Referees have cost Arsenal the English Premier League season – Part 1
When many of the Arsenal supporters see this headline, they will no doubt feel that I’m trying to shift the blame for Arsenal’s poor showing this season from the manager and the squad to bad luck and poor refereeing decisions.
However, I believe that I stake a legitimate assertion when I say that referees have had a large role to play in the outcome of the Premier League title race and the end of a sixth year without silverware for the Gunners.
With just one game left to play in the Premier League before we head into the summer transfer break, Arsenal have seen their season collapse since January and are now seeing the possibility of a fourth placed finish and a potential Champions League play-off.
There is not a bit of doubt over the fact that the Arsenal manager has been very rigid and predictable in his tactical approach to the game and the squad has been lacking depth and the players some leadership. A lot of players have had a poor season, notably
the little Russian Andrey Arshavin who is now rumoured on an Emirates exit.
Arsene Wenger has come under a lot of criticism and fire more than half of which is substantiated but the rest is just over the limit. Yes it will be unfair if only the referees are blamed for Arsenal’s poor showing because of the fact that Arsenal has lacked
the killer instincts in front of goal that has seen them manage draws against teams like West Brom, Blackburn and Sunderland.
That said, it does not however shift all of the blame onto the manager and the players. Referees have also had a major role in the poor showing of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Arsenal-c38429 in this campaign; blunders which have caused Arsenal a great deal of damage.
Had the referees not made scathing blunders, Arsenal would not have won the title but would have been in a more comfortable second most probably and not facing a potential European play-off. In the Champions League no wonder they might have gone onto the
final itself. The referee did cost them the tie against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604 at Nou Camp.
A lot of people out there will point out the fact that each and every team that plays football does go to a great deal of misfortune sometime along their time at the hands of wrong refereeing decisions, but it is a widely accepted fact that Arsenal have
gone to the highest amount of misfortune, be it disallowed goals, penalties not given, harsh red cards, or harshly awarded goals against them. Arsenal has faced it all and not on one but numerous occasions, more so that the players are now wishing their luck
holds out.
The comparison being on the fact that although the other clubs have questionable calls made against them, they also get their fair share of questionable calls that favour them. Arsenal on the other hand have rarely ever had calls in their favour that have
helped Arsenal clinch victory but on the other hand have had to face a lot of calls that went outright against them and changed the complexion of the match in favour of the opposition.
Article continued in Part 2 of Referees have cost Arsenal the English Premier League season
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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