Arsenal(FA Cup Semi Final) Post Match Thread

nellyonthewing said:
Well despite the naysayers on here the essence of your point is that Pep's arrogance is such that he would sacrifice the desire of the fans to win a trophy in order to validate his own judgements. I don't disagree with this hypotheses and am sure Mourinho ,and maybe Mancini ?? would probably do the same. These guys have super ego's and with the exception of Roberto do not connect with fans. Its all about them.
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Mancini mentioned.....check pmsl.

As for you agreeing with what that poster has just written?

Christ on a fucking bike!
 
It is fair to say Pep will do it his way.

His way was for whatever reason to replace JH with Bravo. Even Pep has had to give his choice time on the bench to at least get stability in the penalty area and probably regain some confidence in Bravo.
Pep sees in Bravo something we as fans have yet to discover and I doubt it is because his overall form at City is typical. Frankly up to now Bravo has let Pep down and left Pep nowhere to go except with a second string goalie. I doubt he knew Bravo is currently unable to hack it at PL level but he is unlikely to change the process of going back to JH.

Incidentally, was Bravo so bad on Sunday or are we constantly looking for something to criticise ? I certainly do not blame his selection for our defeat and there are far more likely suspects if blame allocation is the name of the game.
 
Blueside said:
I disagree entirely with this I'm afraid. First of all, we wouldn't need to score 3 or 4 goals per game if we had an actual goal 'keeper' in nets (witness Joe Hart versus Lionel Messi from a few years ago). And secondly, when it comes to the referee, one thing we can say is that he is never going to be on 'our' side - that is a fact. He might be bent, straight, competent, incompetent but never is he there to help us or assist us. At the very minimum that is an 'agenda' that is not in our favour, and some of us think there might be even more to the 'agenda' than even that. We must work around that problem (as Roberto Mancini evidently discovered) - don't dive in inside the box or you are giving the referee a chance to award a penalty (Fernandinho at Chelsea), don't retaliate in front of an official by nodding your head into the opponents head as you are giving a chance for the referee to send you off (Nasri - plenty of times etc), don't commit two yellow card offences in succession (however minor) because you are giving the referee the chance to send you off (Gareth Barry plenty of times etc). And always play your strongest side, that preferably gives no hope to the opposition.

This is how it is.

The only thing we can say for certain is that our manager is supposed to be on our side. That is a fact. However, it could be that Pep has had an agenda all of his own, and one which transcends whatever the referee might be up to and which we (the fans, and possibly the club) are looking for. When Roberto Mancini brought Tevez back he did it for one reason, to help us win a trophy no matter the cost (to his reputation): every other manager we have had from Allison to Reid to Royle to Keegan would not have done that for us.

Its the same with Pep and the Bravo situation; from my (angry) perspective, Pep was more interested in winning the cup with Bravo to prove a point, than he was in winning it purely for us, the fans. This was the risk he was prepared to take on Sunday, which is why he filtered Bravo back into the side in recent matches, for no other valid reason. For Pep, winning the cup without Bravo would be a damning indictment of everything he has stood for this year and it simply wasn't worth the risk to his reputation. This might sound harsh but I've seen it before with too many city managers, to know that it happens: ask yourself why Peter Reid sold both Clive Allen and Colin Hendry if you doubt me. If you still doubt me, look up the Revie 'plan' from the 1956 FA Cup final (aka Spurdle's Boils) to see how close to the wire these decisions actually get. We are talking FA Cup final 1956. We are talking Denis Tueart dropped for the FA Cup final replay in 1981.

So why worry about the referee, when you can't even be certain about the agenda of your own manager?

Here is how it happened. Joe Hart got dropped and loaned out for no good reason. We trusted Pep that his replacement was going to be a significant improvement (benefit of the doubt and all that), we found out eventually that he wasn't, via the most damning set of statistics you could ever, and I mean ever, encounter. Pep had to respond by switching keepers just to take the heat out of the situation for a few games. Cabellero comes in and does a good job, but then gets dropped for no reason: the plan for which, evidently, was for Pep to bring back Bravo for the cup again, despite all the odds and all the statistics.

On Sunday, we went out of the cup because for seemingly the millionth time this season, the only two shots on goal went right through the keeper like he wasn't there: was anyone here surprised? I doubt it, and so it wasn't like we haven't been warned.

I cannot blame the referee for the fact that over 120 minutes, enough water slopped over our prow to sink the ship - maybe the ref was there with a ladle in his hand. I am much more concerned though with the hole that someone evidently decided to drill in the bottom of our hull before a ball was even kicked; that's the worry.

I'm glad I'm not running this club because for certain we have a manager that is out of anyone's control: good luck with that - it will be needed.
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A very long post to say I don't like Pep because he ditched Joe Hart. The only thing I can agree with you is, that you are glad your not running the club
 
IT is an interesting and thoughtful blog but it dismisses the "out of play" cross too lightly - it is in fact proof of the dictum that "disallowed goals change (decide?) games." We are once again forced to consider how different our perceptions of Pep and City would be if so many referees hadn't had "disappointing" seasons, as Pep and City are supposed to have had! Conte might actually have been complaining that it's the club's which spend athe most.....
 
Lost for words. So angry.

1. Is Pep trying to prove he knows something nobody else does? See Malcolm Allison.
When your top two strikers are off the field....put KdB up front. I expect Kalechi enjoyed the trip and will do the biz for Everton next year after we get 2p for him.
2. Where is the spirit, the commitment?
3. Where is the fitness?
4. Where is the bottle in big games?

Next year, after a spending spree, it is crunch time for Pep, he must..
1.Find a way of playing that suits the team and stick to it. No clever clever switching of personnel or formation.
2.Give the players some hair drying treatment...WAKE THE FUCK UP.
3. Give at least one youngster 20 mins whenever possible, pour encourager les autres.

So disappointing, so worrying, so do something, Pep.
 
BluessinceHydeRoad said:
IT is an interesting and thoughtful blog but it dismisses the "out of play" cross too lightly - it is in fact proof of the dictum that "disallowed goals change (decide?) games." We are once again forced to consider how different our perceptions of Pep and City would be if so many referees hadn't had "disappointing" seasons, as Pep and City are supposed to have had! Conte might actually have been complaining that it's the club's which spend athe most.....
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Hi BSHR,

Another reference to the France v Spain video reffed friendly a couple of weeks ago saw a goal originally given by the match ref simply overruled by the video ref because of offside.
The game was simply stopped by the video ref and the offside given and the goal cancelled.
Unlike the rugby method there is no need for the match ref to ask for video clarification the video ref simply stopped the game.

If in use last sunday our goal would have counted when seen by the video ref even though the ground based officials seemed certain they were correct.
 
SilverFox2 said:
Hi BSHR,

Another reference to the France v Spain video reffed friendly a couple of weeks ago saw a goal originally given by the match ref simply overruled by the video ref because of offside.
The game was simply stopped by the video ref and the offside given and the goal cancelled.
Unlike the rugby method there is no need for the match ref to ask for video clarification the video ref simply stopped the game.

If in use last sunday our goal would have counted when seen by the video ref even though the ground based officials seemed certain they were correct.
Click to expand...

I agree that the France v Spain match showed what enormous benefits video refereeing CAN bring to the game. My only reservation is that the video process has to be in the hands of competent AND impartial officials - we would have fared no better on Sunday had the official in the video room come from the same magic circle of officials given our "big games" this season.
 
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