TBAG- STD
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That is one funky username you have there sir

Thanks, it's what you get when you put TBOK and TWAG together.

They just can't help themselves

John Jenson – If it is a yellow card offense and the referee doesn’t give a yellow card then the point still stands.
My evidence…The foul was a tackle from behind... Henry lunges in… I am amazed it wasn’t a booking.
Of course you could argue it wasn’t… the way the rules are worded you could argue over a number of things – for example doesn’t the law state that if a tackle “endangers the safety of the player being tackled” it is a red card? That definition could allow for all manner of things to be given reds.
The same with preventing a clear goal scoring opportunity… if you wanted to be pedantic you could argue any shot is a goal scoring opportunity – and so any foul where an opponent could shoot is a red card. Tim Howard scored from 90 yards… his kick out is a goal scoring opportunity then isn’t it? So any foul on him should be a red card?
We could get pedantic if you really want to?
I’m judging it on the general consensus of how the game is refereed nowadays… and the vast majority of tackles from behind are given as yellow cards. Even more so when the player doing the foul has just been dispossessed.
The referee chose not to give a card – I am questioning that decision.

Tuscanny – I agree refs make bad decisions – and it doesn’t mean bias… perhaps that is the term that is throwing people here. I’m not claiming Arsenal have paid anyone off… or always get preferential treatment… I’m just saying how reputations have an effect on the pitch, and I don’t think that that is right.
Scholes used to get away with a ridiculous amount… whereas Barton sometimes gets punished harshly. It’s not right.

wrong.

TBAG - you could be right... this thread wasn't an attack on Arsenal or Henry - just more of a comment on the referee himself.

I think most reasonable people see it as a yellow card. I think if the Leeds player makes more of it, and the crowd get involved tackles like that can become reds... but a yellow is probably right.

Maybe he did just not book him because he was booking Arshavin. It's true referees don't often go back and issue a yellow after playing advantage... that is another bugbear of mine! This could be the reason... if it is that, it's poor refereeing isn't it?

As I say - it's not really a big issue... just something that occured to me last night. It was Henry's big comeback and it was superb to watch... but it could have had the shine taken off it

Twice as nice... which bit is wrong? Making you have to make contact?

*you have to make contact*?

sorry Mr, i'll come back to you, when I can properly

at work...

I personally feel he just let play go, Arshavin made a bad tackle which took the attention off the ref and he just forgot about Henrys tackle trying to keep up with the play. Maybe he just used Arshavin as a scapegoat to not book Henry though, who knows?

Whether or not it's cos of bias or incompetence, decisions like this happen week in week out. I'm sure another ref might have given a red for it and there'd be absolute outrage.

I know people will refer to the letter of the law and all, but I do like to see referees using common sense.

Wtf is the OP talking about. Don't remember this. Any clips on youtube?

I think it's definitely a yellow - the point about red is only really that the player didn't go down... had he done it would have looked worse.

Yes the decisions happen week in week out... I just think anyone other than Henry would have picked up a booking.

I will be interested to see how many of the staunch fans on here that have denied it was a booking would argue the same if it was their player being fouled. Fair play to all the posters big enough to admit it should have been.

Will be interesting to see how Henry does in the next game - people have said he looked thick set - but he looked in good shape to me!

Batmanu - that's part of the reason for the post... it wasn't really picked up on. Another player and I think it would have been.

Mr Mortimer
I think the ref did play the advantage to Arsenal at one point, then went back and booked O'Dea, he then booked Townsend for showing his disgust at not getting what was a corner, by booting the ball upfield .
Neither booking was as deserving of a card as Henry's lashing out , so yes inconsistency for whatever reason is wrong and needs addressing

The Townsend one I think is a booking... the goal kick was the wrong decision - but even so kicking the ball away was dissent so a booking.

The O'Dea one I don't remember off hand... but I have no problem with him doing that, if it is a booking the player should be booked... it just annoys me it only applies to some.

Again not having a go at Arsenal or Henry here... before people come back thinking I am!

Agree on the dissent, though it does seem wrong that you get booked for booting the ball and not for booting the player (ok i'm exaggerating , but the intent was there)

this thing still going?

nope

Highlandwhite - yes the dissent one annoys me too... because of the referee's mistake you not only lose a corner but also get a player booked! It's a double whammy!

I wish they could look at bookings for dissent and rescind them if the player was actually right.

But it's like removing your shirt or going into the crowd... as a player you know it's gonna get you booked so you shouldn't do it. It is surprising how everyone's call for common sense ends on these issues and it is up to the players to take responsibility... yet tackles from behind for example - potentially dangerous tackles... he ref is supposed to use common sense.

I would love it if there was common sense shown when it comes to dissent or taking the shirt off (although I've heard the reason it's an automatic booking for removing your shirt is because the sponsors kick up a fuss that they don't get their brand splashed across millions of TV screens at the crucial moments in games.) However those bookings are very black and white, did he kick the ball away? Yes. It's an automatic yellow. Did he take his shirt off? Yes. It's an automatic yellow. A tackle from behind on the other hand isn't an automatic yellow, the tackle has to be judged on whether it was reckless, dangerous or the player got an unfair advantage from it. These are all subjective things so it's much harder to say that it's a definite yellow. Henry's tackle wasn't reckless particularly, it certainly wasn't dangerous and he got no unfair advantage from it because the player carried on like he wasn't there, hence why I think a yellow would be harsh.

Spot On , Mr M
And a Good Article 5

sorry for the late reply, working and all that.

Mr Mortimer, I think the point I was making got a little confused, sorry about that. What I was trying to say is, it's premature to imply that Henry not being penalised for a bookable offence suggests his reputation is going to give him certain benefits during his spell with Arsenal.

Reason being, this happens week in, week out in the league. The referee didn't book him when he should have, it wasn't anything personal towards Thierry, just a bad decision by the ref. These happen all the time, it doesn't make it right but it's a fact of nature with referees.

Sure, I'll be willing to ccept this more readily should henry throw in a leg breaker on someone and gets away with a talking too, but the ref missing one booking isn't really evidence for anything in my opinion.

"Henry's tackle wasn't reckless particularly, it certainly wasn't dangerous "
A wee bit "vindictive" perhaps, and you must admit the potential was there for it to be dangerous .

"A wee bit "vindictive" perhaps, and you must admit the potential was there for it to be dangerous ."

I'm not sure you can book someone for potential danger? Pretty much any challenge is potentially dangerous.

I can understand where you are coming from Mr Mortimer, it's just I think you have picked a terrible example. There's no way that should have been a yellow card, the defender's just won the ball back from the opposition striker in the corner next to his own goal, and the striker has tried to win it back, missed, caught the player, who has stayed on his feet and carried on. Then Arshavin gets booked for stopping the player from breaking away and starting an attack (correctly in my book).
Also Arsenal in my opinion are generally hard done by in terms of bookings and sendings off given per tackle made, because referees try to even them out, so an Arsenal midfielder will get a booking every 3 challenges whilst an opposition player will get one every 6. Arsenal tend to keep the ball and have more possession and hence they make less tackles themselves and are tackled more often by the opposition.

However, your general point about certain players getting preferential treatment/trying to get players in trouble rings true - I don't think Kompany would have got a red if he made that challenge on Jones instead of Nani. And in last night's game there was an incident where Arteta got clipped and the ref booked the Leeds player where I thought (even as an Arsenal fan) the foul was soft and a different Arsenal player would have just got up and got on with it, but because it was Arteta and he gets fouled quite a lot and moans about it to the ref every now and then, the opposition player got given a card.

One of the things that used to really make me angry was when Denilson would not release the ball in time, get put under pressure and then go down looking for a free kick in order to avoid losing the ball. You often see defenders do it, they turn their back on the striker who's just trying to win it back and fall over at the slightest contact and the ref gives them a very soft freekick. If a striker does the same when he's got the ball invariably the ref just waves play on. And the reason Denilson used to do it was because he had played himself into trouble and whilst most of the time it worked and we got a freekick, sometimes it wouldn't and then we would lose possession in our own third with most of our players having pushed on and the opposition having the ball in front of our back four with an excellent chance to punish us. If the ref didn't give those soft freekicks then hopefully players would learn to stop mucking about with it at the back and play their passes earlier before the space has gone.

So yes OP, you do have a point, but no, Henry should not have been booked (certainly not sent off - even Busquets couldn't have manufactured a red out of that!), it was an incident in which he committed a foul but the player rode the challenge and ref waved play on. Henry is not generally a candidate for getting away with this kind of thing because he so rarely makes a challenge anyway. If we want to talk about strikers who make rash challenges and get away with it, then we need to talk about some England players (Rooney and Shearer instantly spring to mind), and a certain Dennis Bergkamp used to have the occasional sharp elbow.

100 comments

This article should be booked !!!

and made into a film !