Costa's Sh*thousery A Side Act In The Mike Dean Show

Match Review: Chelsea 2 Arsenal 0 - Premier League 19.09.15

Arsenal fell victim to a refereeing performance for the ages, as we once again suffered a miserable defeat at Stamford Bridge. What looked like being an even and entertaining game turned into a farce before half time, as Mike Dean flourished in the leading role with some stunningly inept and petty officiating. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it and I’m sure Mr. Dean will be suitably thrilled at the media coverage his actions will receive.

It’s a really hard one to take as we were playing well up until incident before half time. As expected, Wenger went back to what he seems to believe is his strongest line-up. On the performance we produced in the first half, it’s hard to argue with him. We set up well, played some nice football, without really testing Begovic. When Chelsea grew into the game and had a dominant spell in the middle of the half, we defended well and kept them at arm’s length.

But the game really came down to one moment before half time. We’ve all seen it by now I’m sure, but hours one from the game I still don’t understand it. Somehow Diego Costa got away with putting both hands in Koscielny’s face while jostling for a cross, then slapping him full in the face with an angry lash and then topped it off by squaring up to him and smashing him to the ground. When Gabriel got involved, he even scratched the defender on the neck, leaving very obvious red gouges.

Somehow Mike Dean and his assistants decided that despite four violent offences, all of which probably warranted a straight red on their own, Costa deserved just a yellow and Gabriel was also booked for his reaction. As if that incredible bit of officiating wasn’t bad enough, Dean then delivered his masterstroke. Gabriel was silly I know, but for Dean to send him off for the most innocuous little flick at the man who had effectively assaulted him and a teammate moments before was sensational even by his standards. You have to hand it to him, he is utterly unashamed in both his hatred for Arsenal and his dedication to making Mike Dean the story of every game.

I know that technically, Gabriel’s sending off was correct. But that in itself is ridiculous. There are dozens of incidents and coming togethers in the game that carry more malice and more potential danger than a petulant little flick at an opponent. It wasn’t even a kick, it was a nothing moment, but of course Chelsea seized on it and surrounded the referee squealing for him to be dismissed. It’s pretty amusing how Dean managed to spot the most innocuous moment of the lot and yet proceeded to miss Kurt Zouma grabbing Gabriel by the throat after he’d been dismissed.

What’s more deserving of a dismissal for violent conduct? Hitting someone in the face twice, pushing them over, scratching another player on the neck and then one of your teammates grabbing him by the throat, or a silly little flick at a player who’s effectively just assaulted your colleague? Oscar received just a yellow in the second half for a two footed lunge from behind that could have left Koscielny with a serious injury, but I guess that doesn’t qualify as violent conduct or serious foul play to the warped mind of Mike Dean.

It was always going to be difficult with ten men, especially as all momentum had been handed to Chelsea. Even then, their goal came from a free kick that wasn’t even close to being justified. Ramsey was even in possession and only seemed to brush against Fabregas, but it seemed enough for Dean to penalise. The free kick lead to Zouma, who shouldn’t have been on the pitch, ghosting by some poor marking at the back post and heading in simply. Poor from us, but another incident where if the referee had given the correct decisions, the outcome would have been very different.

Dean was unrelenting in his punishment of us. He even gave the Arsenal fans a big thumbs up as we regaled him with the ever popular chant about his propensity to self pleasure, showing he was clearly revelling in the storm he’d whipped up. It was followed by him sending Cazorla off, producing a second yellow for only his second foul of the game. He was late in the tackle, but his first could could easily have gone unpunished, but of course that wouldn’t have given Dean the chance to send him off later.

Chelsea added a second once we were down to nine, with a deflected strike from Hazard. There are times when you come away from the game and say the referee was crap but we only have ourselves to blame - this is not one of those times. Mike Dean completely changed the game and his incompetence/arrogance/bias, is almost entirely the reason we lost. Of course we could have defended their first goal better and Ramsey should have scored when he chose to control the ball instead of shoot, but there is very little you can do when the referee performs so poorly.

When your opponents are allowed to hit you, shove you over and grab your throat without recourse, you have little chance of a fair fight. At eleven a side it looked an even and entertaining game. Somehow we have to deal with being blatantly cheated out of the game and move on to the next game. We aren’t asking for favouritism, we just want fairness. I can accept being beaten by a team that performs better and out plays us, but to be robbed by cheating and abysmal officiating is difficult to swallow and leaves a very bitter taste.

Teams

Chelsea (4-2-3-1)
Begovic, Ivanovic (Y), Zouma, Cahill, Azpilicueta, Fàbregas (Mikel 92’), Matic, Pedro, Oscar (Y) (Ramires 69’), Hazard, Diego Costa (Y) (Remy 82’)
Subs
Ramires, Falcao, Mikel, Remy, Terry, Blackman, Loftus-Cheek

Arsenal (4-2-3-1)
Cech, Bellerin, Gabriel (Y)(R), Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin (Chambers 45’ (Y)), Cazorla (Y-Y-R), Ramsey, Özil (Chamberlain 75’), Alexis (Giroud 75’)
Subs
Ospina, Arteta, Chambers, Chamberlain, Giroud, Debuchy, Gibbs

Player Ratings

Cech - 6/10 - Did nothing really wrong, although might have had a chance to save the 1st
Bellerin - 7/10 - Did very well in a tough game, kept Hazard and Pedro pretty quiet
Gabriel - 5/10 - Was having a great game until the red card, naive for his reaction though
Koscielny - 7/10 - Kept Costa quiet and didn’t reacted to being attacked by him
Monreal - 6/10 - A few stray passes and caught out of position a few times
Coquelin - 7/10 - Was playing well, but substituted with an injury at half time
Cazorla - 5/10 - Struggled, especially when we had ten, topped off with a red card
Alexis - 6/10 - Struggled to influence the game even at 11, still searching for form
Özil - 7/10 - Showed fight and grit in a losing cause that will probably be ignored
Walcott - 6/10 - Doesn't close down and work hard enough for me, largely anonymous
Subs
Chambers - 7/10 - Dealt with being thrown into the fire and with the aggressive Costa
Chamberlain - 6/10 - Didn’t really get into the game
Giroud - 6/10 - Ditto

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