Arsenal player gives Arteta ultimatum for ‘quick’ exit decision and ROBOT REFEREES are upon us

Editor F365
Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale on the bench
Aaron Ramsdale is leaving Arsenal (obviously not really)

Aaron Ramsdale said nothing about a ‘quick move’ to boost his chances of making England’s Euros squad but Arsenal should apparently consider themselves told.

 

I, Robot
A quick question: what is your reaction to the following comments made by FA chief executive Mark Bullingham, during a Leaders Week conference in London?

“In terms of technology, the question is: Are there ways you can make the decisions quicker? Because I think everyone hates that long pause in the stadium or at home.

“You’re seeing technological innovations in terms of, for example, semi-autonomous offsides. Can it eventually go autonomous? And is that going to be a step where you get completely accurate decisions but made very, very quickly? So if you could do that, well that would be better for the fans. That’s an area absolutely to keep exploring.

“Of course, we’d look at any idea that comes through but really you’ve got to be quite careful not to interrupt the flow of the game any further than that.”

If your answer is not simply ‘ROBOT REFEREES’ then sorry, dear reader, for you have no future in the tabloid newspaper industry.

The Sun website have put those carefully considered and perfectly reasonable words through their headline-production machine to come up with ‘FA call for ROBOT REFEREES to be introduced after series of Premier League blunders’. And they double-down in a first paragraph which reads: ‘THE Football Association have called on Robot Referees to be part of English football.’

Once we’ve figured out the proper capitalisation format hopefully we can move forward with it all.

The story is obviously accompanied by numerous pictures of actual robots, as if to imply that instead of Michael Oliver or Darren Coote overseeing things in the middle, it will Matilda or Sergeant Bash sending Casemiro off for knee-high challenges, checking the monitor or congratulating the boys for a good process.

Does Bullingham mention ROBOT REFEREES? Of course he doesn’t. Does he even speak for the entire FA as an organisation, as is the suggestion? Of course he doesn’t. Does he make any vague or passing reference to recent mistakes made by officials? Of course he doesn’t.

Does it matter? Of course it doesn’t. Although it really probably should.

He is obviously only talking about offsides in this instance, decisions which are fundamentally objective and can be calculated as such. The natural trajectory is that such calls could become “autonomous” eventually but Bullingham hasn’t been foolish enough to go any further than that.

And they are not the only ones at it. The MailOnline come crashing into the ongoing discourse with this:

FA calls for ‘autonomous’ robot referees to be introduced following a number of high profile mistakes in the Premier League

No they don’t but again, well done for taking an already laboured discussion and jumping the shark with it.

‘The Football Association have reportedly called on ‘autonomous’ robot referees to be introduced to English football,’ is an absolute cop-out of a first paragraph, by the way. If you’re going to indulge in this utter nonsense then at least own it.

READ MORE: Souness hammers ‘rock star’ referees who ‘don’t know football’ in wake of Liverpool VAR incident

 

Only Rams
‘GLOVES ARE OFF’ is an eye-catching headline on the back page of the Daily Mirror, only magnified by a sub-headline of: ‘Aaron claims he may have to make quick move to save ‘falling by wayside’ for England’.

And that is a rather substantial story. An Arsenal player saying he might leave imminently? Yes please.

Aaron Ramsdale says he will have to consider his options if he fails to force his way back into the Arsenal team by next month’s international break.

Oh wow. He’s even set a deadline on the situation. Ramsdale is off if he doesn’t get back ahead of David Raya and into the Arsenal side by the time of England’s fixtures next month? The Gunners play seven games before then; it doesn’t feel like Mikel Arteta will make another change in the position so soon.

Then again, a ‘quick move’ to boost his Euro 2024 chances can only really be read one way: Ramsdale will force an Arsenal exit in January. Surely he’s not actually said that?

“You’ll see Kalvin (Phillips) and Harry (Maguire) haven’t played the most amount of minutes but when they step up for England and are given the opportunity, they perform,” Ramsdale said.

So if that’s the case for myself and I do get shown that trust to play another game if I haven’t played for my club, then I will have to repay (Southgate).

But, of course, I want to get back into my club team. I want to get into my club team and be able to give the manager a headache rather than just have Jordan as the number one and me fall by the wayside.

First and foremost, I’ve got to give the manager a decision and be available to be picked and that is by getting back into my club team. If that’s not the case, then we’ll see in three or four weeks’ time.

Does Ramsdale quite sensibly say he will take stock of the situation at the next reasonable juncture? Absolutely. Does he suggest he will make a ‘quick move’ away to boost his England chances if he’s not back in the Arsenal starting line-up within a month? Nope. Can we pretend he did to conjure a back page on a quiet day? Oh yes.

 

OK, Supercomputer
Mediawatch does immensely enjoy a SUPERCOMPUTER and there are few better times to boot them up than in the dying breaths of an international break.

The Daily Mirror website does the honours and they do not disappoint.

They are at least using Opta‘s own calculations for this one – there is mercifully no bored bookmaker in sight – but there are a couple of points that stick out in how the Mirror present the numbers.

First, they say Manchester United ‘will slump to ninth’, despite currently being 10th. Some benefit of the doubt can be afforded since they are taking last season into account, but still.

There is no such argument for saying Chelsea ‘sink all the way to 10th,’ mind. They are 11th at the minute and finished 12th last season. Can you ‘sink’ upwards?

 

What is it good for?
‘Dyche ready to go to war with Liverpool rival Klopp again after tunnel row’ – the Daily Mirror website headline.

“I didn’t mean me and him by the way, when I said you are allowed to fight at these places! And it wasn’t a bust-up… it most certainly wasn’t a bust-up! There was no actual coming together either. It is just a moment in time and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that.

“That’s the point – the intention of a team is to go and win there. You have to do what you have to do – you have to fight, you have to play, you have to work, and all those things. So when that’s happening, you know, we are allowed to do it.

“And equally, the two managers within reason, I don’t think there’s anything that wrong with that approach, so long as it’s not untoward. I really don’t think there’s anything wrong at all. We all have a moan up at each other, at any given decision or moment, we all have our different styles” – the apparent Sean Dyche declaration of ‘war’. It’s not exactly Churchill, is it?

 

Great Scott
“McTominay has had an incredible couple of weeks. He was phased out at Man Utd and had Hannibal Mejbri ahead of him.

“Since then he’s come off the bench, not sulking, with a point to prove and he’s scored two match winning goals. You only get that from an academy player who really loves the club” – Tim Sherwood, William Hill’s No Tippy Tappy Podcast.

1) He’s scored one match-winning goal, following one match-saving equaliser.

2) It feels like a non-academy player is probably capable of that, whether they love the club they’re doing it for or not.

 

Sanch dressing
‘Man Utd drop biggest hint yet that Jadon Sancho will never play for club again’ – The Sun website.

Sancho has not started a game all season, not been in a matchday squad since August, is training with the academy players and works alone after being completely ostracised from the first team. But it all seemed salvageable until *checks notes* he was left out of an official squad picture.

 

Worst silence-breaking of this and most days
‘Gianfranco Zola breaks silence on TV gaffe that left Bellingham in stitches as Chelsea icon says ‘I didn’t mean THAT’‘ – The Sun website.

Mediawatch Aaron Ramsdale

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