Gift Grub - Graham Poll Style!

Liam Byrne

GIFT 1: Marginal offsite decision given Arse's way
True, if it was the other way around we'd be screaming for it, but it's proof that it wasn't going to be our day

GIFT 2: Studs-first challenge on Dawson; no card given (warranted a red)
Arsenal should have been down to 10 men

GIFT 3: Penalty given for no reason
If you get the ball, it's not a peno. Fact.

GIFT 4: Penalty given after blatant handball; should've been a free out
Yet another cock-up by Poll.

Quote of the day: "I thought the referee had a good game" :eek: - George Graham, former Arse manager and obvious current Arse supporter.

Can Poll be charged with bringing the game into disrepute ? I could be alone in having no objection to losing to anyone, even Arse, if everything was fair; they did, after all, play better than us for most of the game - but that doesn't mean they deserve to win (think last year's fixture where those roles were reversed).

Having seen the ref blatantly screwed us at least 3 times, plus one debatable marginal decision by the linesman, I was almost vowing to never watch a Premiership match again. I haven't been this pissed off at a ref since we scored against Roy Carroll.

Poll was definitely the man in red - both Arse's jersey and Santa bringing gifts for Arse. Pure ****e! :mad:

Playboy

We deserved to lose .. we were awful and were outclassed in every part of the pitch. The only players that showed any passion were Chimbonda, Keane and Jenas.

WhiteWashMan

we werent good enough.sometimes my friend, you just have to relaise that no matter how much you dislike arsenal, they are still a better team than us.

Liam Byrne

No argument here. Arsenal deserved to win - I was actually hoping that they'd score an undisputable goal toward the end in order to prove it.

Fact is, though, matches aren't decided on who "deserves" to win; in the equivalent fixture last year, we deserved to win based on the play, but we didn't and it was a draw.

Without the ref's interventions yesterday, the reverse would have applied.

Refs have to be answerable for their decisions; anyone can make one mistake, but penos should only be awarded when theres absolutely no doubt, and to make the same mistake twice was unforgiveable.

therecklessone

Liam Byrne wrote:

GIFT 1: Marginal offsite decision given Arse's way
True, if it was the other way around we'd be screaming for it, but it's proof that it wasn't going to be our day

GIFT 2: Studs-first challenge on Dawson; no card given (warranted a red)
Arsenal should have been down to 10 men

GIFT 3: Penalty given for no reason
If you get the ball, it's not a peno. Fact.

GIFT 4: Penalty given after blatant handball; should've been a free out
Yet another cock-up by Poll.

1. Right call on the offside, can't argue with it.

2. You're talking about the Rosicky challenge on Dawson 1st half? Jaysus, that would have been a harsh red TBH, though how we didn't get a free at least I'll never know...:rolleyes:

3. Got the Chimbonda peno completely wrong, no question.

4. In Poll's defence, had he a good enough view of the incident to see the handball? I've yet to see a decent replay (bloody Chorus is still down...:mad: ) but IIRC he was behind the incident, and I reckon he wouldn't have got an angle to see the handball. Lineo possibly could have, without seeing decent replays I can't say for certain.

I see where you're coming from, but I honestly believe we were beaten from the time the 1st goal went in, and no amount of Poll decisions changed that. In addition, I think concentrating on Poll takes away from our spineless performance and Jol said as much after yesterday's game.

Liam Byrne

Rosicky and Dawson were running flat-out, and Rosicky went in studs-up; red in my book.

And if Poll wasn't in a position to see, whose fault is that ?

I don't want to be TOO harsh on him (as I said re the offside decision, they've been given both ways when they're that tight) but you don't give a peno unless you're certain and having cocked one up it was completely negligent to give a second.

If anyone thinks I'm being blinkered, please bear in mind what I said; I actually wanted Arse to score at the end to put the cock-ups beyond reproach and show that we played ****e. I've no problem losing fair and square, and the squad are due lots of criticism but when a ref screws up that badly at least twice they can be partially forgiven for dropping the heads.

Guess they should've taken a leaf out of Munster's book when, after 2 finals were stolen from them and then a try incorrectly given against them in the first 5 mins this year, they said "feck that, we're not being screwed out of another win" and the spirit and determination came to the fore; no argument that that attitude was missing on Saturday.....

therecklessone

Liam Byrne wrote:

And if Poll wasn't in a position to see, whose fault is that ?

Mate, it was counter attack. No referee would have managed to keep up with the play in those circumstances.

Like I said, I need to see another replay (and Chorus is still down...:mad: )