So the season is developing along the lines which many Arsenal fans expected and feared. You can’t escape the feeling that the club is lacking direction and any real long-term strategy. Wenger is doing what he does best for a few seasons now. Putting together a team which is technically excellent, a collection of players who, on their day, can compete with the best teams in England. Yet there remains a weak mentality, a lack of resolve when we are up against it and the team’s confidence can erode at a stroke. Capable of great football but just as likely to concede the softest of goals. It’s not easy being a Gooner.
But what we really don’t need is the kind of referring decisions which can ruin your New Year celebrations in a heartbeat. Step forward Mike Dean. He’s stitched us up before and you can sense the collection intake of breath from Arsenal fans every time he leads the teams out. The decision on Sunday to award a penalty against Calum Chambers in the game against West Brom was plainly wrong. It was at best incompetent and at worse, down to something more sinister. He’s been universally condemned by all (even Alan Pardew conceded it was never a penalty) and it’s difficult to defend such a bizarre decision.
Within hours of the match, social media was awash with examples of similar incidents in games where Dean has officiated. The match at the Emirates against Leicester this season saw a Leicester player direct the ball away with is hand in the area. A much stronger case for a penalty but the Dean seem to enjoy dismissing calls for a penalty. This season has been dogged by questionable officiating. The Palace v City game, also on Sunday, saw some atrocious refereeing and there seems to be a collective lack of confidence and authority from many of the top referees.
I guess the VAR (Video Assistant Referee) system will never entirely eradicate the controversy we seem to be witnessing each week. But it surely help in preventing the really farcical decisions. If the Chambers handball was reviewed on 10 occasions by a VAR, I’m confident the decision would be reversed 10 times. We aren’t going to win the league, we probably won’t challenge for a top four place but one day soon a really crass error of similar proportions will prove decisive in a title-deciding game. My money will be on one Mike Dean being the official making another disgraceful error.
Until then, I fear nothing will change. The FA appears to show no desire to discipline Dean in any way. Instead they have charged Wenger for having the temerity to demonstrate his outrage at such a diabolical decision. Work that one out for me. The game which makes billions annually around the world is being administered by a bunch of amateurs.