I don’t get involved much with the referee slating you get here. But apparently Paul Tierney has been appointed as the referee for the North London derby. The bad news is Arsenal have only won two of the last eight games he’s refereed us for. The good news is Tottenham have won only one of the last thirteen games he’s refereed them for.

Mike Dean on VAR for the NLD. Dean's only retiring from on field duties. Martin Atkinson and Jon Moss are to retire with Dean.

As to Tierney....

He is more prone to flash red cards in the direction of the Gunners. Two have been shown to Arteta's side since the start of 2020 while Spurs have not had any from the 41-year-old.

Tierney was the ref who failed to send off Harry Kane for an awful tackle on Robertson in the game v Liverpool. Also refused a nailed on penalty for a push on Jota in the same game.

If we have to suffer more Mike Dean on VAR and the upside is removing Jon Moss from the game altogether it is a price well worth paying

They are all a walking disaster zone.

I’m unable to gauge any sense of effectiveness and which ref is worse than another anymore

I always used to hate Paul Durkin for example and Mike Riley who was just incompetent (how can he be in charge! ) however I actually found David Elleray quite fair back in the day.

Now nope. They all are horrible and any football match can go anywhere with them in charge

Tierney was the ref who failed to send off Harry Kane for an awful tackle on Robertson in the game v Liverpool. Also refused a nailed on penalty for a push on Jota in the same game.

If we have to suffer more Mike Dean on VAR and the upside is removing Jon Moss from the game altogether it is a price well worth paying

Hi Rich,

Hopefully, Mike Dean won't be near VAR end of season when he retires from on pitch duties.

...I've often wondered why the VAR studios are at Stockley Park in West London. There are no PL Refs from London and only 1 or 2 from South of Brum. The vast majority of PL Refs are from the North. In the interest of efficiency, it'd make more sense to for the VAR base to be next to Old Trafford or Anfield - that'd mean walking or cycling distance for a fair few VAR Refs.

I think all PL Refs are pre-qualified to serve as VAR Refs. Pays well too, I bet. Why wouldn't he?

I've often wondered why the VAR studios are at Stockley Park in West London. There are no PL Refs from London and only 1 or 2 from South of Brum. The vast majority of PL Refs are from the North. In the interest of efficiency, it'd make more sense to for the VAR base to be next to Old Trafford or Anfield - that'd mean walking or cycling distance for a fair few VAR Refs.

Beth Meeeeeeeead.

BBC 2

Finished 3-0. Need Chelsea Women to drop points against Manchester United and us to beat West Ham to win the league.

If Chelsea lost then I assume that if Arsenal drew then Arsenal would win on goal difference. All a bit unlikely though.

What is it with Man City in the champions league? They can be the best team, clear favourites, even play well but somehow they find a way to get knocked out when it really matters.
Spurs, Lyon, Chelsea in the final, 4 minutes to survive with a 2 goal lead tonight v Madrid.
They’re not out yet but they choke in this competition too often

I can feel the pain of the City players. 2 up with only minutes to play, and they eventually lose. The defence must be kicking themselves for switching off during this time, not once, but twice. And that wasn't a penalty. He got the ball first. Guess RM is like Utd in EPL, they get the calls they want.

I'm sure City will get Haaland this summer but right now they must be regretting not going all out for Kane and spending £100m on a player they didn't really need in Grealish. In the past 3-4 years City have actually been very good in the transfer market, not so many expensive mistakes that littered the earlier years of their new money, but Grealish looks a tad wasteful and a player who thrives as being the go to man in a smaller team (possibly similar to Zaha in some respects)

2002 Vintage Bobby
https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=363264635758894

My love affair with Arsenal because my dad and I stood on the North bank. Amazing experience

However I have to agree with you, these days it’s different. what’s the point. If the tickets carry the same price ? Really?

Does it allow us to expand the capacity of the ground ? No it actually reduces the capacity!

What’s the point. Why do it honestly

I can feel the pain of the City players. 2 up with only minutes to play, and they eventually lose. The defence must be kicking themselves for switching off during this time, not once, but twice. And that wasn't a penalty. He got the ball first. Guess RM is like Utd in EPL, they get the calls they want.

The Athletic have done a piece on Arsenal captaincy and how when Aubameyang was captain it was Xhaka that the players looked to, it was Bellerin who was the players rep at the PFA and it was Leno who fulfilled many of the 'admin' tasks usually handled by captains. To be fair I've only seen the headlines and not read the full article and who knows what is really the truth but it does lead on to the captaincy for next year. All our 3 in midfield are captains for their country. My vote goes to Ødegaard. I think Xhaka naturally leads anyway and he is doing just fine without the armband

I don’t feel their pain at all. They checked in to the good ship petrosmeg, have unlimited dollars to spend on players and couldn’t hold a 2 goal lead with minutes remaining. Lol

And I think RM may have a better chance of turning over Liverpool which would be a double bonus.

I don't feel their pain either. Bollocks to them.

I don't feel their pain either. Bollocks to them.

Absolute scenes at Ibrox. Rangers Frankfurt Europa final. Brilliant for Rangers. They’re celebrating as if they’ve won it though, which as we know is a heinous crime…

West Ham knocked out tonight, perhaps their players were knackered after Moyes decided to play most of his first choice against us in the league (and we beat them anyway) - very strange squad management for their biggest game in years.

West Ham's league position is such that they are battling for Europa or Europa conference league they ad such a tiny, tiny chance of still making CL via their league when they played us. Surely they had to go for broke to win the Europa, especially when you consider some of the very big names that have been in the latter stages of Europa recently, with all due respect to the final 4 this year, it was quite weak in comparison to the previous 4-5 years

Cresswell was sent off after 20 minutes when the tie was very much in the balance. That changed it completely. Moyes has done an absolutely brilliant job since he came back to West Ham.