Captain wrote:

That's a crock of shit.

Agreed, I don't think the "analysis" of the incident is likely to reflect Dowd's actual thought process in the slightest. Post hoc central.

asajoseph wrote:

Respect is like Morality - it doesn't objectively exist, but society works a lot better when we all pretend that it does 😉

Spoken like a true Confucian. 😃

asajoseph wrote:

Anyway, generally I agree with you (re: referees) - as I said, I think they should be more accountable at a higher level, but not to individual players on match-day, or indeed on Twitter.

It's pretty simple - bad refereeing riles us because we can't see the consequences, if there are any, for the officials who are at fault (whether refs or linesmen).

On the other hand, I think the regulation of channels like Twitter is a speech issue, essentially unrelated to the sport, that should be handled unofficially by clubs. No point censoring it absolutely, but football culture should ideally tend to the detriment of players and officials who can't rein in an ill-mannered need for attention. I actually think at Arsenal this is somewhat the case.

Bismarck would be proud!

One can only imagine with mild terror an operator like Bismarck working the fabric of the modern EU :o

Absolutely. For example postulating that Dowd seen them as two yellow card offences, and that its because of this that he treated Nolan differently - then why didnt he show Diaby two yellows?

While acknowledging the second penalty probably shouldnt have been given, he's blithly ignored just how many late tackles Barton put in. The guy should have been booked four times over.

I just dont understand it, in most of the major papers there has been almost zero criticism of Dowd's performance.

It's because we're foreigners. Or 10 +Wilshere at the moment at least. I'm sure they don't cover football with the intention to favour english players but ultimately it matters. And it matters from the referee's viewpoint too. It's the same in any league really; teams with a strong national connection get a lot of advantages while the rest of them are treated arbitrary. The further to the two poles you are the bigger the difference. You could argue that there's this prevailing idea in England that foreign mass invasion of Premier League has weakened the national team too of course (and it would be a valid argument, even if the accusation at hand is false) but it's a bit beside the point. What matters is that we are being treated differently. If this had happened to England it would've gone down in folklore as the most corrupt game of football ever played.

Well we have 9+Wilshere and Walcott.

Chelsea have that regularly with Terry, Lampard and Cole. One more player. 3 English players and then a mass of foreign attackers.

Liverpool used to have just Gerrard and Carragher.

And the make up of the EPL has nothing to do with the status of the national team. We've been poor in the past with no foreigners in the land and we're poor now. Look at Portugal, the vast majority of their league is made up of Brazilians yet Portugal are no worse than England.

Walcott usually doesn't play though. He's only been a regular in the side for the last month or so, and mostly it's because of the injury to Nasri combined with a loss of form from Arshavin.

It's about reputation too of course. Since Cole left we haven't had a single player that really contributed to the national team. We used to get so much stick for showing up with a match day squad without any english players included. I'd say that the general attitude towards us has definitely improved lately though, thanks in no small part to the likes of Wilshere, Walcott and Gibbs.

Tony Montana wrote:

And the make up of the EPL has nothing to do with the status of the national team.

I probably didn't make myself clear but I completely agree.

There must have been what, half a dozen massive fifty-fifty decisions that went against us in that second half, any one of which, had it gone the other way, would have allowed us to retain our winning position?

If Wilshere does go on to become England captain - I'd give him a 50% chance at this point - here's hoping he's still an Arsenal player.

asajoseph wrote:
Burnwinter wrote:

Respect has to be earned.

That's a mantra that's dragging society into the gutter - I hate hearing that.

For me, a referee should command respect from players simply because he's wearing the black jersey. I wish they were more accountable at a higher level, but players just don't have that right.

Or a pink or gold shirt as the case may be.
How can you respect someone in a pink shirt?
We should go back to the days when refs smoked a pipe and carried a walking stick.

Am curious what Dowd said to Sagna. Bacary refused to say but said he was shocked

Granted, if referees get alot of expletive ridden abuse, I have no problems with them giving it back. Would love to see Rooney being told to f*** off by a ref next time he showers them in spit

Probably told him to fuck off when he asked for an explanation. I've got no problems with referees sticking it to abusive players either, but Sagna? He's one of the most polite and soft-spoken players around. He's like a puppy with bad hair.

somebody on another forum pulled this little tidbit from football365 somewhere.

Phil Dowd
In the four Arsenal matches he has refereed this season, the Gunners have conceded four penalties and had two players dismissed. In the other 17 top-flight games Dowd has taken charge of this term, three penalties have been awarded and five players dismissed.

Didn't notic whether it had already been referenced or not...

Hmmm.

2 months later

Ok, on a massive stats fest this morning.

What about this;

Chris Foy:- 53 yellows, 1 red shown this season in 22 games.
Phil Dowd:- 96 yellows, 8 reds shown this season in 24 games.

Presumably they are reffing to the same set of rules and Foy isn't officiating women's football and Dowd isn't reffing prison football?

Maybe Dowd is systematically getting rough teams

a year later

What about this bute!? Haha!

😆 Holy fucking shit. He was on side by the length of a cricket wicket.

18 days later

Disgusting actions on the part of FA and referees regarding Balotelli foul on Song...
No sense to it...
I guess it's a bottomless pit as to see how far the FA and the referees can sink...
Mike Riley can call up and apologize to Martinez mistakes in Chelsea game, but he can't do anything about Balotelli almost ending Song's career...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17668965

finally someone talking about how corrupt and shit the standards of premier league referees have got, they are all in alex's back pocket and need to be responsible for their decision as any other profession would. How Young got a penalty for a touch whilst kompany literally squashed robin in the box yet was never given, not to mention the thousand of other penalty shouts and offsides that no one other than united and maybe chelsea get. Not to forget that balotelli tackle. Disgrace.

SamDaGooner wrote:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17668965

finally someone talking about how corrupt and shit the standards of premier league referees have got, they are all in alex's back pocket and need to be responsible for their decision as any other profession would. How Young got a penalty for a touch whilst kompany literally squashed robin in the box yet was never given, not to mention the thousand of other penalty shouts and offsides that no one other than united and maybe chelsea get. Not to forget that balotelli tackle. Disgrace.

You sound exactly like the Liverpool tossers. If the referees are in Ferguson's pocket then why the fuck did Balotelli stay on the pitch for 89 minutes when he did enough in the first half alone to earn three red cards? And why didn't we get the stonewall penalty for that incident with Kompany when it so obviously would have benefited United?

Guys like Atkinson are retarded, not bent.