They were two thoroughly enjoyable games filled with goals, attractive football and drama but instead they are being stained by excuses that give more credibility to claims of Arsenal’s “loser mentality” and the English media’s hypocrisy. It seems that they are happier to have a weak justification for their European exit to Barcelona rather than taking responsibility and identifying the real reason for their loss in order to improve in the future.
Just three minutes after Arsenal had equalised early in the second half, Robin van Persie received a second yellow card for kicking the ball away after being flagged offside. The decision incensed manager Arsene Wenger, the fans and players alike and it is this incident that all cries of injustice stemmed from.
The Dutch striker was adamant that the 95,000 fans inside the Camp Nou prevented him from hearing the whistle but, while the red card was harsh, there are two points that question Van Persie’s reasoning:
• From Fabregas’ pass to the time he shot, the ground was silent, the whistle can be heard clearly before he strikes the ball
• If Van Persie believed he was onside, we are led to believe that one of the most one-footed players around, with plenty of time and space, wouldn’t have put it on to his good left foot to shoot
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When a team has 24% possession, has 0 shots, and completes 199 passes to their opposition’s 724 then that team should start looking at themselves instead of the referee in order to understand what went wrong. There was no hint of bravery, no trace of that style that Arsenal are famed for, instead they stayed tight and hoped that for the best. The red card masked the true story of the game therefore it is no surprise that Wenger incessantly bemoaned the referee’s decision so as not to call in the questioning of his team’s inferiority.
It has become a childish tendency from the English media of late to claim that home clubs are victimised whenever they come up against better opposition; important matters are only seen and portrayed in the way that favours the side they are on. There have been masses of articles written this week across the most popular newspapers about how things could have been different if Van Persie had not been sent off, yet not one was written two weeks ago about Messi’s goal that was wrongly ruled out for offside or Arshavin’s blatant hand ball in the penalty box in injury time at the Emirates.
All across Europe, the press have spoken of Barcelona’s domination, Wenger’s poor tactics and Arsenal’s impotency yet in this country some of the most respected British writers are coming out with absurd accusations about this week’s events, these people are supposed to be giving the public insight yet they continue to influence the majority with propaganda. It is time for people to start thinking more with their brains and less with their heart.
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