NEW YEARS DAY 2022 and it is my then eight year old son's first trip to The Arsenal.
A Red Letter day in the Hamilton household and one we will always remember.
Henry is excited, but I start the journey with some trepidation as we face Man City.
We avoid my usual pre-match ritual of a visit to the pub and instead take some photos of murals – Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith-Rowe – visit the club shop and enjoy an expensive pizza and Prime.
We take our seats in the front row of the top tier of the North Bank, where we have an unobstructed view of the pitch – and I remind Henry how formidably City are trying to temper his expectations.
But as the match progresses, Arsenal fizz with the ball, the crowd starts to believe it and we all start to 'trust the process' implemented by our then relatively new manager, Mikel Arteta.
Saka – who we had previously seen gracing a wall near the ground – drags us to a first-half lead, Gabriel Martinelli is electric and the energetic and inventive Martin Odegaard is the choir director.
The atmosphere is crackling, even in the posh seats, and Henry turns to me and says: “Arsenal are doing so well.”
But half time arrives, the referees intervene and City turns the tide in the second half.
They get a completely undeserved penalty, Martinelli hits the crossbar and every decision seems to be going against us.
FOOTBALL FREE BETTS AND SIGN UP DEALS
At some point I think City midfielder Bernardo Silva is adjusting the play, not Stuart Attwell.
The crowd turns on Attwell and the North Bank upper (and lower) suggest he is unfit to referee.
“How much are they paying you?” the roaring Gooners ask and I look around with pride and see Henry joining in.
Then Gabriel Jesus – who I still haven't fully forgiven – goes down with ease under the outstretched leg of his Brazilian namesake in City's half.
Attwell buys it and sends off Arsenal centre-back Gabriel, who was already booked.
Arsenal have had an apparent penalty shout rejected after a lengthy VAR check. How they gave City but not Arsenal is beyond us.
Rodri scores an injury-time winner and Arsenal are robbed.
We leave the ground desolate.
Fast forward three years and a few days and Arsenal travel to Brighton for the televised kick-off on Saturday January 4 at 5.30pm.
As the team sheets display on the screen, one name jumps out at me. Anthony Taylor.
The same referee whose actions had actually allowed Virgil van Dijk to attack Kai Havertz in the Emirates earlier this season. Taylor then ruled out what seemed to many a legitimate goal that would have given Arsenal a 3-2 victory against Liverpool in the dying moments.
I go to a WhatsApp family group and point out that we are “in trouble” with his actions.
But despite Taylor controlling the game, allowing Estupinan to foul Nwaneri and then kick the ball away, preventing the free kick from being taken; allowing a Brighton player to attack Merino (with the referee admonishing the Arsenal bench for daring to stand up); and then booking Nwaneri for taking 'too long' to take a corner, giving Arsenal the lead.
Nwaneri is sent off at the break after getting into trouble, as happens every match with Saka, for whom he is the substitute.
And then it happens.
The most 'bizarre' and incomprehensible penalty I have seen against us in over forty years of watching the Gunners.
Taylor signals a foul from Saliba on Pedro, who looks as if he has been taught by Tom Daley with his reaction.
Saliba has actually headed the ball and there is minimal contact once the ball has already been cleared.
Nevertheless, Taylor scores, the VAR 'confirms' it within three seconds and Brighton scores.
In the same game, both Trossard and Gabriel are brought down in the Brighton box.
Taylor responds to both incidents with the hand gesture “coming together/acceptable contact.” Arteta says he has “never seen anything like it”.
And between these matches?
Well, Arsenal have constantly broken new ground.
The only team I can remember where a player was sent off (Martinelli at Wolves) for two yellow cards in the same passage of play – the equivalent of getting two speeding tickets 30 yards apart on the same street.
The ridiculous spectacle of Newcastle scoring a winner against Arsenal from a move where the ball looked clearly out of play and there appeared to be both a foul and offside before Anthony Gordon turned the ball home.
The sight of Tomiyasu being sent off, after being shown a yellow card for taking a throw-in too slowly and flying past a Palace player at Selhurst Park.
Kane (who thankfully left) and Son go down easily and go to penalties in almost every North London derby.
A 1-1 draw against Brentford when VAR 'forgot to draw the lines' to check the Bees' offside goal.
A final 'equalizer' at Villa Park was ruled out for no reason last season.
Michael Oliver decided not to send Kovacic off for what appeared to be a blatant foul right in front of him as he was booked for Man City at the Emirates.
Refs boss Howard Webb then came out to explain that Oliver “didn't want to ruin the flow of the game”.
The same referee, Oliver, then sent Trossard off with a yellow card for kicking a ball away a split second after blowing the whistle when Arsenal played City this season.
Trossard was breaking up an attack and may not have heard the whistle in a full stadium.
What happened to the flow of the game? It was destroyed.
Ten-man Arsenal resorted to defending their goal like the Alamo.
And of course, Arsenal were the first – and only – team to have a player (now two) sent off for allegedly delaying a free kick.
Brighton's kick was deep in Arsenal's half and Rice was moving back as the ball was kicked to him.
He shot him about two meters away before Veltman dropped him with a kick that wouldn't have looked out of place in a Muay Thai gym.
Any reasonable person who watched the incident would have expected Veltman to be sent off the field.
But no, it was rice.
Chris Kavanagh told Rice he had “left me no choice”.
Yet the same referee was sent to the monitor by VAR after Man City scored a controversial late winner at Wolves just weeks later.
Bernardo Silva looked for all the world to block the Wolves keeper as Stones scored. Kavanagh studied the monitor and awarded the goal.
Weeks after Trossard's posting to City, Arsenal traveled to Bournemouth.
The Gunners were not playing well but it was 0-0 when Saliba pulled back the breaking Evanilson just outside the center circle.
Evanilson did not have the ball under control, goalkeeper Raya advanced and right back Ben White covered.
Ref. Rob Jones was standing a few meters away with a clear view – and in my opinion rightly got a yellow card.
But VAR intervened and Jarred Gillett suggested upgrading the color to red.
Was it an incident that the referee did not see? Obviously not.
Was it a 'clear and obvious' mistake? Obviously not.
Was it open to interpretation, and a situation where the decision on the pitch is usually respected? Obviously yes.
While pundits – including Gary Lineker – agreed last weekend that Taylor 'got it wrong' at Brighton, a video showing unpunished fouls on Arsenal players circulated online.
They include the Veltman attack on Rice, an Everton player stomping on Takehiro Tomiyasu and a Wolves player choking Kai Havertz.
Newcastle's Bruno Guimaraes appears to elbow Jorginho in the back of the head, while Van Dijk, who twice kicks out at Havertz, also makes the cut.
Saka also appears to be kicked into the air two meters from the referee against Crystal Palace.
On the Guimaraes elbow – apparently not seen by VAR – Man Utd legend Gary Neville, who is not known for his love of Arsenal, calls it “not good” and an “intentional elbow”.
The commentator notes that Saka was unable to continue after being attacked.
An Arsenal fan page put it together, you'd think.
No, it's on Villa Verse, with the poster referring to the hard knockout of their Colombian striker Jhon Duran at Newcastle.
“I hate siding with Arsenal fans,” the page says.
“But mentally, none of these received the same punishment as Duran's.” Totally my thoughts.
Arsenal are not the only 'wronged' team. Wolves come to mind, especially under the hapless Gary O'Neil, and West Ham, as did Spurs against Newcastle on Saturday (again) – but it's been happening on a consistent basis over the last few years.
It has cost the Gunners points – at least nine this season in my opinion – with Liverpool and City also gaining a point each from decisions against us.
Referees have always been wrong, but with VAR reviewing decisions there is now no excuse – and yet it is happening with alarming frequency. And without consequences.
And which teams look to benefit most against Arsenal? Title rivals Man City and Liverpool and Arsenal's next opponents, Newcastle.
My conclusions, dear reader?
It may be time to spend time and energy on sports that are fun and relaxing to watch, such as darts.
Comments