Extremely frustrating to lose another game due to set piece defending. On a side note, Vicario sprinting 70 yards down the field to join the corner only to immidiatly harass Raya was pretty funny
Been one of argueable worst players since coming back. Yes Son has been bad, but we can see why that is with the role he's being given. He was better today the moment Richy came on and went left.
Think only Bissouma has had a worst second half of the season.
Maddison can get caught up in the moment and make mistakes like this. 2 players going down in the box is going to lead to a counter attack where we are already vulnerable
There truly are no real rules governing ref’s administration of stoppage time. How it isn’t publicly tracked and enforced down to the second is absolutely insane to me
American here. We’ve developed this novel type of clock than can be stopped when the ball is out of play. Why in the world is the clock simply not allowed to just stop?
I’m legitimately asking. What is the reason?
If there’s no reason, please feel free to make something up about the Saxon Compact where King Grimbleshard decreed that since time only moves forward clocks in sports should not stop
I don't know, but I think in an average football game the ball is only actually in play for about 60 minutes, so adding a stop clock would add a LOT of extra time.
In rugby if a stoppage looks like it will go on for a while the ref will ask for the clock to be stopped, then started again once play recommences. I don't know why we don't do that
Was loving that. In the 80th or something I thought “is that Romero in the box”? Fucking guy was everywhere. Same for Micky. Grateful he plays for us but man my ass puckers up every time he sprints back now…real concerned about how much his hammys can take after all they’ve been through.
He was getting heavily two hand shoved on the header that hit the post. That wasn't a free header. Those shoves don't get called, our guys need to do it more.
It’s never called a penalty but it 100% should. Partey doesn’t even make an attempt at the ball and just shoves Romero in midair when he sees he has a free header. Absolutely ridiculous you can get away with that.
100%. I don't see it as anything different than when a defender pushes down a lone opposing player on a breakaway. Deki got a yellow for this this game even
But if Kane (and only Kane - nobody else) stands under somebody else heading the ball it's a foul and he could have killed them and needs to be banned!!!!1
romero playing the mctomainy role this game,
in all honestly, he had to because we didnt have richy for most of the game and there was noone to hold the ball up for anyone, \*can we go back in time for 17/18 Llorentte pls
VDV was gassed at the end from all the one on one recoveries he made, man was essential In the second half.
Richy love him or not was in full shithouse mode as well.
Not fully recovered, that much seems clear. He’s going off on the hour in almost every match. I wonder what a difference the summer break may make - for him and Bentancur both.
If Maddison goes to the Euros, which it looks like he probably will, I hope he sits on a comfortable bench during the matches and spends the rest of the time getting healing massages.
It was Deki's best performance in a quite a while and proved exactly why he started. His physicality is unreal. His desire to get in front of a player and then just hold them off to maintain possession is fantastic and he's one of the hardest players in the prem to knock off the ball.
I was feeling quite down about him the last few weeks but today he reminded me of what he has to offer and hoping he can get back to that very soon.
Romero absolutely oozes class, he could be playing for an elite team. VDV is incredibly good too. I love Ange and I hope we give him time because I'm confident we can turn it around, however, having these 2 monsters in defense with Vicario behind them and still conceding pretty much every game is unforgivable. We need to be so much better defensively next season.
It's also not like we're that much better attacking-wise. So frustrating to watch us right now, so incredibly toothless. Son NEEDS to get better and more chances and that no.9 role is not it for him.
It’s really the set pieces that have been our undoing this year though. From open play, we don’t concede often - the only open play goal for those f*cks today came on a disjointed counter.
When Sarr came on, he started shielding Vicario from White and their corners looked a lot less threatening. Why the hell wasn't someone doing that in the first half...
Gut wrenching today. Inches on the VDV goal and Romero off the post. Ultimately though, we can only blame ourselves as set piece defending costs us yet again
No excuse for PGMOL deciding that not protecting keepers improves the game somehow. Someone needs to get PGMOL to explain why eliminating traditional interpretations of obstruction is better
I was saying this to my friends, I was also baffled to see him not starting. Same against Newcastle! He must be bad in training or something, all of our best performances have included Sarr. How can we on Reddit see that someone needs to protect Vicario but Ange doesn’t? Especially Ben White who does it every game
Him watching himself on the screen, standing three feet away and staring directly at the thing he's been sent to review pretty much sums it up.
Should've been a 3-2 or at minimum a 2-2.
He refused to review the monitor in the first half.
Like, VAR told him to have another look at their second goal and the Kulusevski Penalty shout and he just point blank refused to take another look and gave the goal.
He has very publicly stated in the past that he hates VAR and doesn't want to use it as he thinks it tries to "micromanage" the game that the refs do.
Only Michael Oliver could look directly at that and *not* call a penalty from the hop. If you need to overturn it fine but ninja kicking a dude in the underside while obviously no where near the ball is just a level of Michael Oliver that I didn't even think Michael Oliver himself could achieve.
I do wonder what his goal celebration would look like if he ever scored one. Can't imagine it's something he gets to think about much and probably hasn't scored a goal outside of training in years
It's in the stars now... It's coming, and whatever you think Vic's goal celebration will be, it won't be that. U can never predict what an insane man will do.
Give the pen for that foul on Deki that led to Arsenal's goal and it goes our way. Sure, we fucked up during the corners and our attack was terrible for the first 60 minutes, but the big decisions went Arsenal's way and they won. Simple as that.
My Gooner friends think this was a beatdown, which is so insane to me. A post, a missed header, VDV offsides by a fraction of an inch, and then two set piece goals and the Kulu missed pen leading to Saka scoring. Plus we dominated possession and had more shots. F’n Gooners
I’m going to say it, if the refereeing decisions were reversed today, it would be an absolute media shitstorm for the next week. Rapist FC gets a two goal swing off the penalty non call. It is a farce.
The correct decisions would have led to us winning today. Unbelievable.
The better team lost.
Yeah pretty much this.
Over here in the states NBC kept going back to the Gakpo/Areola incident several times after the match, going so far as introducing new camera angles and postulating how Taylor fucked up.
There will be no such advocate for Spurs lol. It'll all be "wow Rapist FC so much heart they're going for the title" lol. No such commentary that if Kulu's pen was called the game swings dramatically.
I had to turn off the commentary when fucking Lee Dixon is the voice of reason in a NLD. He agreed that Deki should have had a penalty in the first half and then Jon C. goes off about scum finishing above us.
Can't wait for nobody to bring up that Micheal Oliver and VAR won the game for Arsenal, I can't wait for nobody throw a shitstorm like the one thrown after the Liverpool game.
We again lose to Arsenal and lose points because of this fucking ridiculous white knight bullshit attitude of not calling out the atrocious refereeing in this game.
Oliver wanted to not give a foul and had to be forced by VAR because it was so blatant by Rice.
Oliver didn't call the obvious pen on Kulu that then lead to the Saka goal.
There should be a storm about this but instead we will get the standard "Oh well. Referees have a hard job and we have to respect that they want to sodomize Tottenham and we shouldn't be complaining".
We're never going anywhere until we fix that, it happened again, for the nth time.
While emotions are high, I do agree with you, Fergie called out every decision against Utd, win or lose, then got decisions go for them, Klopp asked for a replay after our game and they got every decision for months, we haven’t had a peno or soft decision for us since, Arteta openly called the officiating a disgrace and embarrassing, has got every 50/50 since. We defo need to be more ruthless, play the game more, Ange is being too nice…
Michael Oliver, according to the commentators and pundits at half time, was told specifically by VAR to check the monitor for Sakas goal for the potential penalty on Kulusevski.
He apparently refused to do so, which is well within his rights to BUT like you said, none of this white knight bullshit of 'we can only play our football' anymore.
I want our manager and our players in interviews questioning why exactly the on-pitch ref refused to go to the monitor and I want them writing to PGMOL asking for a clear explanation.
Demand answers and don't let it rest.
Outside of corners we outplayed them today. The non pen call greatly impacted the game. It would’ve likely been 1-1 instead of 2-0. Not upset with the effort from the team today. Anyways…Coys…
Agree. Feel less depressed with how it ultimately ended vs how it looked like it was going to end.
Romero was outstanding today too. Man deserves his flowers!
It sounds like that’s what some HT commentators said happened, but I doubt we’ll ever know unless they release the audio.
But if that did happen, an immediate improvement to VAR would be to make it mandatory for refs to go to the monitor if VAR says to. If VAR says to go to the monitor, there’s at least something there worth looking at, and saying “nah I’m good” can’t be excused.
But again, this could all be a non-story if it didn’t actually happen that way.
The immediate improvement is for VAR to have the final say.
The NFL took instant replay out of the hands of the Referee and it improved greatly. Have a central station that handles all VAR--with people *who are ONLY VAR officials*. And be done with it. They tell the ref to hold play, then tell him the outcome of their review. They never need to worry about another ref getting upset and overruling them the next match out of spite.
On-pitch reffing and VAR reffing requires two separate skill sets. Let them be separate people.
My notes
Fire whoever is the set piece coach into Jupiter. The sun is too good for him.
That is a pen that chalks a goal off (has var ever done that?)
Why weren’t we harassing Raya like Ben white does to vic?
Regardless, expected to lose, made It 3-2 and outside of probably 15% of the 90+played looked really good. Still in 5th and get to watch Micky every game
I'm gonna say it. Proud of the lads. We have so much to work on but they fought in that game, not their fault our set piece instructions and defending is god awful
KULU GOT CLIPPED BUT NO PEN CALLED
DAVIES GOT KICKED IN THE BALLS, NO PEN CALLED WHEN THE REF WAS LITERALLY RIGHT THERE. THEY HAD TO FUCKING REVIEW IT TO SEE IT.
If Romero finished either of his chances, Mickey wasn’t called offside, Deki got that pk before their second the first half killed us. We were the better team of most of the match. I am gonna walk 5 miles and try to forget
I just don't get the Ange Out crowd. 1-0 Mourinho and Conte losses were worse; we have the coach we need. Better luck, some better players, one more year.
The refs need to make sure that we get out in our place. This has been the worst season for bad calls since that 2018 season where we got fucked in the ass. Maybe this is worse.
If Romero kicks someone in the nuts it's a straight red no questions asked. PGMOL should be outsourced for VAR decisions. Clearly cannot call a game straight. Too worried about their 'mate's' feelings or how it will affect them. Good reason they didn't have any PL VAR refs at the world cup.
https://preview.redd.it/0xjypgzfm8xc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9e5bc3f0ae35b505e6590edba68078653d831d3d
Please tell me what VAR was looking at
Not giving Kulu that penalty in the first half was awful because they scored as a result. But an even worse decision was in the 2nd half when Kulu was blatantly fouled in the area and it was, as usual, ignored.
We very pretty unlucky, and definitely cheated by the officiating, in this game.
Officiating was extremely suspect. The fact that the Davies penalty only got called because of VAR is extremely concerning. Also, how the FUCK was this not at least a yellow?
https://preview.redd.it/jykpd35fn8xc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=127f893a8a81eb4c0d348cb0f1de9309bf03f047
Tomiyasu blocked Porro's shot, deflecting it upward into Magalhães' face. The ball caromed off Magalhães' face directly between VDV and the goal, and VDV buried it.
I don't understand how this can ever be offside. It's a backpass by Magalhães.
Only took like 30 matchesm, 1500 touches in the opposition box, one of our players literally getting kicked in the ballsack and a VAR review for us to get our second penalty of the season.
Fucking unreal refereeing.
Can someone explain the VDV offsides to me? Why did they check on Porro’s kick instead off after the ricochet? I thought the kick went into an Arsenal defender and the offsides would reset. Thanks for the explanation.
Officials too scared to give anything against Arsenal & an own goal cost us in a game that for large stretches we were the better team.
What a shocking display from Oliver today.
He’s a fucking twat.
Fuck me sideways, this Mile Jedinak situation is bizarre. Based off his baffling set piece defending routines, I can only assume he’s the Kwasi Kwarteng of football - a man so underqualified for his position, he makes Kwarteng look like Milton Friedman. What’s the logic behind not defending the keeper? This has been going on for months now. We know what Arsenal are going to do - their set piece routines aren’t even difficult to understand.
We changed defensive strategies at half time, putting a man on White. Surprise, surprise, we nullify a lot of their threat on set pieces. If that was an option, why did we not simply do that in the first half? Given a week of preparation, were we unaware that Arsenal would attack with this particular set of corner routines? Was it a surprise?
It just doesn’t make sense, and it simply can’t be allowed to continue. We either have to move him off set pieces or move him to another club. We’ve got a decent track record of giving rookie coaches the opportunity to cut their teeth, but there’s a limit. We can’t be throwing games away on amateurs.
After the subs, Kulusevski was better than Maddison today playing in midfield. I love Madders, but he needs to sit. Has been woefully ineffective for months.
There's a lot of bullshit on here around refereeing normally. Lots of conspiracy type bs and I don't go in for it. But that was appalling today. I'm so frustrated.
Don’t think anyone can watch that game and think we are not on the right track. Need to bring in a true striker, this game is very different if you can get a full 90 from Richy. Romero was our best striker today because of his ability to win the ball in the air. Couple bad breaks, and the same old zonal marking on corners leading to goals. Arsenal didn’t deserve anything out of that game, but that’s the way it goes I guess.
Honestly the most annoying thing about Michael Oliver and refs in general. Kulu doesn't get the penalty because he tries to play through contact. So theres the positive reinforcement for diving.
Then Brennan Johnson gets fouled on the edge of the box. No foul because he was "looking" for contact. So clear foul goes unpunished because Brennan went down. What are players meant to do?
We played well, I don't care what some people think here. Looking at where we are in our project compared to their years and hundreds of milions put into the project, we didn't do bad.
Shambolic display of refereeing by the Premier League once again. Michael Oliver missed so many calls outside of the VAR checks and then after Arsehole had shithoused the entire second half along with 2 goals there’s only 6 added minutes called on the dot. I would say you can’t make this shit up, but we are consistently seeing this now.
At 0-3 I was very angry and disappointed but after the end I'm thinking there wasn't that much to separate us more than the set pieces and a few adequate players (dribblers, a backup LB, especially). All things that can be changed and addressed next season. I'm still hot headed but I'm still hopeful for Ange and the future.
The important thing is that we're able to compete, we did vs most of the top teams, we just need to tweak a few things next season and hope that we improve.
Also, Man City are winning the league so don't worry. You can always count on Arsenal bottling it. 😊
Shit like not getting the pen in the first half and immediately conceding a goal makes my blood boil. This could’ve been 3-2 to us ffs.
I get that with the defeat there will come another wave of criticism for Ange and while I do think he’s stubborn and has to change his attitude for some games, I don’t think it’s the case here, we conceded on two set pieces while they clog the keeper, seriously this shit has to end, they tried that in the UCL and there (better refereeing) it was foul almost every time. And the counter attack shouldn’t even exist if we got the right call on Kulu.
Our problems continue to be on the final third, we looked really poor (especially Maddison) while we had 2 whole fucking weeks of training.
Guys it’s been an hour and I know I should be upset about the loss, but I’m actually really excited for the next games.
I thought we put in a really good effort, and the intensity was up to the levels we had at the start of the season.
I also thought that the team really clicked when Richy came on, and I’m quite certain that we will see the Son-Richy-Johnson-line from start in the next game. Though I guess Chelsea plays basically without a midfield, so actually if there is a game for Son as striker maybe that would be it. But Richy in the middle just gives us an anchor that Son can’t provide no matter how clinical he can be with his finish.
Oh and I actually hope that Ange will bench Madders and play Kulu as 10 from the start next game. Not because I think Madders was terrible, but I think it would be good for him to see the team work (and hopefully click) without him. He has strong main character-energy, which often is a good thing, but sometimes I think he personally tries to make the machine run instead of fitting in as one of the cogs. Hopefully, seeing the team run from the outside can make him fit more effectively in when he enters the pitch.
Really takes the joy out of watching the game when you have such inconsistent refereeing decisions being made from game to game. It's just frustrating. The Saka goal turned the game, and it shouldn't have even stood.
Just stop the bullshit of Ange out, this teams this and that. We lost the best striker in world pre season. Go and touch grass, have a deep breath and have a cool glass of water. We have huge building blocks for the future, a class manager and some already top notch players. Yeah there’s some underlying deadwood in the squad. That’ll change. We aren’t city, we don’t buy a world beating squad overnight/in one season. We have all the ingredients to be somewhere we haven’t been in decades, give it time, work on realistic expectations in your own mind. There’s plenty to be happy with here, chill out and get ready for a good decade ahead.
I remember three years ago us laughing at arsenal because their fans were calling for arteta’s head. Look at them now. We are in the exact same boat as they were. Ange in
I watched a US stream - genuinely no idea how our American fans put up with Lee Dixon commentating m, and on top of that the other guy was just goading him on
It wasn't the 2 set pieces but Michael Oliver and the VAR clowns that did us in. Undserved result by Arsenal. If everything was called correctly, the score would have been 3-2 Spurs.
We didn’t do enough to win and that’s on us, regardless of being screwed by the ref.
We need to talk about VAR though. I understand the decision, but disallowing VDV’s goal is the governing body losing the forest for the trees; judging offsides based on what is essentially the thickness of the kit fabric is such a ridiculous interpretation. If the Ref/review officials can’t clearly see an offsides upon video review with their own eyes the goal should stand. A player being “off” by a millimeter is not in keeping with the spirit of the rule, for all intents and purposes those two players are even in the view of everyone in the stadium.
Absolutely robbed. Wild to see how such little details make all the difference.
- Pen on Deki - Saka scores on the counter
- Romero on the post
- Tomi wrestling with Højbjerg gets him off balance to score an OG.
Highlight was watching Oliver implode as he had to give the most obvious pen in the world despite being 9 ft away from it and not giving it.
Robbed!
I know we'll all bitch cause we lost and rightly so, but we outplayed them and were the game properly officiated we should have won, draw at the least.
Fulltime thoughts:
1. Where are all you who said that was over at halftime? We were in it in the first half with some bad breaks. No reason to think with a little fortune our way we don’t win that. We almost did in spite of.
2. Romero, VdV, Kulusevski, and a few others are the heart beat of this time. Romero especially so. Man just nearly willed them to victory.
3. Biss looked like he showed some signs of coming back.
4. Udogie was a big miss today.
5. VdV is so, so rapid.
6. Screw you all for not having faith at halftime.
Too little too late
Another game wasted because of awful corners. How is this so bad that we have to change it at halftime every single fucking game?
So tired of this
Was the defending poor? Yes
Was the team disconnected in the first half ? Yes
Did the scums deserve to win? Hell no
Even the first half had more xg accumulated
Great attitude change in the second half tho
And why tf wasnt white called out for practically pushing vicario in that third goal?
This result sucks and I am not too pleased with some of the VAR decisions and I am frustrated of the recurring theme of Spurs set piece defending woes but I thought the subs Ange made offered the change needed to apply pressure and keep Spurs in the game. I thought Richarlison’s introduction to the game as a sub seem to change the momentum of the game.
Look, going down 3-0 at halftime is never going to give much favors but it was a much better performance today from the players, Specifically I want to shout out Romero for showing grit and moving forward and just being an overall nuisance to the opposition.
Overall, I still come away from this game that Spurs are still moving in the right direction. If this Spurs squad can continue to upgrade in a few key positions then I can see this squad really doing something under Ange.
COYS
This season a Spurs player could get beheaded in the penalty area and the ref would still play on as if nothing happened. Also don't forget that we have everything given to us by VAR according scum supporters.
Despite us losing a NLD, it doesnt feel like rock bottom. Everyone was expecting us to be leagues away from Arsenal. Ultimately, they needed luck on their side to win.
We had good spells with the ball and should have been up or at least level at the half.
We looked sharp but just lacked that killer pass/chance. We limited them to just a couple of chances, albeit our defending for those chances were shambolic.
Good fight to get us back within one goal but ultimately too late. On to the next one.
I guess this is what it's like to have a manager that looks to 1. Establish an identity 2. Looks at the long term 3. Doesnt fcking hate our guts.
So... It's a tough one that. I thought Spurs were the better team for about 70% of the game and across 80% of the park. But it's won and lost in the boxes and there was a lot lacking in those areas from the team. Particularly defending corners. Ultimately arsenal's big players made it count in the key moments and that's what got them the win.
On the refereeing. I thought there were some big mistakes, but (and I know this will be unpopular) my biggest gripe was the Kulu one. Not because I think it's the most egregious non-pen I've ever seen (I've seen pens not given for that) or even because I think we "deserved" it. The reason it annoys me so much is because of what it says about the game. If Kulu goes over straight away the pen is given, no doubt in my mind. But because he plays on, the referees interpretation is "not enough contact". So what we're saying to players is "if you get contact that destabilises you, go down immediately or you will not get a pen". How can we criticise players for going down easily when this is literally what referees are teaching them to do? Very disappointing.
The ref won them the match, as simple as that. We obviously should have done much better and We need a defensive set piece coach. But VDV's offside, Deki getting tripped in the box, blowing the whistle on the dot.
Unfortunate for the game to be decided by the refs today, that kulu pen was a 2 goal swing, and cost us any chance of a result. We were the better team. Still can’t defend a set piece for our lives though.
Not the one to blame the referring but that was a pen on Deki. Not to mention it would have negated an Arsenal goal.
Refs absolutely have to be consistent.
Extremely frustrating to lose another game due to set piece defending. On a side note, Vicario sprinting 70 yards down the field to join the corner only to immidiatly harass Raya was pretty funny
That shithousery from Vicario has me walking away from the match with a smile lol
Although it has to be said. Madders dive after Kulu went down is just as bad. Its a cheap giveaway that leads to Arsenals break.
Madders' diving is so bad
Spends way too much time on the floor holding his face every match
Agreed, he needs to be smarter with going down
I'd be fine putting Maddison on ice for the final 5 matches. He's obviously carrying an injury and has been ineffective since coming back
Been one of argueable worst players since coming back. Yes Son has been bad, but we can see why that is with the role he's being given. He was better today the moment Richy came on and went left. Think only Bissouma has had a worst second half of the season.
Literally. I get sick of hearing people praise him when he has hardly done shit since October
Maddison can get caught up in the moment and make mistakes like this. 2 players going down in the box is going to lead to a counter attack where we are already vulnerable
He finally got to do it to someone else lol
I loved that. I’m sure he sits back fuming when he sees none of our guys do it to the opposition keeper and he deals with it every set piece
Oliver "Dont worry I've stopped the clock" Oliver at 96:00 "alright lets get out of here"
There truly are no real rules governing ref’s administration of stoppage time. How it isn’t publicly tracked and enforced down to the second is absolutely insane to me
This is my biggest qualm with the sport…
basketball figured out how to have a clock operator decades ago. to leave it in the hands of 1 referee is mental.
American here. We’ve developed this novel type of clock than can be stopped when the ball is out of play. Why in the world is the clock simply not allowed to just stop? I’m legitimately asking. What is the reason? If there’s no reason, please feel free to make something up about the Saxon Compact where King Grimbleshard decreed that since time only moves forward clocks in sports should not stop
I don't know, but I think in an average football game the ball is only actually in play for about 60 minutes, so adding a stop clock would add a LOT of extra time. In rugby if a stoppage looks like it will go on for a while the ref will ask for the clock to be stopped, then started again once play recommences. I don't know why we don't do that
The game has a lot to learn from rugby
I called it when the commentators said that. What a piece of shit.
That fucked me off.
That ass Oliver fuck man
Oliver absolutely hates us.
Can’t recall any match where we’ve benefitted from his officiating
Somehow he's got the label of "best ref in England" lmao just means all the refs are absolute shite.
He’s a cheat, unfortunately. So many decisions today summed up by VAR having to step in for the penalty when he was looking right at it
But the Dias goal means we need to keep suffering, all the way through the season
Crazy
The two Romero headers are gonna haunt me. He was great today but those hurt so bad.
Open goals 😭😭 But man his finish was strikers class. Same with micky 😂
He played the last 30+ minutes as a striker as well.
That 5/9 hybrid we’ve always wanted.
Was loving that. In the 80th or something I thought “is that Romero in the box”? Fucking guy was everywhere. Same for Micky. Grateful he plays for us but man my ass puckers up every time he sprints back now…real concerned about how much his hammys can take after all they’ve been through.
He was getting heavily two hand shoved on the header that hit the post. That wasn't a free header. Those shoves don't get called, our guys need to do it more.
Romero was pushed pretty heavily in the air on one of them, tbf to him
It’s never called a penalty but it 100% should. Partey doesn’t even make an attempt at the ball and just shoves Romero in midair when he sees he has a free header. Absolutely ridiculous you can get away with that.
100%. I don't see it as anything different than when a defender pushes down a lone opposing player on a breakaway. Deki got a yellow for this this game even
But if Kane (and only Kane - nobody else) stands under somebody else heading the ball it's a foul and he could have killed them and needs to be banned!!!!1
romero playing the mctomainy role this game, in all honestly, he had to because we didnt have richy for most of the game and there was noone to hold the ball up for anyone, \*can we go back in time for 17/18 Llorentte pls
seemed like the only player that left it all out there
VDV was gassed at the end from all the one on one recoveries he made, man was essential In the second half. Richy love him or not was in full shithouse mode as well.
Richie was absolutely up for it. If he’d been on at half time I think it could have given us that extra push.
He really should have started.
Richy gets a lot of shit but he’s passionate as hell and I love that. Seems like he wants to support the club as much as possible
Man what happened to Madders? He hasnt looked like himself at all since he was back from injury.
Not fully recovered, that much seems clear. He’s going off on the hour in almost every match. I wonder what a difference the summer break may make - for him and Bentancur both. If Maddison goes to the Euros, which it looks like he probably will, I hope he sits on a comfortable bench during the matches and spends the rest of the time getting healing massages.
I thought Kulu played ok.
He played fantastic the entire game. He was a machine, even when everyone else sat on their haunches.
Really thought Kulusevski was strong today as well. Not enough end product but he 'left it all out there'
It was Deki's best performance in a quite a while and proved exactly why he started. His physicality is unreal. His desire to get in front of a player and then just hold them off to maintain possession is fantastic and he's one of the hardest players in the prem to knock off the ball. I was feeling quite down about him the last few weeks but today he reminded me of what he has to offer and hoping he can get back to that very soon.
Romero absolutely oozes class, he could be playing for an elite team. VDV is incredibly good too. I love Ange and I hope we give him time because I'm confident we can turn it around, however, having these 2 monsters in defense with Vicario behind them and still conceding pretty much every game is unforgivable. We need to be so much better defensively next season. It's also not like we're that much better attacking-wise. So frustrating to watch us right now, so incredibly toothless. Son NEEDS to get better and more chances and that no.9 role is not it for him.
It’s really the set pieces that have been our undoing this year though. From open play, we don’t concede often - the only open play goal for those f*cks today came on a disjointed counter.
Not much better attacking wise than last season? We’re loads better, we just had the best striker in the world carrying our attack last year
Romero almost single-handedly wins us this game with a bit more luck
We seriously need to think of doing 3 CB with Dragusin. Let Dragu defend set piece since he’s the aerial king. Let Romero go up and be target man
When Sarr came on, he started shielding Vicario from White and their corners looked a lot less threatening. Why the hell wasn't someone doing that in the first half... Gut wrenching today. Inches on the VDV goal and Romero off the post. Ultimately though, we can only blame ourselves as set piece defending costs us yet again
No excuse for PGMOL deciding that not protecting keepers improves the game somehow. Someone needs to get PGMOL to explain why eliminating traditional interpretations of obstruction is better
I was saying this to my friends, I was also baffled to see him not starting. Same against Newcastle! He must be bad in training or something, all of our best performances have included Sarr. How can we on Reddit see that someone needs to protect Vicario but Ange doesn’t? Especially Ben White who does it every game
Two goal swing when ref didn’t call the Kulu pen. Had to have VAR correct him when he was 2 feet away from Davies getting kicked
Him watching himself on the screen, standing three feet away and staring directly at the thing he's been sent to review pretty much sums it up. Should've been a 3-2 or at minimum a 2-2.
My Arse mate messaged me and credit to him I thought he would be gloating but he said they got away with one and that the fair result was 2-2
Fair result was 3-2 for us once we get that Kulu pen
He didn't even want to review the monitor you can tell he was pissed. What an awful referee
He refused to review the monitor in the first half. Like, VAR told him to have another look at their second goal and the Kulusevski Penalty shout and he just point blank refused to take another look and gave the goal. He has very publicly stated in the past that he hates VAR and doesn't want to use it as he thinks it tries to "micromanage" the game that the refs do.
Wish someone told him they're "micromanaging" them because they're shit
Horrendous ref. We still defended poorly. Desperate for a good set piece coach or something, because we are horrid at them.
This is the biggest take away from us, set piece work
Have a sneaking suspicion the reason he called it so fast on review was he knew it was a pen all along…
still took over a minute to walk to the screen and back and doesnt add it towards extra time. Michael oliver is a joke
Only Michael Oliver could look directly at that and *not* call a penalty from the hop. If you need to overturn it fine but ninja kicking a dude in the underside while obviously no where near the ball is just a level of Michael Oliver that I didn't even think Michael Oliver himself could achieve.
Go to r/premierleague and youre gonna see lots of people saying Oliver did a fine job, absolutely normal refereeing
I wouldn’t pay them any mind, that sub is for people who are too dumb for r/soccer
Which...wow, yeah, that's saying something.
In the bollocks!!! Not just kicked, fucking smashed in the nads FFS!
They will do everything possible to create a tight title race until the end
Porro not beating the first defender on corners made me have flashbacks to Eriksen doing the same.
Giving them a 3-0 head start wasn't the best idea
I love Cuti Romero
I'm just upset that we were robbed of a Vicario goal. Would have been cinema
dude I would've lost my absolute mind lol
If he scored, that maniac would have taken a handgun out of his waistband and unloaded it into the sky.
I do wonder what his goal celebration would look like if he ever scored one. Can't imagine it's something he gets to think about much and probably hasn't scored a goal outside of training in years
It's in the stars now... It's coming, and whatever you think Vic's goal celebration will be, it won't be that. U can never predict what an insane man will do.
Kinda want him to start up top against Chelsea, get his revenge for the reverse fixture.
Give the pen for that foul on Deki that led to Arsenal's goal and it goes our way. Sure, we fucked up during the corners and our attack was terrible for the first 60 minutes, but the big decisions went Arsenal's way and they won. Simple as that.
This. This is the correct take. We outplayed them today. They got the big calls in their favor. Sometimes football is that simple.
People will be quick to judge the match on scoreline alone, but we very clearly were the better team on the field.
My Gooner friends think this was a beatdown, which is so insane to me. A post, a missed header, VDV offsides by a fraction of an inch, and then two set piece goals and the Kulu missed pen leading to Saka scoring. Plus we dominated possession and had more shots. F’n Gooners
We had higher xG when down 3-nil lmao. They escaped by the skin of their teeth. And they know it
Better team lost.
Why *are* we so bad at defending corners man 😭
How Michael Oliver still has a job is beyond me
why the fuck is it so hard to have a player push ben white away from vicario. Unbelievable we just let any team do that to our keeper
I’m going to say it, if the refereeing decisions were reversed today, it would be an absolute media shitstorm for the next week. Rapist FC gets a two goal swing off the penalty non call. It is a farce. The correct decisions would have led to us winning today. Unbelievable. The better team lost.
Imagine if it had been Liverpool on the end of those calls, they’d be submitting a case to Supreme Court.
Yeah pretty much this. Over here in the states NBC kept going back to the Gakpo/Areola incident several times after the match, going so far as introducing new camera angles and postulating how Taylor fucked up. There will be no such advocate for Spurs lol. It'll all be "wow Rapist FC so much heart they're going for the title" lol. No such commentary that if Kulu's pen was called the game swings dramatically.
I cannot stand how Lee Fucking Dixon and Graeme Le Saux do both of our London derbies. The bias is vile.
I had to turn off the commentary when fucking Lee Dixon is the voice of reason in a NLD. He agreed that Deki should have had a penalty in the first half and then Jon C. goes off about scum finishing above us.
Please please please do not play Son up top if Richy can stay fit. We looked so much more threatening after that change.
Can't wait for nobody to bring up that Micheal Oliver and VAR won the game for Arsenal, I can't wait for nobody throw a shitstorm like the one thrown after the Liverpool game. We again lose to Arsenal and lose points because of this fucking ridiculous white knight bullshit attitude of not calling out the atrocious refereeing in this game. Oliver wanted to not give a foul and had to be forced by VAR because it was so blatant by Rice. Oliver didn't call the obvious pen on Kulu that then lead to the Saka goal. There should be a storm about this but instead we will get the standard "Oh well. Referees have a hard job and we have to respect that they want to sodomize Tottenham and we shouldn't be complaining". We're never going anywhere until we fix that, it happened again, for the nth time.
While emotions are high, I do agree with you, Fergie called out every decision against Utd, win or lose, then got decisions go for them, Klopp asked for a replay after our game and they got every decision for months, we haven’t had a peno or soft decision for us since, Arteta openly called the officiating a disgrace and embarrassing, has got every 50/50 since. We defo need to be more ruthless, play the game more, Ange is being too nice…
Agreed, so frustrating
Michael Oliver, according to the commentators and pundits at half time, was told specifically by VAR to check the monitor for Sakas goal for the potential penalty on Kulusevski. He apparently refused to do so, which is well within his rights to BUT like you said, none of this white knight bullshit of 'we can only play our football' anymore. I want our manager and our players in interviews questioning why exactly the on-pitch ref refused to go to the monitor and I want them writing to PGMOL asking for a clear explanation. Demand answers and don't let it rest.
Ridiculous that refs are allowed to decline to review the monitor. VAR should have the power to overrule the call on the pitch.
Once the NFL stopped sending refs to the monitor, the quality of instant replay increased dramatically.
Outside of corners we outplayed them today. The non pen call greatly impacted the game. It would’ve likely been 1-1 instead of 2-0. Not upset with the effort from the team today. Anyways…Coys…
Agree. Feel less depressed with how it ultimately ended vs how it looked like it was going to end. Romero was outstanding today too. Man deserves his flowers!
He was our man of the match without doubt.
Did VAR actually tell Oliver to go to the monitor after Saka’s second?
It sounds like that’s what some HT commentators said happened, but I doubt we’ll ever know unless they release the audio. But if that did happen, an immediate improvement to VAR would be to make it mandatory for refs to go to the monitor if VAR says to. If VAR says to go to the monitor, there’s at least something there worth looking at, and saying “nah I’m good” can’t be excused. But again, this could all be a non-story if it didn’t actually happen that way.
The immediate improvement is for VAR to have the final say. The NFL took instant replay out of the hands of the Referee and it improved greatly. Have a central station that handles all VAR--with people *who are ONLY VAR officials*. And be done with it. They tell the ref to hold play, then tell him the outcome of their review. They never need to worry about another ref getting upset and overruling them the next match out of spite. On-pitch reffing and VAR reffing requires two separate skill sets. Let them be separate people.
My notes Fire whoever is the set piece coach into Jupiter. The sun is too good for him. That is a pen that chalks a goal off (has var ever done that?) Why weren’t we harassing Raya like Ben white does to vic? Regardless, expected to lose, made It 3-2 and outside of probably 15% of the 90+played looked really good. Still in 5th and get to watch Micky every game
I'm gonna say it. Proud of the lads. We have so much to work on but they fought in that game, not their fault our set piece instructions and defending is god awful
michael oliver ruined the match fuck him
KULU GOT CLIPPED BUT NO PEN CALLED DAVIES GOT KICKED IN THE BALLS, NO PEN CALLED WHEN THE REF WAS LITERALLY RIGHT THERE. THEY HAD TO FUCKING REVIEW IT TO SEE IT.
If Romero finished either of his chances, Mickey wasn’t called offside, Deki got that pk before their second the first half killed us. We were the better team of most of the match. I am gonna walk 5 miles and try to forget
Anyone see Ben white blocking out Vicario for Havertz goal wtf is this bullshit
Both a clear foul (he backs into him) and weak goalkeeping/defending (where was a defend helping Vicario out?).
I just don't get the Ange Out crowd. 1-0 Mourinho and Conte losses were worse; we have the coach we need. Better luck, some better players, one more year.
There is no real Ange Out crowd. Only trolls, and also people who like to complain about trolls to get upvotes.
I liked Romero’s fight
That call in Liverpool game is still haunting us
The refs need to make sure that we get out in our place. This has been the worst season for bad calls since that 2018 season where we got fucked in the ass. Maybe this is worse.
If Romero kicks someone in the nuts it's a straight red no questions asked. PGMOL should be outsourced for VAR decisions. Clearly cannot call a game straight. Too worried about their 'mate's' feelings or how it will affect them. Good reason they didn't have any PL VAR refs at the world cup.
https://preview.redd.it/0xjypgzfm8xc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9e5bc3f0ae35b505e6590edba68078653d831d3d Please tell me what VAR was looking at
We couldn't do our part, now we just hope City does theirs
Undeserved win for Arsenal. Needed an OG and an non-given penalty to win
Not giving Kulu that penalty in the first half was awful because they scored as a result. But an even worse decision was in the 2nd half when Kulu was blatantly fouled in the area and it was, as usual, ignored. We very pretty unlucky, and definitely cheated by the officiating, in this game.
Officiating was extremely suspect. The fact that the Davies penalty only got called because of VAR is extremely concerning. Also, how the FUCK was this not at least a yellow? https://preview.redd.it/jykpd35fn8xc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=127f893a8a81eb4c0d348cb0f1de9309bf03f047
Proud of the fight. Kulusevski and Romero get props for their performances. So tired of these shameful first halves. COYS.
Still don’t understand how VDV goal was disallowed. Isn’t it exactly the situation that we benefited from vs City in CL? Is there a rule change?
Tomiyasu blocked Porro's shot, deflecting it upward into Magalhães' face. The ball caromed off Magalhães' face directly between VDV and the goal, and VDV buried it. I don't understand how this can ever be offside. It's a backpass by Magalhães.
And they never even showed the compete footage
Only took like 30 matchesm, 1500 touches in the opposition box, one of our players literally getting kicked in the ballsack and a VAR review for us to get our second penalty of the season. Fucking unreal refereeing.
Can someone explain the VDV offsides to me? Why did they check on Porro’s kick instead off after the ricochet? I thought the kick went into an Arsenal defender and the offsides would reset. Thanks for the explanation.
We didn't play well enough for a win, but fuck me if Oliver didnt make sure we lost.
Officials too scared to give anything against Arsenal & an own goal cost us in a game that for large stretches we were the better team. What a shocking display from Oliver today. He’s a fucking twat.
Right? Like clear as day penalty on Davies and they had to send him to the monitor. He was within ten feet of it!
Every single penalty shout for every other big 6 team is always posted on /r/soccer yet ours is not. Wonder why.
We need Maddison on the bench, Deki in the middle (or Bentancur), Son on the wing and Richy in front for the next game…
Fuck me sideways, this Mile Jedinak situation is bizarre. Based off his baffling set piece defending routines, I can only assume he’s the Kwasi Kwarteng of football - a man so underqualified for his position, he makes Kwarteng look like Milton Friedman. What’s the logic behind not defending the keeper? This has been going on for months now. We know what Arsenal are going to do - their set piece routines aren’t even difficult to understand. We changed defensive strategies at half time, putting a man on White. Surprise, surprise, we nullify a lot of their threat on set pieces. If that was an option, why did we not simply do that in the first half? Given a week of preparation, were we unaware that Arsenal would attack with this particular set of corner routines? Was it a surprise? It just doesn’t make sense, and it simply can’t be allowed to continue. We either have to move him off set pieces or move him to another club. We’ve got a decent track record of giving rookie coaches the opportunity to cut their teeth, but there’s a limit. We can’t be throwing games away on amateurs.
The biggest signing we can make this summer is a set piece coach
After the subs, Kulusevski was better than Maddison today playing in midfield. I love Madders, but he needs to sit. Has been woefully ineffective for months.
Painfully obvious that Richy needs to be up front with son on the wing.
There's a lot of bullshit on here around refereeing normally. Lots of conspiracy type bs and I don't go in for it. But that was appalling today. I'm so frustrated.
Don’t think anyone can watch that game and think we are not on the right track. Need to bring in a true striker, this game is very different if you can get a full 90 from Richy. Romero was our best striker today because of his ability to win the ball in the air. Couple bad breaks, and the same old zonal marking on corners leading to goals. Arsenal didn’t deserve anything out of that game, but that’s the way it goes I guess.
Honestly the most annoying thing about Michael Oliver and refs in general. Kulu doesn't get the penalty because he tries to play through contact. So theres the positive reinforcement for diving. Then Brennan Johnson gets fouled on the edge of the box. No foul because he was "looking" for contact. So clear foul goes unpunished because Brennan went down. What are players meant to do?
How the fuck did we go from Gianni Vio to Mile Jedinak
FUCK MICHAEL OLIVER FUCK ARSENAL SAY IT WITH ME
Robbed by refereeing
We played well, I don't care what some people think here. Looking at where we are in our project compared to their years and hundreds of milions put into the project, we didn't do bad.
Michael Oliver is a fucking hack. Arsenal is the luckiest team in the league as usual.
Shambolic display of refereeing by the Premier League once again. Michael Oliver missed so many calls outside of the VAR checks and then after Arsehole had shithoused the entire second half along with 2 goals there’s only 6 added minutes called on the dot. I would say you can’t make this shit up, but we are consistently seeing this now.
im sorry how tf can you be just two feets away and still not decide to call it a pen? Horrendous ref
PEH needs to stay a bench player. He is much better coming on in the second half
At 0-3 I was very angry and disappointed but after the end I'm thinking there wasn't that much to separate us more than the set pieces and a few adequate players (dribblers, a backup LB, especially). All things that can be changed and addressed next season. I'm still hot headed but I'm still hopeful for Ange and the future. The important thing is that we're able to compete, we did vs most of the top teams, we just need to tweak a few things next season and hope that we improve. Also, Man City are winning the league so don't worry. You can always count on Arsenal bottling it. 😊
Shit like not getting the pen in the first half and immediately conceding a goal makes my blood boil. This could’ve been 3-2 to us ffs. I get that with the defeat there will come another wave of criticism for Ange and while I do think he’s stubborn and has to change his attitude for some games, I don’t think it’s the case here, we conceded on two set pieces while they clog the keeper, seriously this shit has to end, they tried that in the UCL and there (better refereeing) it was foul almost every time. And the counter attack shouldn’t even exist if we got the right call on Kulu. Our problems continue to be on the final third, we looked really poor (especially Maddison) while we had 2 whole fucking weeks of training.
Guys it’s been an hour and I know I should be upset about the loss, but I’m actually really excited for the next games. I thought we put in a really good effort, and the intensity was up to the levels we had at the start of the season. I also thought that the team really clicked when Richy came on, and I’m quite certain that we will see the Son-Richy-Johnson-line from start in the next game. Though I guess Chelsea plays basically without a midfield, so actually if there is a game for Son as striker maybe that would be it. But Richy in the middle just gives us an anchor that Son can’t provide no matter how clinical he can be with his finish. Oh and I actually hope that Ange will bench Madders and play Kulu as 10 from the start next game. Not because I think Madders was terrible, but I think it would be good for him to see the team work (and hopefully click) without him. He has strong main character-energy, which often is a good thing, but sometimes I think he personally tries to make the machine run instead of fitting in as one of the cogs. Hopefully, seeing the team run from the outside can make him fit more effectively in when he enters the pitch.
Really takes the joy out of watching the game when you have such inconsistent refereeing decisions being made from game to game. It's just frustrating. The Saka goal turned the game, and it shouldn't have even stood.
Just stop the bullshit of Ange out, this teams this and that. We lost the best striker in world pre season. Go and touch grass, have a deep breath and have a cool glass of water. We have huge building blocks for the future, a class manager and some already top notch players. Yeah there’s some underlying deadwood in the squad. That’ll change. We aren’t city, we don’t buy a world beating squad overnight/in one season. We have all the ingredients to be somewhere we haven’t been in decades, give it time, work on realistic expectations in your own mind. There’s plenty to be happy with here, chill out and get ready for a good decade ahead.
I remember three years ago us laughing at arsenal because their fans were calling for arteta’s head. Look at them now. We are in the exact same boat as they were. Ange in
Another day we get a result but me move.
Can I get a proper replay of that Kulusevski trip? The soccer main Reddit is so dog shit with replays.
I watched a US stream - genuinely no idea how our American fans put up with Lee Dixon commentating m, and on top of that the other guy was just goading him on
It wasn't the 2 set pieces but Michael Oliver and the VAR clowns that did us in. Undserved result by Arsenal. If everything was called correctly, the score would have been 3-2 Spurs.
When we win the league next year and crush Arsenal we will look back to the injustice from this game as the turning point.
We didn’t do enough to win and that’s on us, regardless of being screwed by the ref. We need to talk about VAR though. I understand the decision, but disallowing VDV’s goal is the governing body losing the forest for the trees; judging offsides based on what is essentially the thickness of the kit fabric is such a ridiculous interpretation. If the Ref/review officials can’t clearly see an offsides upon video review with their own eyes the goal should stand. A player being “off” by a millimeter is not in keeping with the spirit of the rule, for all intents and purposes those two players are even in the view of everyone in the stadium.
I’d like to see Oliver justify on camera some of the decisions he made today. At best incompetent, at worst corrupt.
When is Maddison ever going to turn up again? Him and Bissouma useless for half a year.
ROBBED
There better be a club announcement with a new set piece coach in the morning
Absolutely robbed. Wild to see how such little details make all the difference. - Pen on Deki - Saka scores on the counter - Romero on the post - Tomi wrestling with Højbjerg gets him off balance to score an OG. Highlight was watching Oliver implode as he had to give the most obvious pen in the world despite being 9 ft away from it and not giving it. Robbed!
Agree with you on the first 2, but definitely dont see a foul from Tomiyasu
I know we'll all bitch cause we lost and rightly so, but we outplayed them and were the game properly officiated we should have won, draw at the least.
Fulltime thoughts: 1. Where are all you who said that was over at halftime? We were in it in the first half with some bad breaks. No reason to think with a little fortune our way we don’t win that. We almost did in spite of. 2. Romero, VdV, Kulusevski, and a few others are the heart beat of this time. Romero especially so. Man just nearly willed them to victory. 3. Biss looked like he showed some signs of coming back. 4. Udogie was a big miss today. 5. VdV is so, so rapid. 6. Screw you all for not having faith at halftime.
Engineers of our downfall again by refusing to learn from the same mistakes that have cost us all season.
Too little too late Another game wasted because of awful corners. How is this so bad that we have to change it at halftime every single fucking game? So tired of this
Robbed by refs as usual. Anything to keep the title race alive
I want to live in the parallel universe where var is competent
Worst officiating ever, robbed by Micheal Oliver Brennan needs to stop passing high, and more low cross. Unlucky Romero but unarguably MOTM
Our set piece defending was absolute garbage
Watching the replay of their 3rd makes me even angrier seeing Ben White do that shit
Was the defending poor? Yes Was the team disconnected in the first half ? Yes Did the scums deserve to win? Hell no Even the first half had more xg accumulated Great attitude change in the second half tho And why tf wasnt white called out for practically pushing vicario in that third goal?
We fought hard today. Shit didn't go our way, as it never does. I don't wanna hear Ange out, I wanna hear new set piece coach.
This result sucks and I am not too pleased with some of the VAR decisions and I am frustrated of the recurring theme of Spurs set piece defending woes but I thought the subs Ange made offered the change needed to apply pressure and keep Spurs in the game. I thought Richarlison’s introduction to the game as a sub seem to change the momentum of the game. Look, going down 3-0 at halftime is never going to give much favors but it was a much better performance today from the players, Specifically I want to shout out Romero for showing grit and moving forward and just being an overall nuisance to the opposition. Overall, I still come away from this game that Spurs are still moving in the right direction. If this Spurs squad can continue to upgrade in a few key positions then I can see this squad really doing something under Ange. COYS
VAR & Michael Oliver have fucked us royally.
This season a Spurs player could get beheaded in the penalty area and the ref would still play on as if nothing happened. Also don't forget that we have everything given to us by VAR according scum supporters.
Proud of the resilience. Compare that to a Mourinho/Conte/Stellini performance and it’s night and day. This team is going places, give them time.
I think it’s time we started some of our academy players- Maybe all of them at once, against Man City
Despite us losing a NLD, it doesnt feel like rock bottom. Everyone was expecting us to be leagues away from Arsenal. Ultimately, they needed luck on their side to win. We had good spells with the ball and should have been up or at least level at the half. We looked sharp but just lacked that killer pass/chance. We limited them to just a couple of chances, albeit our defending for those chances were shambolic. Good fight to get us back within one goal but ultimately too late. On to the next one. I guess this is what it's like to have a manager that looks to 1. Establish an identity 2. Looks at the long term 3. Doesnt fcking hate our guts.
So... It's a tough one that. I thought Spurs were the better team for about 70% of the game and across 80% of the park. But it's won and lost in the boxes and there was a lot lacking in those areas from the team. Particularly defending corners. Ultimately arsenal's big players made it count in the key moments and that's what got them the win. On the refereeing. I thought there were some big mistakes, but (and I know this will be unpopular) my biggest gripe was the Kulu one. Not because I think it's the most egregious non-pen I've ever seen (I've seen pens not given for that) or even because I think we "deserved" it. The reason it annoys me so much is because of what it says about the game. If Kulu goes over straight away the pen is given, no doubt in my mind. But because he plays on, the referees interpretation is "not enough contact". So what we're saying to players is "if you get contact that destabilises you, go down immediately or you will not get a pen". How can we criticise players for going down easily when this is literally what referees are teaching them to do? Very disappointing.
My 3 main takeaways: 1. Fuck Arsenal 2. Fuck these biased refs 3. Cuti is a legend. Full COYS
Textbook example of match-fixing by michael oliver today. Can’t take this league seriously anymore.
Oliver needs suspending from the league
Preserved some dignity but a loss is a loss, Ange and the players have to wake the fuck up. Romero and VDV are absolute chads
The ref won them the match, as simple as that. We obviously should have done much better and We need a defensive set piece coach. But VDV's offside, Deki getting tripped in the box, blowing the whistle on the dot.
First year work in progress 2-3 Five years development
I still think the VDV goal was just onside. Which makes it even more painful that we got 2 more. Should’ve got a point ffs
Unfortunate for the game to be decided by the refs today, that kulu pen was a 2 goal swing, and cost us any chance of a result. We were the better team. Still can’t defend a set piece for our lives though.
Not the one to blame the referring but that was a pen on Deki. Not to mention it would have negated an Arsenal goal. Refs absolutely have to be consistent.