AD-Free Episode 540 - Men In Dodgy Vans

Absolutely spot on on Tomi Clive. Bravo, so well said 👏🏾

Paul's on the money r.e. the martinelli miss. An underrated reason why football seems easier on TV imo is framerate. Most TV broadcasts are only at 24fps - hard to appreciate the pace in that regard.

The Tomiyasu signing is a masterstroke. It's been such a joy to watch him completely boss his zone and his role in the team. Honestly, seeing the stability he has provided on that side is my favourite thing about this season. Obviously our eyes tend to be drawn more towards the attackers and intricate midfield play, but just seeing a defender defend so brilliantly for Arsenal makes me so happy.

Sagar Patel

As someone from Milwaukee, I can confirm Elliot’s report

I love you Clive! You described the feeling i had throughout the game so well

As someone who lives in a van, I feel attacked - and I haven’t even listened to the pod yet. I’d also like to put it out there that ESR’s goal-scoring drought is a real concern and we should move him on in Jan if we can.

Re refereeing issue, here’s an idea. Teams could be offered a joker card per game. This can be used to overturn a yellow / prevent a VAR screen referral / referred decision overturn. IE gameify the referee’s decisions. Could be a good level of entertainment… when to play your joker etc. Another idea - they should have two match referees and each take a different half of the match. This can iron out the emotional impact that they as humans are clearly becoming more and more subject to as the stakes in this sport rise.

😂

I think after a sober look we just need to admit that Xhaka and Gabriel let us down. Gabriel should have been wise to Jesus and Xhaka ..well he Xhaka'd. The ref was harsh to us but if we had kept our heads we would have had a point at least

Did anybody else have to Google 'apotheosis'...? I'm learning from the whole crew!!

IMO the ref should be able to go to the screen of his own volition and every penalty is a mandatory screen check.

I totally agree. Were we screwed bad a bad ref? Absolutely. Is it a conspiracy ? No

Anyone that thinks refs are out to get us is deluded. Hard to stomach sure but I don’t think that the ref said to himself, fuck um it’s Arsenal. I’ve never seen this amount of moaning , scratch that , the last time I saw this amount of moaning about been cheated was Henry handled the ball to set up the winning goal against Ireland back in the day . At least that was bonafide. We’d want to get over ourselves and move on

I'm still so pissed about this game and if the reason I actually joined the patreon so please excuse my multiple posts here - I'm not normally this way. I think Stuart Atwell should've had the balls to tell VAR that he got it right, that his instinct that Silva dived and will not be rewarded for that. Oh and the second yellow... is absolutely at the discretion of the ref. I saw the same foul in the Watford-Tot game that same day that was just a foul. No yellow and no call from anyone on the field that it should be a yellow or a call from the "pundits" that it should be a yellow. So Atwell could've just balanced out the injustice and calmed down Arsenal by letting it go with just a foul but instead he was a dick.

Oh and I absolutely would love a rewatch of this game - particularly of the first half because I'd love to "unpack" what we did in a football sense.

Here's what I don't understand - why not just get refs from a different country to officiate? I'm not saying that in a mean way. In a FIFA match, from what I know, you are not allowed to ref if you are from the county playing. That way natural biases from growing up in X place doesn't color the vision of those who decide the application of the rules in real time.

I've recently had an intrusive thought. I want City in the FA Cup at home. Unfinished business