Yep, rugby league is much bigger in Australia than rugby (not that I know anything much about either sport). That result for the NZ rugby league team was incredible.

I don’t think he was ‘very very lucky’ I can’t think of any player who has been sent off for that sort of tackle when they haven’t made contact with the lead foot. It looks a strong tackle but the only contacts is the trail leg. These get people worked up but they’re only even given as yellows.

I agree Havertz has been underwhelming but using this as the game to beat him with isn’t right as it was actually one of his better games. I also agree that it hasn’t looked like a good deal so far, but why is Arteta’s poor (so far) transfer him trying to be clever or a vanity project, rather than just poor talent spotting?

There is something about Arteta that rubs people up the wrong way and I struggle to see what it is beyond what every other manager does or says?

I would suggest you follow Gary Neville on Twitter, he posts more about Arsenal and Arteta than any team or anyone. Neville made an attack on Nicolas Jocer today saying he was shouting at Trossard on our set pieces and saying he was behaving like he was the manager, and then said that any poor set piece Trossard put in was because he’d been put off by Jover shouting instructions to him. He is just very strange in his Arsenal and Arteta criticism and it’s not new. He declared he couldn’t see the strategy when we signed under 23 versatile players with prem experience and an English core. He also said top 4 was as high as Arteta can go with Arsenal 2 years ago.

I think Arteta’s outburst is far more than just the Newcastle game. He spoke about having tried continuous dialogue with PGMOL and this felt like the straw that broke the camels back. If you look back at some controversial decisions we’ve had Arteta has actually been very restrained in criticising officials, he more often takes the blame himself etc.
I think this was breaking point for him.

I rant on about officials and have for years, and do feel we’ve had far, far more go against us than for us. People who argue against this and say I’d only see the ones that go against us never seem to be able to show the multiple examples where we’ve had a game go in our favour because of a goal, penalty or red card (the 3 things var reviews). I read independent reviews of all the big controversial decisions each weekend and ones that go for us are virtually non existent.

https://x.com/talkSPORT/status/1721485001886175733?s=20

Support for Arteta from Martin O'Neill

Lascelles has hit out at Jorginho for not shaking his hand at the end of the game. This country (and its usually with managers) have a weird obsession with shaking hands. I get it, the mentality is what goes on the pitch stays there and you shake hands no matter what as that's sportmanship - but when you've played a team who have displayed zero sportmanship all game including punching you in the head and barging you from behind completely off the ball it would be pretty hard to then suddenly shake the hand of the captain of the team now trying to be the bigger man.

I saw our approach this year as like a high wire act, we're purposely ensuring a lot of games are tight and close - which leaves us vulnerable to anything happening for us to lose the game.

Funny that when we complained that Cédric’s push on Son in that crucial NLD for champions league was soft we were told it was a clear push and foul and to stop moaning. Now we’re told two hands in the back of the defender is no problem, the defender needs to be stronger and to stop moaning.
The only thing consistent is people lining up to tell you to accept any decision that goes against you without any sense of consistency.

I cannot wait for some more terrible decisions to decide big matches against the teams the high profile pundits support. They will come because the refs in this league are a disgrace

Having thought about it, I think the decision to not send Bruno off is a worse mistake than the Diaz non goal for Liverpool. In that instance var made the right decision but it was a 1 in a million piece of miscommunication. For Bruno, they saw the incident and decided to deliberately ignore the rules to keep him on the field of play. There was nothing deliberately wrong with the Diaz one, just a monumental mistake. For Bruno they will fully ignored the rules or at best decided not to apply the rules because of external circumstances. It is the clearest red card all season.

The irony is Bruno was on 4 yellows coming in to the game and was desperate to get his 5th to be suspended for Bournemouth rather than the Chelsea and Man U games, and so negligent was the ref in carding him he had to get more and more wild in his attempts to get carded!

This is why Arsenal fans go mad at officials. This was at home to Brighton 2 seasons ago. Goal was given and there was no decent enough angle to prove where the foot of the defender in front of the gk was (Cucurella’s foot) so there was no way for certain to know if Martinelli was offside even though he might have ‘looked’ offside. But in this instance lines were basically guessed to show offside. Today we’re told if there is no conclusive evidence then you go with the onfield decision.

Time and time again we are the ones shafted by decisions that do not get repeated for any team ever.

Spurs playing really well against Chelsea. Chelsea not getting near to them they need to put a tackle or two in. They’re lack rabbits in the headlights at the moment.

Son playing really well as a 9, but people forget that Ange initial plan wasn’t to pick Son as the striker as he played Richarlison up front for the first 3 games

Udogie with a classic 2 footer, Sterling sees it coming and gets out of the way so Udogie ends up winning the ball but it is a straight red for that kind of tackle. What is var thinking with that?

It’s all happening. Sterling equalises but ruled out for handball. Don’t like the rule but it’s at least a clear rule so correct to rule it out.

But Romero has kicked out off the ball. Should be a straight red for him….let’s see what var says

Michael Oliver is totally losing control of this game.

I mean come on now. This is getting ridiculous. This is the absolute classic two footed red card - it’s textbook

Yesterday right on here people said if you didn’t get the opposing player it was not a red

Looking at the Romero kick out again, it wasn’t hugely aggressive but if you kick out like that you run the risk of a red card. And this is where narrative comes in. If Romero goes for that he can have no complaints, if the ref had given it it wouldn’t have been over turned and Romero would rightly be getting pelters

This game is ridiculous

Chelsea score again, ruled out for offside for blocking the gk.

Before that Romero went right through on a chelsea players shin in the box, could easily be a red and a penalty

The tv experts are a joke.

At last Var get one right. Romero is wild all the time he plays there is no need for his follow through, if you’ve played the game you know he’s seen an opportunity to win the ball and leave something on the player. It’s high on the shin, with studs and it’s a straight red

Explain to me what is happening. Oliver let these type of fouls go and not call them at all. Oliver should be demoted.

Spurs should be down to 9. Udogie’s tackle was a lot worse that Romero’s. Romero’s was a red no doubt based on what we’ve seen previously. Romero’s kick out off the ball before was silly and could have been a red but maybe on balance a yellow was ok

He’s lost control - should have sent Udogie off. When he didn’t and Chelsea felt aggrieved it flipped the switch on the match.

So the count now is
1 good goal each
1 spurs goal ruled out for offside (tight but right)
3 chelsea goals ruled out for handball (correct) and 2 for offside, 1 clear cut and one tight one for blocking the gk view as the ball went through his legs
Udogie deserved a straight red for a textbook 2 footer
Romero kicked out and survived a var review
Romero then followed through in the box with studs to the shin and it was given as a red and a penalty

I think that’s about it. Must get about 15 mins of added time with the amount of var reviews we’ve had here

Postacoglu yellow carded for dissent.

Oooh this isn’t good for spurs, Romero with a 3 game ban, now van der ven has pulled his hamstring

First I have heard about this substitution rule and the restrictions. My god they do nothing simply the adminstrators.

Twitter is quite fun in games like this.the usually respected Patrick Barclay is seething at the decisions against spurs here, unsure why, he’s adamant Romero’s red card wasn’t a red and wasn’t even a foul, and he thinks Son’s goal ruled out for offside was perfectly ok….they literally drew the lines and he was off

Now a check for a Rees James elbow on Udogie. They’re both leaping for the ball and James arm comes across Udogi’s face, not pretty but not a red, Neville on comms suggests it’s exactly the same as Bruno Guimaraes one! Haha. At lest James challenged for the ball

So if the PGMOL re review the Udogie 2 footer and decide a red card would have been the right decision why shouldn’t he get a retrospective 3 game ban?
This is what the old system used to be, missed on the pitch so reviewed after and post match bans given. Why should that change just because the correct decision is missed twice on the pitch

Because they could do the same for Havertz.

Now let’s see if we see the same consistency of decision making in our games. Follow thru in penalty area is a penalty and send off. They can’t even see a clear push in the back. I won’t hold my breathe

Spurs down to 9, Udogie goes about 30 minutes after he should have gone.

Why wasn’t Reece James booked for a deliberate handball there

Very different challenges. You must see that. Two feet off the ground head on to the player, vs one footed that was never going to make contact and caught with the follow through.

The excuse given for Udogie is he doesn’t catch Sterling with his 2 footer, because Sterling got out of the way for fear of having his legs broken.

The level of danger in the two tackles are so different. Havertz tackle was naughty no doubt but genuine two footers are in a different league

Can’t take your eyes off this. Spurs with 9 men have their back line so high and can’t put pressure on the ball. This really should be so so easy for Chelsea to time a few runs from deep and play simple passes through or over them. Chelsea have no idea how to play this

Spurs with 9 men played a high line 40 yards from goal, and because they had 9 they could not put any pressure on the ball. Chelsea have 3 attackers who are all rapid and faster than any spurs defender.

Surely the only sensible tactic playing 9v11 is sit in your own box and hope for a break and win free kicks and maybe nick something from a set piece.

Postacoglu has made a massive blunder here. I wonder if he continues with this high line without his two pacy defenders for the next 3 games

Spurs 1-3 Chelsea. Chelsea are going to win away at the league leaders and top 6 rival and the talk will be how absolutely awful chelsea have been

I’ll call it now before the full reports in the morning….the press will be even more in love with spurs after this result.
They could take the view that spurs were ridiculously indisciplined, Romero could have gone twice over, Udogie put in the worst tackle in the league this season and somehow stayed on the pitch before he stupidly got himself sent off later on, then Postacoglu played tactical suicide which was only even vaguely working for a while because Chelsea were so awful. That high line was the single worst tactic spurs could have done if they wanted to take anything from that game. They had chances due to Chelsea’s incompetence, that they didn’t lose 8-1 was down to Chelsea’s incompetence.

But the love in tomorrow will be unbearable. Imagine if we’d just put that result and performance in against Chelsea….