’t see how imposing a 3 match ban on Costa helps us in anyway?
The TMO is spectacularly successful with strong referees who do not tend to rely on it all the time. At worst, over reliance can cause a little delay – but no more than the persistent cheating that takes place in its absence. It would also ensure that the word “respect” would be brought back into the game. For me, its been necessary for quite some time now.
where’s carlos kickemhard and shaft when we need them? they could sort out the demented ref and his eyeless henchmen, and the odious costa not-so-brava, even *without* shaft’s moustache wax.
Cheers H.
It is also worth noting that if Dean had applied the laws of football when Costa did the yellow card gesture, which he definitely saw, then even the yellow awarded to Costa after the Koscielny/Gabriel incident would have seen him sent off- before Gabriel’s red. If Dean claims he did not properly see Costa’s assaults on our defender then it will be hard to prove otherwise and, thus, lay charges of incompetence (presumably leading to demotion) at his door.
But he saw the gesture and did nothing. What is his excuse for that? Why does he not have to explain himself?
GSD,
They never have to explain themselves – unless in private to the PGMOL and that is never made public anyway.
MrBure made the point above that they DID see it. Look at the official in the photo.
John Cross is reporting that Coquelin is fit but may not be risked against “Shit” on Wednesday. If true, that’s the biggest and most important silver lining from that farcical game on Saturday.
Let’s go Gooners. Let’s beat up “Shit”, stabilize our ship and go on a winning run.
We Holics are going to have to find another hobby for Saturday afternoons
Find a local club that has a reserve team as well as firsts and usually they will play alternate weekends at home. Your entire Saturday season will (just about) be sorted.
Cure for football?
More football (only proper football, not morally bankrupt shit. Even if it does sometimes still all come down to money, even at the lowest level)
September 19th, 2015.
Costa’s BOGOF Event -Buy One Red Card, Get One Free !
Cynic, even tier seven stuff around here kids are moving around to the clubs that pay over a hundred quid a week. Relatively speaking I find that as bad. Sometimes I did get paid to play, but when I didn’t I was happy to fork up my money to get a game. (And pay my fines when I got booked or sent-off!)
Trev.
That is the lino, not the ref. Dean can’t be held to blame if he doesn’t get the info relayed to him, regardless of whether his assistant was in possession of it.
He definitely saw the gesture Costa made after being clipped (diving? was he actually touched?) earlier in the game. I did not mean explain himself to us- I meant to the PGMOL. He has clearly seen an infraction which results in automatic yellow card yet has failed to produce one. Is it not their job to review the refs’ performances?
PGMOL: So Mike, you clearly saw the player make the ‘yellow card’ getsure, so why did you not give him the mandatory punishment for this offence?
Dean: Erm, because I’m a terrible referee.
PGMOL: Very good. Carry on.
Excellent post Guvna.
Enjoyed a wifi free day to day and have done a massive back drink to yesterday evening (hic!).
Saddened that so many long serving Gooners are reaching the end of their tethers. I can fully understand the feeling of despair after the ineptitude/bias of a loathesome Jasper Carrot lookalike wretch ruins a sporting event (we had a similarly destructive experience at the Camp Nou which I witnessed in the flesh and also questioned as being crass ineptitude/home bias or worse) but N7’s point is well made that such sickening events are the grist in the mill that produces such wonderful delights as Anfield ’89.
Holic’s post demonstrates a cooling of his ire and I feel less enraged than I did for over 24 hours. I am not yet ready to ditch the season tickets at the end of this season because I believe we really are on the cusp of success. Also if Arsene can keep his motivation for the game having had to put up with the reptile’s poison and the antics of his poisonous trolls, then so can I.
Also it’s an addiction.
COYGs
H, there’s a club here at step six that apparently has a wage budget of twenty grand this season, which sounds peanuts but it’s not really. Not at that level.
They are paying one bloke a three figure sum per game and he dropped down a level to take the cash.
Cost a fortune playing for the Ramblers H,
We were forever coughing up dosh to post bail for the naughty team mates who had been out on the blag over the w/end. !!
They had thirty people through the gate a couple of weeks ago, paying a fiver.
What are fuckin’ farce! I’ve heard some right Cuntish drivel praising Costa and the Chav’s “they had to win any which way they could” modus operandi! The voodoo dolls are now in use for the rest of the season!
GSD,
I meant the lino – they are wired – why didn’t he say something ?
Or maybe he did ………
Gets worse doesn’t it ……..
The injustice continues … Costa will miss matches against Walsall, Newcastle (currently 19th in Prem) and Southampton (15th), while Gab misses Spuds, Leicester (2nd in Prem) and Manure.
Even the timing of his assaults is impeccable…
Öskar
Ooops, looking at an old Prem table. But you get the idea.
Öskar
Ah, the Ramblers! 🙂
Can’t remember if I paid to play for the AFSC at Mill Hill, but I can assure you I didn’t get paid by them! Labour of love.
There were stories back in the day that the Walthamstow Avenue team that won the FA Amateur Cup in 1961 were better paid than the double-winning LWCs. I do hope that was true! 😉
Trev.
Yes. Yes it does.
Perhaps some of our American contingent could come over and show us a thing or two about how our refs and their assistants would be wired on their side of the pond…
gsd, if it’s dean and his assistants from saturday i’d have them wired allright, but i don’t know they’d be happy about it.
Some illuminating statistical analysis
http://news.arseblog.com/2015/09/mike-dean-2-0-arsenal-by-the-numbers/
Our win % since 2009 is 57% overall, but with Saturday’s referee only 24%.
I remember there used to be quite a few such inexplicably (unless we use the obvious explanation, which is a problematic premise) anomalous statistics about cricket umpires (the great Steve Bucknor against Tendulkar-Dravid-Ganguly comes to mind, the numbers were strange though Bucknor was indeed an excellent umpire, a few levels superior in his profession than Dean is at his) … the introduction of video replay and decision appeal at least paid an end to the discussion of being impacted by incompetence/prejudice/whatever.
Football owes itself to sort out this mess. No excuses. If the governing bodies keep on acting the ostrich while technology progresses rapidly I think the questions would start to be raised about the reasons for that reluctance.
It’s always interesting reading posts straight after games and then 48 hours later. I have always had a certain degree of sumpathy for referees. There isn’t a single player that doesn’t take to the pitch that isn’t prepared to cheat in someway. There has for some reason been an acceptable level of cheating in the game for far too long.
Now, none of that of course exonerates Dean from his responsibilities. Nor does it justify his performance on Saturday. What I would say though is let’s not forget that all of the problems on the day and subsequent fallout were caused by one person. He was the main instigator of all of this. All of this is compounded by the win at all costs tactic of Maureen. This is then compounded by the comments in his press conference where he proclaimed Costa as the man of the match.
Refs have tough jobs and they are made ten times harder by cunts like Costa and Maureen. Deal with wankers like that and the standard of officiating may just start to get better.
I also think there should be a lot more retrospective punishment for players. I don’t see why every game should not be viewed by officials 24 hours or so after the game. Cunts like Costa seen brandishing imaginary cards for example should receive a retrospective yellow. Those that swarm around officials, the same. Every booking, sending off or controversial incident could be reviewed reviewed. Now, that is not as arduous as it sounds. Many are stone bonker and you just move on. Any that are open to interpretation stay with the original decision. But you start issuing retrospective cards for cunts like Costa and the like then they will soon start missing games. Then, some of the genuine parasites in the game may start to disappear.
Brandishing imaginary yellow cards?
I give you, Alexei Sanchez – has done it quite a few times in red and white.
Just sayin’…..
We could have fielded a very sexy team on Wednesday were the best back- ups not out on loan! Maitland – Niles , Crowley , Zelalem and Akpom would have been very useful. But unfortunately we don’t have that opportunity and may have to play the likes of Flamini.
It’s a bit perverse but by and large the loan system is serving us well this season.
The team might look like
Ospina
Debuchy
Mertesacker
Chambers
Gibbs
Flamini
Arteta
Ox
Iwobi
Giroud
Ramsey
But it’s anyone’s guess who of the normal first team he chooses to risk.
But Saturday’s game is much more important
Hi Steve
Trust you and yours are all well.
Going to be Interesting to hear what the Portuguese Ponce has to say about Costa being charged with violent conduct.
Last time he was retrospectively punished after the Liverpool stamping fracas last season,the PP went off his trolley.
So expect the same howls of anguish this time around.
My question is this:
As a serial offender with serious form,does his punishment get extended beyond the standard 3 match ban, ?
Did this not happen with Suarez and his serial offending. ?
I really hope the FA do decide to send a message that this sort of behavior is unacceptable.
As the Ref didn’t see the incident,are the FA free to impose their own ban,rather than the standard 3.?
Apart from the formal charges,i would have thought extra games could be added for bringing the game into disrepute.
One can only hope.!!
On a brighter note, our sexiest striker scores a hat-trick on debut for England … http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/33543373
Öskar
Clive, I was thinking the same thing about any ban for Costa. In view of last season’s prior ‘conviction’ and its failure to produce a change in his behaviour a longer ban is the logical conclusion. However it would be typical of the FA, in an attempt both to appear equable and moreover in an attempt to mollify the Chav lobby, to add more games to Gabriel’s existing sanction.
I’m not sure that Saturday’s game is more important than Spuds. Somebody previously suggested that momentum is critical at this time and frankly I don’t want to risk three losses on the spin, particularly ahead of a visit to a team in form and above us on the table.
I know that this is not a great comparison but in my teens I was playing three games in a weekend – Saturday morning and afternoon and Sunday morning.
Is it really asking too much of professional athletes to play two games a week? I think we should play our strongest available team, or close to it, knock the Spuds out and then use the momentum gained to hammer Leicester.
UTA.
Steve T@36: I am all for reviewing every incident. Sure, for the first few games there would be bucket loads of suspensions but players and managers would very quickly learn to behave if they know it’s not enough to get away with it on the day.
Clive: as Costa has, incredibly enough, only been suspended once and that it happened last season, he will not get any additional bans this time. However, if found guilty (as he surely must be), as this would be his second transgression in a relatively short period of time he is likely to be warned about his future conduct and may possibly also receive a suspended sentence. In any case he will be in much hotter water if he does something like this again in the nearish future.
Noosa: you can not even begin to compare playing youth football to the top-level game. Two games a week for an extended period of time is incredibly taxing, not least mentally and there simply is no room at the highest level for not being focused.
To clarify my drink@43: Costa may get a suspended sentence on top of the three games he will get unless the FA twats are completely bent.
Without reading through all the stats and conspiracy theory stuff, Mike Dean referees a lot of games we play against the bigger sides, and we have been routinely gash against the big teams in the last ten years. If you compare games lost against those sides with Dean in charge to games lost with other refs taking the game and the ratio shows a big difference, there might be a point to make. If, however, the ratio is about the same, the theory collapses.
Unless they’re all out to get us. Which is just silly and worthy of tin foil hats and examining shadows on the pitch and the way the flags are blowing in the wind…
Suppose I had better read the rambling nonsense now.
The artice, not my own.
On a brighter note, our sexiest striker scores a hat-trick on debut for England
Theo’s been playing for England for years.
What?
Oh.
Morning Bath
Lars is unfortunately probably right in his synopsis @43.
More’s the pity. !!
Apparently he also slapped one of the Everton players last week and got away with it.
Zico, yes Alexis did wave imaginary cards about when he first arrived,but he certainly hasn’t been doing it lately,credit to rest of the team i hope.
If you look at Dean’s record in our games since he started refereeing, the number of games we have lost under him is 28%, which is not exactly indicative of a vendetta.
It pales alongside Graham Poll’s 38% loss rate anyway and is the same roughly as we used to get under Howard Webb.
Can we just say he was a cunt on Saturday and leave it there?
Cynic@49, only if you include ‘hopeless and utter’ as well.
Cynic / Bath…..lets just say Dean exceeded his normal high level of cuntitude on Saturday to set a new bar 😉
For anyone interested in Mike Dean’s stats, this is good: http://news.arseblog.com/2015/09/mike-dean-2-0-arsenal-by-the-numbers/
We have a 24% win rate under him in the last 6 years.
17% win rate in big matches.
42% win rate in regular matches.
Our usual, non-Dean, win rate across all matches is 57% in the same period.
Personally, it doesn’t matter much to me whether he’s bent or just inept; the net result is Arsenal losing games either way, and either way I think he’s a disgrace.
Regarding imaginary card waving, I can’t say it bothers me. Players clearly ask the ref for cards, I don’t see the gesture as being worse than the verbal.
What does bother me is when Costa dives in the first minute of a game with the clear intention of getting Coquelin booked, and the ref buys it. Asking for cards is one thing. Diving for them is another.
I thought card waving was a mandatory yellow card offence thesedays.
Good post, ‘Holic. I just hope the kids go out on Wednesday and blow the Spuds away and the mood of the place will be lifted. For all the injustice suffered, this is a case where the team has to learn and move on if the season isn’t to come off the rails before it has barely started.
I would also like to note Le Coq’s growing maturity. Costa clearly targeted him from the start on Saturday (viz, the dive and waving the imaginary yellow card), but Le Coq didn’t get riled and Costa turned his attention elsewhere.
They do say that Walthamstow Ave side of the 1950s was one of the finest amateur teams money could buy.
Esso@10: I have to take exception with your characterisation of bankers as ‘complete morons’. They may be immoral, greedy bastards who ruined the lives of so many with their antics that led up to the financial crisis in 2008, but few are morons. It is on that point they differ completely from those who govern and regulate football.
Cynic. It is. Unless Mike Dean is the referee. Or Costa is doing the card waving.
N7. We can’t hear what the players say. When you wave a card every single person around the world knows exactly what you are saying and trying to do. This clear attempt to influence the referee’s decision shows a (perhaps understandable) lack of trust in the ref’s abilities. Under all FA guidelines this is ‘bringing the game into disrepute’. It also sets a terrible example. It would, of course, be better if even suggesting verbally to ref that a player should be booked was also a yellow but I won’t hold my breath.
NBN- You’re having us on! Football isn’t governed or regulated, is it?
@ GSD
I get all that. It just doesn’t really bother me. Some players have better language skills than others, some rely more on gesture. It depends how it’s done and I wouldn’t condone a player chasing after a ref waving the card and screaming at them, but if it’s just a relatively mild “wasn’t that a card, ref?” gesture then I’m OK with it. I don’t really see it as all that different from the “he dived” gesture, which doesn’t bother me either.
In an ideal world, none of this stuff would happen, but it’s a long way down my list of things that bother me about football.
It’s not apparently mandatory but we had a crackdown on it for about five minutes three years ago. Yay FA!
N7.
Fair enough. Personally I don’t like it.
The ‘dive’ gesture I think is different as it relates to the nature of the offense, which a player has every right to dispute (as with the ‘I got the ball’ gesture), not to what punishment should be given, which he does not.
Lars @ 44
Try telling that to American baseball players who play 162 games in a regular six month season, plus playoffs.
Two games a week – pffft.
UTA.
I also think that all this stuff is representative. It is much easier for the meeja to push their ‘its all okay- just win at any cost’ mentality when this stuff is ignored by the officials.
Again, look to rugby and the way behavioural standards on the pitch affect the coaching mentality off it.
Clive / bath,
I did say, in the previous drinks, that Costa committed four offences.
They were quite separate and distinct actions. I think, if they really wanted to, the FA could issue four retrospective red cards and tot them up into more or less however many games they want to.
They won’t, of course.
Only 4 offences Trev ??
Can’t we add just being alive. ??
The Coq out for the Spuds gam
according to AW ‘ he has a swollen knee,it is being assessed,we hope it is a short term problem ”
So back after Christmas then.
Moronically, GSD.
Late in the piece for i was off all social media for the last 2 days and i did not find any sense in saying anything apart from the fact that football was the loser on saturday.
I support Gabriel and his actions, naive, led on to it, whatever be it, he showed balls. He told the world you do not touch an Arsenal player and get away with it. Not costa, no one. I was just hoping the team used that as a rallying point and got something of the game but alas.
Chelsea is a shit team, has bucket loads of shit players and has a manager who sits on that pile of shit and proclaims himself to be its leader. The FA is filled with ass clowns who are just bothered about money.
Expecting any of these to change is like wishing for the sun. Not going to happen now, never. Even if that piece of shit costa is charged and banned, it is not going to give us back the 3 points lost.
Spurs tomorrow and once more the boss will be under pressure. Play a weakened squad and they will say how could he in the cup that maybe the only one we may win, as well as it is spurs afterall. Play a full strength and then knowing our luck, it maybe doomsday all over again. Good luck boss.
So far I have found none of this whole scenario funny in the slightest. Until I read the words “The FA is filled with ass clowns…”
Cheers Vinay. Top man. I think the wave of this whole pile of rubbish affair just broke somewhere in my mind. I’m still chuckling now. That has sure brightened up my day!
There’s a mango lassi on the bar for you, if that’s your thing, although I may have added a generous helping of rum into the mix…
I have some sympathy with referees.
I try to imagine what would happen if someone spoke to me at work in the way that many(though not all) footballers speak to a referee when they disagree with the decision he has given concerning a throw in, or that an opponent should get a red/yellow card etc.
Right up in my face, screaming obscenities, feckin this and feckin that as Mrs Doyle would say, eyes bulging and rolling, spit spraying all over me and with three or four of his mates lined up to join in with this chorus of abuse.
I know what I’d do, or at least I think I do.
I am only surprised how very rare it is for one of them to actually do it.
But Anicoll, you wouldn’t let them get away with it first time round. You wouldn’t wait until the 328,671st time and then arbitrarily deck ’em.
If refs had a consistent standard there would be no problem and everyone would know where they stood. People like Costa only cheat because it is in their interest to do so. Strong referees would kill this problem dead. Again, look to rugby.
That is true GSD – even setting aside the Mayweather tendency the first “F***”or “C***” yelled in my ear by some garlic breathed lout and he’d have his yellow – the second obscenity he’d be on his way home – or if they wanted to WAVE A CARD I would immediately wave one back 🙂
Ah a happy thought and if that no nonsense approach was imposed, as in both rugby codes, one that clean up Dodge City.
@GSD mango lassi works fine for me, non alcoholic after all am i.
Zico. He will quickly learn then?
Clive. All fine thanks. I trust the same goes for you and yours? I hope that the PP blows up and the FA end up throwing the book at him. With regards to Costa I would at least like to see more than the standard 3 matches. It would be funny if he got 4 and Gabriel had his reduced?
Lars. Agree totally. Carnage to start with followed by a rapid learning curve.
Gabriel’s red card appeal upheld so no ban.
Now to fuck up Costa and Maureen.
Can we have the robbed points back please?
They’ll still ban him for not leaving the pitch after the red card he should never have had.
Ironically, just about everybody thinks the red card was justified, even Arsene Wenger, yet it has been overturned.
Mad really.
Getting the feeling that the FA are about to chuck the book at Diego Costa.
Maybe all that boasting about how he was “man of the match” and a “genius” when it comes to “cheating” wasn’t all that clever after all?
I don’t think it was a red card, for what it’s worth.
I see the FA got their finger out over Gabriel’s Red card. Just need to sort out Diego.
Shame about the end result though.
Time to soldier on
Red Army!!
This is from the FA’s guidance booklet for Premiership players (also available in French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish).
Surrounding Match Officials
• You are reminded of the need to show respect to the Match Officials at all times.
• Match Officials may report incidents where two or more players of one club approach a Match Official in a confrontational manner and this may lead to a disciplinary charge.
• Your club will be liable to receive a significant fine in the event of a charge and for repeat offences, the sanctions become considerably greater.
So that works, then.
Vinay. I’ll have the rum one and I’ll make you a fresh one! Cheers.
Cynic. Under the current rules as I understand them I can’t really argue with Gabriel being sent off for two yellows but I did not think the leg-flick was a straight red as Dean gave it. I am genuinely amazed he got it rescinded. A much better outcome than I thought possible. You are of course right that he’ll still get a ban for his failure to leave the pitch but that could be worse and hopefully is something he’ll learn from.
N7@ 75 asks a good question. Can we, pretty please?
Fair play to the FA for making the only sensible decision re: Gabriel’s red. For me, what he did was not even worth a yellow in the context of what he had allowed to go on just before. He literally stood there and watched Gabriel and Costa take swings at each other so either both get their second yellows or no one does. Plain and simple.
And oh, what a slap in the face at all those pompous cunts in the media who sat there and called us weak and Costa “clever”. Fuck off the lot of you.
There won’t be any further sanction for Gabriel for something that should never have happened if that cunt Dean had done his job. He’ll only get a warning about his future conduct. A three match ban is coming for Costa! Oh the irony of it is going to be sweet as feck! Feck you Maureen you classless Chav cunt!
Up the Arse!
So the decision Dean made on the only incident he could actually see has been overturned.
Say. No. More.
Hahaha – Trev nails it.
Has to be more than three games for Costa if there’s any logic applied. Four seperate actions, each worthy of a red card, has to add up to more than one red card.
Sorry, repeating myself now.
What ?
Oh ……
Well, Trev, here’s our friend Mike Dean losing control of another football match:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4foxH9t64Eg
You may recall the outcome: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/qpr-captain-joey-barton-handed-12match-ban-for-meltdown-in-title-decider-at-manchester-city-7782474.html
A twelve match ban, based on the FA totting up Barton’s various red card offences. Here’s hoping they apply a consistent logic in this instance…
Blow me down , the overturning of Gabriel’s ban is remarkable I never expected that and it begs the question about what Costa will get and at what stage such an injustice is done that the result is invalid. Instead of us being a man short they would have been and we might have seen the medics castigated by Maureen again for treating a Chav feigning injury. Maureen will go nuts. This could run and run?
It feels like a line is slowly being drawn under Saturday finally….I was blind with fury for at least 48 hours! Gabriel’s ban rescinded (though he may get a 1-game ban for not leaving the field of play), Costa must consequently be getting at least a retrospective 3-game ban, and still only 5 points off top spot, and being mid-Sep, plenty of time to improve and hit some decent form.
The only thing that sent a slight judder down my spine was Wenger’s pronouncement that the Coq’s knee is still swollen, and that it’s only when that reduces that they can begin to assess the state of the damage. I’m not an expert on knee injuries, but I’m guessing significant swelling after 3 days at the very least would be mild ligament damage? (and the worst, let’s not go there….) A few weeks out at best?
Incidentally, if the Coq is out for any length of time, could there be any merit in moving one of Kos/Gabriel/Chambers forward as an enforcer type deep lying midfielder (remember Per is now fit to cover at CB)? They all have the speed, strength of tackle, and ability to read the game, cover the pitch laterially and intercept as Coq does, and have a decent base passing ability. Put them next to Santi, and I’d probably be happier than pairing Arteta and Santi together, or re-installing a willowy Flamini whose legs have in essence gone? Spurs are doing it with Dier, it’s essentially what Matic is, and I think if nothing else – the emergence of the Coq has shown what a pro-active, diligent defensive-minded player in that position can give the team.
Gregoire: the knee being swollen after three days certainly isn’t a good sign in any case.
Costa suspended for three matches. We won’t get the chance to win the three points back, but at least all those of us who said Dean fucked up on Saturday have had some vindication.
Gabriel ban rescinded. Costa gets 3 match ban.
Modicum of justice but still justice delayed is justice denied.
Now when the special cunt moans in his next press conference, I hope journalists tell him about his repeated moans to the tone of ‘the world is against my poor squad’.
For matters pertaining to actual football, Coq’s knee is indeed a big worry. But as arseblogger reminded us a few weeks ago – Flamini is in the last year of his contract so he is bound to have a blinder of a season!! Maybe that’s why Arsene has been hiding him till now… The secret weapon.
Costa gets 33 match ban.
Lewandowski has scored 5 goals in 14 minutes against Volkswagen FC…
Him and Goetze should never have left BVB. Munich buy the best players from the only team that was a threat to them in that league and behave as if they are world beaters.
If they did the totting up procedure in the Prem, like they used to do in Scotland, Costa would have had a minimum 12 match ban, not including the sending off he should have had for two yellows (waving an imaginary card, kicking OX)
Three for hands in the face, three (plus one) for the backhander, three (plus two) for the chest bump.
Good luck to old Stanley. The £3 million the club has just paid him is clearly money well spent. Great value. As we pay the highest prices in the land I think that paying Stanley £3 to sit on his Colorado Ranch is an absolute bargain. How would the club ever function without is input???
Perhaps if we paid him £6 million that he might be able to find us a new striker? Or a holding midfielder?
Just a thought if he really is that good.
I could get really cheeky here?
🙂
I mean, it’s not really in the spirit and all that but…..
It’s just too tempting. No one’s looking so why not? No one will notice.
Bang!!!!!!!
Top corner.
Yes I know, red card.
But it’s Carrot’s love child in charge and the FA are feeling generous.
🙂
Officiously rules it out but leaves the door open to an appeal.
Overturned by the authority 🙂 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
That photo is damning evidence of corruption surely. How can Mike Dean say he did not see the incident between Costa and Koscielny? How much is Abramovich bribing officials to make these kinds of decisions? Someone ought to do some investigations. Referees are being bought.