The recent relaxation of our hectic fixture schedule finally allows us to publish the third part of Gunnersaurus Stunt Double’s trilogy on the current state of the game. If you missed his excellent earlier pieces, Part 1, ‘Fishbowl, Anyone?’ can be found here and Part 2, ‘Divided We Fall’ can be found here. Let’s be having (pace Delia) your tuppenceworth in the Drinks.
I should like to start by noting that I wrote this piece last November (2024) but due to scheduling conflict on GoonerholicsForever it is only appearing now. It was not written as a response to any refereeing decision(s) more recent than that, and I leave it to readers to assess if any decisions since November have provided it with additional relevance.
The idea that referees are impartial is ludicrous. Subconscious bias is a scientifically proven phenomenon which impacts how human beings think and how we make decisions. At some level, all (human) referees are biased.
Referees could try their best to mitigate the effects of subconscious bias if they accepted it is something capable of untowardly influencing them. Unfortunately, in a move typical of the culture of PGMOL, they seem to think they are the only group of humans alive who are unaffected by it. But, as ever, they claim expertise and impartiality they do not possess.
If The Face Fits
So, whom are they biased against?
Well, the evidence available is limited by the studies done. There are consistent results from across a variety of sports to show that home teams have an advantage. It is not a huge advantage but noticeable, especially over time.
However, I cannot find any reliable information on some other interesting areas, probably because no-one has studied them properly. There are questions that we need the answers to.
For me, two pressing ones given our current situation are:
- How does subconscious bias affect referees who support one of the clubs they referee?
- How does subconscious bias affect referees who support a rival club of those they referee?
Let me briefly note that subconscious bias is, essentially, a phenomenon which sees us favour people and groups who we identify with as being like us or feel an affinity towards, and act against those we see as different to us or feel antipathy towards.
With that understanding, it is no surprise that one of the most studied and widely seen subconscious biases relates to race. The scenarios that this has been found in are legion. For example, overwhelming subconscious bias has been shown to exist across US police forces (as well as overt racism, but that is not today’s topic). This boils down to white people in positions of power who are more likely to believe other white people are law-abiding and honest, and non-white people are less so – and to act on these subconscious assumptions.
Our current crop of referees are almost exclusively white men born around the 1980s who grew up in the North of England. Even at its most progressive, that location in that era was not an environment that would stand up to examination by the standards of today. I would be staggered if PGMOL referees do not have any subconscious racial bias (I’d argue it is vanishingly unlikely as almost everyone does) yet there have been no studies I can find on subconscious racial bias impacting officiating in any sport.
You’ll have to use the eye test to see if Grealish gets freekicks for the same fouls that Saka doesn’t. Whatever conclusions you make, remember that the question is valid, if not vital, and that the common belief that white referees do not consciously favour white players provides those of us who believe this (including me) with a basis for our own confirmation bias, affecting our ability to evaluate this impartially. That makes it even more important that we develop a culture of openly questioning what factors affect the fairness of decisions made, rather than a culture where decisions are above meaningful scrutiny.
Whose Side Are You On?
There is little empirical evidence for how a referee who supports a club referees them or their rivals – Jarred Gillett on VAR may appear to treat Liverpool like he is their own personal Santa Claus but that isn’t actually evidence of bias, or cheating.
That said, it is worth noting that are there are easily verifiable statistics from statistically significant groups of games overseen by individual referees since the formation of the PGMOL that, all things being equal, can be considered anomalous, at best. Some officials have consistently higher rates of awarding penalties to certain teams, or lower rates of awarding them yellow cards, for example, when compared to the league average and their own personal average.
If they support or have an allegiance to the clubs involved, would we expect to see data like this? Yes.
Would we still expect this even if the individual officials were trying to be impartial and even believe their own propaganda and truly think they are impartial? Yes.
Does it make sense to suggest that our football club allegiances engender subconscious bias? Yes. This has been proved in studies not relating to refereeing and would provide a sound hypothesis to explain the data showing anomalies in the way referees treat certain teams differently to the expected norms.
I can find no-one who has commissioned a study on this. Someone needs to.
A previous article in this series about the necessity of fans from different clubs banding together was met in the bar with much suggestion that there is too much enmity for that, even though it would be to our mutual benefit. When even the conscious bias (in many cases fully developed into a visceral enmity) is this deeply ingrained, it would seem ridiculous to deny the subconscious bias.
The Unlikely Referee
So, without hard data, let’s use our little grey cells; allow me to go on a flight of fancy and imagine that yours truly had been asked to officiate a Spurs game. (You’ll have to assume I had the necessary qualifications and skills, of which I have neither, although the current referees only have one out of two themselves).
I’d recuse myself immediately.
That’s it. It would not go any further.
I should not be anywhere near refereeing a Spurs game. And it is not because I would try to be unfair towards them. I am a huge believer in sporting fair play and would much rather see a fair game that Spurs win than an unfair one which they lose (or a fair Arsenal loss over an unfair win). Indeed, in a nutshell, it is why I am writing this article, because the current situation is intrinsically unfair, and that goes against everything the game stands for to me.
But, no matter how hard I tried consciously to be impartial, I would fail because they are Spurs and I couldn’t put that aside no mater how hard I tried.
Picture it: I would assume Richarlison has not been fouled no matter how much he rolls around on the floor; I reckon there is a high chance that Romero has just missed the ball and kicked some bloke three feet in the air, regardless of how much he makes an incredulous face and does that little two handed roll action to tell me the striker dived, and I have seen Spurs get so many dodgy penalties against us that it would take a two-footed slide tackle from behind for me to be sure enough to award them one. That’s hardly fair, is it?
Although, thinking about it, I’ve seen a quite a lot of refereeing performances that have rather had that feel to them.
Change The Collective
Put simply, there is no guaranteed way to negate subconscious bias in individuals, but it can be limited structurally within an organisation; in this case by having a wide pool of referees, who have different biases. With regard to biases involving specific teams, these must be clearly identified and the officials who hold them must be kept away from any matches they might affect.
The current group of homogenous white men from the North of England are institutionally unfit to referee the game, without any reference to them as individuals. We need far more representation in terms of age, race, gender, geography, allegiance and doubtless other areas too. The wider the net, the better, as long as they are professional and competent.
Currently, PGMOL employs a small pool of unprofessional incompetents. The worst of all worlds.
PGMOL has also actively refused to release who their referees support because they privately fear it would look bad.
Indeed, it would. Especially in light of many of their contentious decisions.
It should not need saying, but it manifestly does: all referees should have to publicly declare who they support, and no referee should be allowed to be part of the officiating team for any of their own team’s games or the games of their rivals. This would require a far larger group of officials, which is exactly what we need anyway.
PGMOL are against this as it would render most of their current crop of referees unfit to referee many of the teams in the league. Which, of course, they are.
Playing The Long Game
Let me finish by driving home a few points. Regardless of what we think of the current PGMOL officials, and my personal opinion is extremely low, as an institution they are unfit for purpose.
No official should be involved in a game where there is even the possibility of a suggestion of a conflict of interest.
Any homogeneous group of people, in this case middle-aged white men from the North(west) of England, would be unfit for officiating football across England, and any and all focus on the individuals involved and their respective qualities, or lack thereof, fails to address the point that the system itself is inherently flawed.
We need a large pool of diverse and skilled referees.
Anyone or any organisation that says otherwise is part of the problem.
Here’s looking at you, PGMOL.
Well GSD…Bravo…What else to say, other than that i am guilty of being an absentee on GHF for too long….c’est la vie…but my suggestion is that its time for some ‘serious’ involvement. No doubt i will infuriate many (i’m really a nice chap) but i am pro-Trump/Boris/Maggie and so anti- Albo (where i am a paid up migrant of 52+ Years and long-time Oz passport holder) and am no fan of the British Labour Party and Keir Starmer…however, he is a devoted Gooner (as i understand)…perhaps someone could suggest to him to get his “Government” to concentrate some effort into PGMOL. UK is not perceived around the world for much, other than the EPL….its maybe worth someone having a word in his ear….
Game wise…i was up in the early hours to watch us play Toon…it meant everything to them…bit disappointed but overall think its “for the best”
COYG
A fitting conclusion to a top-draw trilogy, GSD. Referees would certainly be an appropriate matter of interest for Ofsoc if and when it gets set up, but in the interim, the PL has the agency, particularly the power of the purse, to influence the growth and diversity (and quality) of the pool of referees as you suggest. It will take time to bring the new refs up through the pyramid, but that is all the more reason to start now. The PL also has the motivation to do. It is its product that is being most diminished by the current state of the PGMOL.
It doesn’t breach house rules but no one comes here to read about personal political views.
This sort of article feels to me exactly the sort of piece we should be debating and GSD has done a terrific job across the three articles in looking in some detail about what is a difficult subject to rationalise .
The issue is one I would have thought we ought to be discussing much more seriously and PGMOL should be subject to much greater scrutiny . There is so much that is unsound about the PGMOL concept and starting now surely we wouldn’t create it ? I’m still less willing to admit the impact of racial bias simply because it is something I really don’t notice myself in football but maybe I’m deluding myself . I’m just unwilling to accept that the only adequate referees are white men from the North Western comer of the country . Especially when if you map where the most successful clubs are situated it coincides incredibly closely with the preponderance of PGMOL referees
Great stuff GSD
Did you spot our former youth player, Julio Pleguezuelo, playing his part in Plymouth dumping the Mugsmashers out of the FA Cup? He was another for whom there were great hopes when he was at the Academy, which he joined from Barca. However, he played only game, in the league cup, for our first team before joining Twente Enschede on a free in 2019. He did his ACL in his second season there and was in and out of the side with injury thereafter.
While we are rolling down memory lane, another of our youngsters for whom there were great hopes, Marc Bola, was playing on the opposite side (for Blackpool) in that league cup game. He is now starting at left-back for Samsunspor, who are riding high in Turkey’s Super Lig.
A well thought out piece GSD. I agree with you 100 per cent and have nothing to add or to argue with. PGMOL are a cartel of buddies who are beyond redemption and unless they are replaced from top to bottom, the game will become a joke pantomime that people watch only to see how the wizard with the whistle will determine the outcome. PGMOL’s culture is that of an elite priesthood who believe that they ‘walk with God’ and that every judgement is God’s own truth and therefore cannot be wrong. Its influence over VAR decisions is malign and more often re-inforces rather than reduces their errors. At minimum, VAR has to be the responsibility of an independent group of specialists. The richest league on the planet will not remain at the top if the outcome of games continue to rest on the whims of these unaccountable muppets.
Agreed, SP @3. We should leave our politics at home. There are enough football issues to get our teeth into here.
Only Fulham, Palace and Millwall left to carry the flag for the capital in the FA Cup.
Ange’s ‘second season’ trophy looks like an ever heavier lift.
Thanks GSD, a very clear summary of the current state of play. It’s seems obvious now that Webb and Co will do nothing to clean house in any effective way and that the PL are equally unfit to govern themselves. We can’t really move forward until there is that acknowledgement that the house is on fire but there is no sign of any willingness to do that, just the usual rinse and repeat nonsense about progress being made. You’d have thought that implementing a clear set of values as a bare minimum would be doable but apparently not. To be fair football governance is generally bent worldwide so it is not only our problem.
Villa were very active in the window and traded profitably after the Dhuran deal . They have Watkins, Malen and Rashford upfront and Asensio and Garcia to mix in as well
Monchi is their TD . When we last faced a situation like this season we had just waved goodbye to Mislintat ( who has just left Dortmund under a cloud) . It was a bad time to be without a Sporting Director and may cost us dear
TTG @10, there’s no point crying over spilt milk. We are where we are and just have to get on with it. None of us know the discussions that took place, the overtures that were made or the sums that were made available. Our current situation is far from ideal but we simply have to deal with it. It’s a hackneyed phrase but quite accurate – when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Let’s prove the doubters wrong.
SP@3 & Bath@7
and everyone else
Mis-judgement on my part..it won’t happen again
My apologies
Were Villa actively good or bad? They got a good price for Duran but they sold the young player and kept the older Watkins. They brought in Malen, a squad level player and Rashford, could be anything including a rotten apple, Ascensio, done nothing for two seasons in a lower level league and Garcia, a back up full back. Hard to tell really with transfer windows but it doesn’t look particularly good to me.
@5;thanks Ned, always nice to find out how our old boys are doing. I imagine Liverpool fans are busy saying « blessing in disguise etc etc »:about their cup exit but still it was nice to see an old style cup upset
OM@13: I was sure Pleguezuelo wasn’t a Devonian name…
The other way of looking at the Villa transfer business is that they have bought depth. The way the game is going is that top teams play one team for 60-70 minutes and then another for the final 20. It is the way to deal with the workload.
Simply a wonderful piece
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/feb/10/everton-goodison-park-history-memory-grief-belonging-my-bittersweet-farewell
Ned
The depth point is key in terms of Villa and any aspirant to success . They have PSR issues to juggle which affected their planning but they are a team likely to be on the rise . And Rogers is a special talent
@15 & 17. True enough that you need the squad depth these days and Villa have chosen to get bodies in and take a few chances (or take on a few chancers if you prefer). Obviously having spent two years unloading several chancers we are more hesitant to take those risks.
@16 thanks C100, and yeah it was wonderful.
C100 @16, thanks for posting that link. That is indeed a wonderful piece – it captures what the game is/was all about.
C100@16: A very touching link. I particularly liked the line, ‘But relics are precious. They tell stories’. A creed for us all.
It was intruiging that Topping’s son supports Dortmund. I assume as a Guardian reporter (and a very good one), she is London-based and that he was brought up there, so one would imagine, pace some familial connection to Germany, that he would support a London club (or the Red Mancs, although I think we can safely assume an Evertonian mother would have put a stop to any such nonsense). If young fans are picking and choosing their teams unanchored from geography and without the experience of going to games at the home ground, what will that mean for the nature of fandom in the future?
C100
Thankyou for enclosing a beautiful piece . I’ve been to Goodison but not seen a match there but the place is soaked in football memories and atmosphere . I love Ashburton Grove but it will never mean to me what Highbury does .
As for supporting Dortmund as Ned observes , I’ve noticed from my Football -obsessed grandson that he and his mates have overseas teams and support them alongside English teams . He supports Bayern Munich because of our next striker Harry Kane but in his form he has Barca , Real, Inter and PSG supporters . I know some local lads here in Kent who prefer to go to Lille rather than Bromley or Gillingham. Fandom is very different in a digital age when so much overseas football is available
Great stuff, GSD.
I think the only way round the conflict of interest problem is to say that any referee being paid in any way by the owner of a club cannot be allowed to officiate in that club’s league. Full stop.
It’s not enough to say they can’t referee that club or its rivals. Its rivals will very probably change over the course of a season so where and when do you draw the line ?
In a competitive league like the Premier League, any match can affect any other team so a total ban is the only solution.
I saw in an article about a Turkish team walking off in protest against a penalty awarded against them, corrupt referees being a problem in the Super Liga apparently, that VAR there is now staffed by referees from outside Turkey rather than it being the revolving wheel of mateyness it is in the PL.
Trev. I’d agree that refs cannot be allowed to accept money from owners or any other source that is not above implication.
However, in relation to the teams that referees support, are you suggesting that any referee with ties (in terms of historic support as a fan) to any PL club should be intelligible to referee in the PL?
That would presumably rule out a lot of British refs.
That should, of course, say ‘ineligible’. Damned spillchucker.
Referees are obviously and completely unintelligible.
@24 & 26 Trev, Dino
completely agree that referees shouldn’t be taking money from club owners or their representatives. I imagine it is quite difficult to enforce as has already been seen – the club owners will just lie outright about who is connected. Also the UK law on restraint of trade? Not sure exactly if it differs now from EU law but I imagine referees have a right to earn a living and can’t be subject to unreasonable restrictions.
Personally I’d like to see a couple of fairly simple principles in place
1) All non PL income for officials must be declared to a type of register – in a way that is similar to say MPs or clinical trial sponsors. The point being that everyone can see where the money is coming from. The register can be managed by the new Independent Football Regulator (or whatever the job will be called). Non-disclosure is grounds for dismissal.
2) All affiliations to PL or non-PL clubs, including as a fan, must be registered. The register should be overseen by the IFR and published. Non-disclosure is grounds for dismissal.
3) The teams that referees cannot officiate, either on-pitch or VAR, should be published at the beginning of the season and updated on January 1st. Conflict of interest to be decided on league position at the end of the previous season and updated at an approximate season midpoint by the IFR. Clubs have the right of appeal for any appointed official – but based only on conflict of interest. (Not so easy to define parameters – say within 4 points or 3 league places as I think there may be a restraint of trade issue here too so you must define some reasonable parameters)
4) VAR and PGMOL must be entirely separated and independent intensities. You cannot work for both at the same time.
And while I am chucking in my tuppenceworth……..Given the amount of money sloshing around football I don’t really see why we can’t have a much larger pool of referees from the major European leagues. If we can share in European games then why not just extend the principle? Very doable logistically I’d have thought and it diversifies and enlarges the referees pool at a stroke.
Seems to be a lot of muttering about Saliba and Real Madrid?
OM, I am sure that the contractual relationship between an individual whistler and PGMOL could have an exclusivity clause with a financial reward for that exclusivity. Our armed forces cannot moonlight as security guards or mercenaries.
Thanks for writing this piece, GSD, and it bears repeating that just because what you say about the geographical origins of the PGMOL officials happens to be true, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have to be said out loud. And repeated. And repeated. And repeated. And repeated, ad nauseum, just as they repeatedly cause nausea for Arsenal and Arsenal’s fans, not even to begin mentioning the fans of other clubs, which they do indeed cause to also have nausea.
Excellent suggestions Matt @28 to help rein in the corruption among the PGMOL brotherhood of self-protecting cronies.
C100 @29. Indeed. He’s got 2 years left of a four year contract in the summer I believe. Either he’s minded to sign a new contract because he wants to win things here or if not, we sell for a big price early and we reinvest. We can’t afford to allow his contract to run down. Difficult one but shit like Madrid usually get their man and he seems destined to go there at some stage. Poor transfer windows have a knock on effect when trying to retain players also.
Spot on, SP. If he chooses not to sign an extension, he should be sold for a massive sum. We’ve been dilatory in managing contracts too often in the past and need to learn how to play hardball on sales. Frankly, I think we have been mugs in the market, both buying and selling. There’s no room for sentiment. If a player won’t commit he must be sold at a time that he brings in the most resources to re-invest No-one is irreplaceable.
GSD – I was referring only to referees being paid by club owners.
I don’t know how you would over one the issue of them being a supporter of a particular club – as people interested in football they would probably all have a club they support.
The Sporting News drew up this list of the clubs that this season’s roster of PGMOL referees support, based on their social media postings, although it is far from complete.
https://www.sportingnews.com/uk/football/news/premier-league-referees-who-do-they-support/d917d020dfeb65d34a865498
Baff. We could definitely sell better. And perhaps we could be a bit more aggressive in pursuing certain targets, but there is plenty of risk in that (imagine if we’d matched Chelsea’s bid for Mudryk as fans were screaming for us to do).
But we also bought Raya, Saliba, Gabriel and Odegaard for a combined 125 million euros, and, at the other end of the scale, we beat City to the generational Rice, so I can’t possibly agree that we’ve been ‘mugs’ in the market.
Sell off assets below market value ? Never heard of us doing that 😨
Ned @36 that list is meaningless. Not one of those idiots has admitted to supporting Arsenal. They’ve all chosen their second choice soft spot teams to cover off their bias.
@30 yes, didn’t think of that and it would work too
SP@39: The list is what it is, which isn’t much.
https://x.com/david_ornstein/status/1889643558761615419?s=61&t=cVFjCyGkt4y-Ne45LtfqkQ
We’re doomed.
Top four will be the new realistic target.
Merino as an emergency battering ram centre forward with Nwaneri and Trossard picking up the knock downs? Until such time, that is, that their mammies snap as well. 😭
Oh fuck!
That was just about the worst news
Havertz out for the rest of the season would be worse than not good. Take your boots with you to the stadium, ‘holics. Looks like you have a chance of getting a game.
And brace for the Goonerverse piling in on Arteta for not signing a striker in the January window.
Arsenal’s support for Rwanda seems to be reappearing on the front burner, as what applies to PSG certainly applies to Arsenal who wear the same pro-Rwanda emblem on their shirts. This from the BBC: “Former DR Congo captain Youssouf Mulumbu is calling on Paris St-Germain to reconsider its partnership with Visit Rwanda as he attempts to raise awareness of the conflict and humanitarian crisis in his homeland which has left people “living in fear”.
M23 rebels, reportedly backed by Rwanda, have seized the vital frontier city of Goma and vast tracts of land in the mineral-rich east of DR Congo while latest figures from the United Nations suggest approximately 700,000 people have been forced from their homes this year.
Rwanda has been accused by a group of UN experts of not only backing the M23 but also of materially benefitting from the mineral wealth that is being smuggled into the country.”
dem pesky refs done, done it again!
& bath @43 is “mammies” to be regarded as acceptable language on a supposedly forward looking (tho don’t include Arsenal/Arteta in that “description” – at the mo) site such as this ? (I would hope not!)
Well done Everton. We will have pulled off a miracle if we can hunt them down despite our wounded soldiers. Hopefully this is the start of a Red Scouse crumble.
The progression of young players often depends on circumstances and dumb luck. Maybe in a few years we will look back at this Havertz injury as the moment when Nwaneri got his chance to become the world-class striker he has developed into.
A positive thought for the fifty anyway.
Well in for the half-ton, GSD, and on such a positive note, too.
This could be an opportunity for Nathan Butler-Oyedeji or Khayon Edwards in the middle and Ismeal Kabia on the wing.
Congrats on the half ton GSD
We have to hope that we can play efficiently and win upcoming games but it will be a stiff task. Just as there was general unwillingness to consider Rashford there will be unwillingness to consider a free agent. Several of them have obviously seen much better days . There is one Wissa Ben Yedder who has scored consistently throughout his career and might be a decent emergency shout for four months . However he is serving a suspended sentence for sexual assault while intoxicated. That is not a situation we want to endorse especially with similar charges potentially hanging over another player. Sadly we don’t seem to have a young tyro who can emerge as a goalscoring saviour this season
To add to my comments Ben Yedder has been in rehab and has been embroiled in several cases of sexual assault which sounds like someone with a problem .
He is about to sign for Serie A side Venezia . This is a pity because the old Ben Yedder football wise would have been worth a punt in the situation we find ourselves but he has an awful lot of baggage
Well in on the 50 GSD and love the positive thinking.
Nwaneri is an option I guess as well as Leo, Gabi M or Sterling.
Or a long-shot choice like Merino, Declan or a youth team option.
Bukayo in a month? He’s played everywhere else.
The GHF Predictathon leaderboard for the elongated Match Week 24 is posted. We have a new leader….
You know where to find it.
Thanks Ned and well done to young Dr F!!
I can only dream of flying so high 🙂
That the British media doesn’t like Arsenal is well known but a piece on the Sky paper found up last night encapsulated it .Rather than the sympathy that would accompany severe injury news at Anfield or the Etihad there was pure vitriol about Arteta and his failure to buy a striker . “ Serves him right ‘ – no sympathy here was the reaction . It really is Arsenal v the world
I don’t mind being disliked by Sky 😉
Well in @50 with a wonderfully optimistic vibe, GSD. It is indeed an opportunity for the youngsters and fringe players to step up and claim a piece of history. Here’s hoping they grab the opportunity with both feet.
TTG@57: Quelle surprise!
Blogs’ piece was good this morning, He’s correct that the errors in squad building that have landed us in the mire took place in the summer:
There’s also a thoughtful piece by Pedro on Le Grove:
https://www.le-grove.co.uk/p/arsenal-season-on-edge-after-self
and by Amy on the Athletic (£):
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6133599/2025/02/13/arsenal-havertz-injury-graham-spirit/
It’s no use crying over spilt milk. Let’s surprise everyone with our resilience, inventiveness and unpredictability.
As if more evidence were needed to prove that the match officials really do just make it up as they go along, this is what the BBC says happened after the Everton-Liverpool game yesterday:
“On Thursday morning, the Premier League wrote in an article titled ‘Which players are suspended’ that Slot was dismissed “for using offensive, insulting, or abusive language”. It added he was “handed a two-match touchline ban”.
The paragraph was live for about an hour before it was deleted. It is understood human error was to blame for the erroneous post.”
That two match touchline ban that has apparently now been rescinded. Isn’t that one game less than the three games that red card bans normally require?
Tim Stillman is intelligently constructive as well and comes up with a practical solution – Merino used in tandem with Trossard .
Brilliant analysis GSD, wish the mainstream football journalists were doing the same.
Thanks a lot Ned for the GHF contest updates.
The junior will be ecstatic once I tell him. 🙂
I think Mikel in his private gym at home has two punching bags where he stapled on photos of Edu and the new guy, and vigorously practices his uppercuts on those bags. At least I would have done that if I were him. 🙂 (It’s a joke, I am not condoning violence etc. Just imagining how our manager must really feel about this.)
Tactically speaking, once White is back, a back three of White-Wilo-Gabriel. Partey-Rice-Martin in the middle, Timber and MLS/Ricky as wing backs. Two of Ethan/Leo/Gabi/Sterling through the middle.
Rice and Ødegaard both have goals in them if we get them closer to the box more often. Martin dropping back all the way to receive pass from Raya is very postmodern football, but a bit more of old school will do us good. And given that Zinchenko has stayed back, I hope his abilities on the ball and tactical cleverness find some roles to play, as are Tierney’s perfect crosses, in the remaining few months.
I’ve got it ! The solution .
TGSTEL must only be in his late thirties and about four stone overweight ( I know many strikers who excelled with a bit of timber ) . Find that man and get him to Ashburton Grove . Test those hamstrings out and then let’s give vent to the man’s genius . We never appreciated that the best was yet to come . Phew , I was getting worried about what to do next
TTG@65: I keep reminding people that Yaya Sanogo is a free agent, but does anyone listen…
I see the doomster end of the Goonerverse is wringing its hands over Chido Obi, formerly of this parish but now with the Red Mancs U-18s. Had we not let him ‘get away’, I read on the internet, he would be our first-team superstar striker now. However, I note in passing that Amorin, who is even more in need of goals than we are, has not called up the 17-year-old to his first-team squad. I wonder why that could be…
In a startling world exclusive yesterday The Grauniad revealed that, in hindsight, we might have conducted our summer transfer business somewhat more efficiently. I wonder if MA8 is aware of this amazing insight.
Of course the real question is Bendtner or Sanogo?
I’ll go with Carlos Vela as I just heard he is a free agent too 🙂
Surely Lee Chapman is available? John Hawley? Ray Hankin?
Here’s a list of free agent forwards available now. Some you’ll barely remember. Others, like Lucas Perez, you might remember only too well.
No mention of Chamakh, Park or Gervinho so I suppose they are already snapped up
Any thoughts on the idea of changing formation to three at the back and utilising wing backs? I suppose that requires someone taller than 5 ft up top, Merino? But does at least allow for some rotation from the bench, for what it’s worth.
@74 it’s been a while since we played with three at the back but I did see Ben White is available again which would help. I think MA will stick with the current formation at least for the Leicester game just to see how it goes, The main concern for me over the next month until Saki and Gabi are back is where the goals will come from. Everyone needs to step up but I’m hopeful of Ode and Leo plus Nwaneri seems to have an eye for a goal.
>>>>>>>