Eddie Nketiah deserved a red card. And we lost a result because of that red card.
I will leave it to others to crunch numbers across a season, or a game (how many fouls and no cards for Leicester? How many times has VAR overruled an Arsenal goal vs. other teams?), to determine if there are unspoken biases by the officials against Arsenal hidden in those numbers. I suspect many supporters of many teams might find oddball imbalances that point to nefarious intent by match arbiters, but that’s not the point here.
The quibble I have is with that cliche of managers, of fans, the phrase “let’s not make excuses, we can’t blame this on the officiating”. And I get the psychology of that, to an extent. Don’t let your players believe that they can’t do better, that it’s all some sort of plot. Don’t look for reasons beyond quality of play, or of the squad. Fine. I get that.
But, imagine this line of thinking applied to other situations.
I have a first-class ticket on a long-haul flight. I am accidentally, and incorrectly, placed in coach by the gate attendant. The person whose seat I am (incorrectly) using is placed in my first class sleeper. The flight attendant, tickets be damned, won’t correct the error even after a review. My doppelganger enjoys a long, champagne-studded transatlantic flight and arrives to London rested, ready for business. I get no sleep, have my legs constantly banged by the drinks cart, and cannot get the odor of the galley out of my nose. The day of my arrival is, shall we say, unpleasant.
“let’s not make excuses, we can’t blame this on the gate attendant. We should be able to get sleep either way, and a glass of champagne tastes the same in row 5 as it does in row 42”.
Sure.
Or:
I order Thai food for delivery, same time as my neighbor does, from the same restaurant. About a half hour later they are met at the door with a brown bag filled with delicious curry, steaming hot, sticky rice, and enjoy a pleasant, leisurely meal. Their beer, cold. Their food, warm. I, on the other hand, wait. And wait. And wait. 15-20 minutes pass. I call the restaurant. Their claim, that “the delivery guy will be there right after he drops off the food next door”, goes unfulfilled. Turns out the guy delivered it to the wrong house, on the other side of my neighbor. And he left it on the doorstep since nobody was home. The restaurant calls me back, tells me this, and asks me to go retrieve it – but they will not replace the food because it was still delivered within the time frame required. The food is lukewarm, the curry congealed. Our beer, sitting out, has warmed slightly (as Americans we like our beer COLD).
“let’s not make excuses, we can’t blame this on the delivery guy. Fifteen minutes sitting out in 34 degrees Fahrenheit does not change the spice level in the Penang. We have a microwave and heat is heat, what’s the difference?”.
Sure.
Look, we CAN ascribe results to events and circumstance. Because the reason things happen is because of the sequences of events that lead to those things happening. And external events, especially flawed or bad decisions by others that are damaging to plans damage those plans. There is no illogic or excuse-making in establishing circumstances, assessing the results of those circumstances, and then speculating that things might have gone better had those circumstances been different, and in one’s favor.
Oh, and if Jamie Vardy had properly been sent off for kicking Shkodran Mustafi we would have won that match.
[Author’s Note: post edited for culinary accuracy]