Carping about referee decisions now a weekly staple, but champions’ celebrations and complaints of Arsenal’s ‘dark arts’ a compliment
Referee Michael Oliver was the man in the fractious middle during Manchester City's home match against Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester on Sunday. Photograph: Paul Ellis/Getty ImagesSo let’s just get this out there. First up Michael Oliver, who has ties to the UAE, is appointed to referee’s biggest game of the season just days after a human who looks like Keir Starmer is seen in anbox, while the UK government is furiously back-channelling UAE trade relations.
Zoom out a little and there are two real-life problems with this stuff, the big ongoing conspiracy game beyond the game that is now a Premier League staple. First, feeling cheated is also often rooted in fact, if not always the most appealing ones. Going down this line often lets people get away with actual, solvable incompetence and stupidity.
Then of course the Premier League invited exactly this kind of fraying at the edges when it allowed governments to own its member clubs, but that’s a much longer story. Either way, a pretty good rule here is always, always, when it comes to football governance, go with incompetence first. Do you think these people could actually organise an international conspiracy without ballsing that up too?
Arsenal came to Manchester with 11 clean sheets in their last 14 Premier League games. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA Defending is also one part of the game where Arsenal are currently better than City. They came to Manchester with 11 clean sheets in their last 14 Premier League games. Why would anyone not play to that strength? This was a logical approach from Arteta.
Manchester-City Arsenal Pep-Guardiola Mikel-Arteta
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
John Stones rescues Manchester City with late equaliser against 10-man ArsenalLeandro Trossard was sent off in the first half with Gunners in the lead and they almost hung on
Read more »
Eamon Dunphy column: Arsenal know that they have Manchester City's measureA good referee should be invisible. You should forget he's there. With Michael Oliver, that is definitely never the case. What should have been a classic game came close to farce at times, and the referee was a big reason why that was happening.
Read more »
Sven-Göran Eriksson left a lasting impression on Ireland internationalEriksson, then the Leicester City boss, signed Greg Cunningham on loan from Manchester City
Read more »
Arsenal sign €34 million 'winner' Merino as Cancelo leaves City for SaudiMikel Arteta delighted with signing of Spain international from Real Sociedad.
Read more »
Whoever wins Sunday showdown between City and Arsenal, Premier League may be the real loserNow that the financial charges against Manchester City are a thing, it might be harder to keep fans focused on the football
Read more »
Martin Odegaard set to miss Arsenal's key league meetings with Man City and SpursThe latest sports news from The42.ie in 60 seconds
Read more »