19/09/15 | Chelsea 2-0 Arsenal | Premier League

[RowdyRoddyPoppins]

This won't be a popular view, but Gabriel was naive. Perhaps reacting the way he did to the provocation by Costa is a sign of heart, but it is not a sign of brains.

If you want passion then Paulista's approach is great. I want to beat Chelsea. And you do not do that by allowing Costa to get under your skin. You do that by playing Chelsea at their own game and playing it better.

Costa smashed Kos in the face and gets away with it? Don't clash with him and risk a sending off. Grit your teeth, brew that hate nice and slow, and wind the sucker up all game long until he is the one who loses it and gets sent off.

Revenge extracted, one man advantage secured, job done.

Instead, Gabriel goes out in a blaze of glory. Might be good for his Arsenal fan credo, but bloody useless for the team.

I am with you brother.

Costa has been doing this for years now and we should know better. We gave Costa to opportunity to get under our skin and its a sign of weak mentality

Agree with this.
I got ridiculous sh*t for having this opinion!

[Santi]

The one day we needed a Flamini 2 footer and he was nowhere to be seen. Would've gone for Cesc rather than Costa as well, Costa is crap anyway and Cesc is always round the ref like a little groupie.

Being in the referee's face is actually something we need to do all the f***ing time. Its proven to be effective so many times. We're far too nice. When we got tackled we just get up and thats it. Where is the heart? Where is the passion?

We need to be in the ref's face every chance we got. If koscielny went down today and screamed murder and our team would of got in the ref's face, Costa would of been off.

It does not make us a likeable team, but we gives a f**k? We are not here to be likeable, we are here to win.

Agree, I miss the days when we used to have this fight but still absolutely hate Fabregas' acting like a little rat all the time, he does it too much.

[ThisIsNotAnID]

This won't be a popular view, but Gabriel was naive. Perhaps reacting the way he did to the provocation by Costa is a sign of heart, but it is not a sign of brains.

If you want passion then Paulista's approach is great. I want to beat Chelsea. And you do not do that by allowing Costa to get under your skin. You do that by playing Chelsea at their own game and playing it better.

Costa smashed Kos in the face and gets away with it? Don't clash with him and risk a sending off. Grit your teeth, brew that hate nice and slow, and wind the sucker up all game long until he is the one who loses it and gets sent off.

Revenge extracted, one man advantage secured, job done.

Instead, Gabriel goes out in a blaze of glory. Might be good for his Arsenal fan credo, but bloody useless for the team.

It shouldn't even be an unpopular opinion. Gabriel was more than naive, he was stupid. The worst part for me was that he didn't even get the second yellow because of some truly harmful tackle on Costa, all he did instead was some light touch to Costa's shin right infront of the referee.

As for the people blaming the referee, Costa didn't commit a single foul against us accor ding to the records and his last red card came in 08-09. This is what he does and he has perfected it. He plays dirty behind the backs of the referees, they don't see it and he's nor carded. Gabriel did something stupid right infront of the referee and he was rightfully sent off.

Again, all of these red cards points to our mentality in matches like this, something that has been instilled by the manager.

[Jackson]

As for the people blaming the referee, Costa didn't commit a single foul against us accor ding to the records and his last red card came in 08-09. This is what he does and he has perfected it. He plays dirty behind the backs of the referees, they don't see it and he's nor carded.

That's more reason to blame the refs, don't they watch matches back and see all the sly c*** tricks? Every fan in the country knows what Costa goes out on the pitch to do every game just not the W****rs in black

[Denis_E]

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/09/meet-di ... -in-soccer

[Cripps]

Keown on motd2 and how he would have played him

Well worth a watch.

[DiamondGooner]

Keown on motd2 and how he would have played him

Well worth a watch.

Didn't make any sense though, he basically said he would of done the same as Gabriel but would of held back last minute ......... easy to say that sitting on a couch and you not getting slapped in the face and a constant barrage of insults from Costa.

Fact is Gabriel did nothing wrong to warrant that red, he's standing in front of Costa, had his back to him and Costa convinced the ref Gabs stood on his feet.

[Cripps]

Gabriel kicked out. His red is deserved. Costa getting off is the problem though as he should have been off 3 times for what he did to kos

[greengoonerie]

A few things on the Battle of the Brazilians:

1. I haven't seen a camera angle which showed Gabriel standing/stamping on Costa's foot - has anyone else?

2. Costa claimed he was trod on. Mike Dean either saw it or didn't see it. Whatever, he gave a second yellow for it, which in itself is interesting, as i thoguht it would be a straight red if that's what Gabriel did and Dean saw.

3. Cesc Fabregas let himself down hugely on Saturday. He was in Deans face the entire game, and FWIW i'm done with any residual admiration I had for the guy. He behaved like an absolute Chav, and reminded me of Cashley in his later days with Chelsea. Sad from a once great player.

4. The camera angles clearly show Koc being face pushed and elbow swiped by Costa - this in istelf should warrant a suspension. Both the Lino and Dean missed those incidents. However, there is a precedent for retrospective action, and this should happen with Costa.

5. Dean saw Kocielny being bumped by Costa but did nothing. Why?

6. Gabriel was scratched by girly Costa - I can't figure why he didn't at least refer to it when Dean was booking him. Machismo perhaps?

7. Dean either saw and ignored, or didn't see Costas kick out at the Ox later on. Whatever, he gave nothing.

All things considered its fair to say that:

a. Costa should be suspended for his part in all of this
b. Dean should be relegated to parks football for a year for failing to adequately control, observe and apply the laws of the game during the match - he really was terrible all day.
c. Gabriel was stupid to get himself so wound up.
d. Arsenal once again lacked a cutting edge up front before the incident.

the end of a very damning week for Project Wenger.

[StLGooner]

Wenger teams these days = Mentally weak

I wouldn't doubt if that whole fiasco was a part of Mourinho's game plan. He knows how mentally weak we are and he knows Wenger's predictability.

[Cripps]

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/pre ... ID=HP_BN_1

Chelsea players admit it. Hope refs take notice

[Arsene Nose]

Costa charged by FA for violent conduct.

[Zenith]

Costa charged by FA for violent conduct.

Diego Costa faces three-match ban after Chelsea striker is charged by FA for clash with Arsenal's Laurent Koscielny

• Diego Costa clashed with Arsenal defenders Gabriel and Laurent Koscielny
• Gabriel was sent off before Arsenal were beaten at Stamford Bridge
• Costa escaped with just a yellow card in the London derby
• But he has now been charged for his tussle with Frenchman Koscielny
•Gabriel has been charged for taking too long to leave the field
• And both clubs have been charged with failing to control their players

Diego Costa is facing a three-match ban for grappling with Laurent Koscielny during Chelsea's win over Arsenal on Saturday.

The striker appeared to claw at the Frenchman's face as they battled for the ball at Stamford Bridge.

The incident went unpunished but the Football Association have now charged the Spain international retrospectively with violent conduct.
FA chiefs studied controversial referee Mike Dean's match report on the incident towards the end of the first half at Stamford Bridge before unanimously deciding to punish the Chelsea forward.

Costa was booked, but it was not been made clear whether it was for the incident with Koscielny or his exchange with Gabriel that led to the Arsenal defender's red card.

The Brazilian was followed down the runnel by midfield team-mate Santi Cazorla in the second half as he was given his marching orders following two yellow cards.

Gabriel has been charged with improper conduct for his behaviour following his dismissal, whilst team-mate Cazorla has been warned for his behaviour following his sending off. Both clubs have been charged with failing to control their players

Costa has until 6pm on Tuesday to respond while Gabriel and both clubs have until the same time on Thursday.

Chelsea went on to win the grudge match at Stamford Bridge 2-0 after goals from Kurt Zouma and Eden Hazard.

Blues boss Jose Mourinho was seething when Costa was retrospectively sanctioned in February for treading on Liverpool's Emre Can, part of what the Chelsea boss perceived as a 'campaign' against his side which included a Sky Sports montage entitled 'Costa's Crimes'.

But Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said he hoped referee Dean would look again at Costa's actions before filing his match report.

'The match officials should have been aware of Costa's reputation during his first 14 months in the Barclays Premier League', Wenger said, but statistics show the striker did not commit a foul in the match.

Gabriel became involved after Costa grappled with Koscielny, pushing the defender in the face with his hands before catching him with a flailing arm.

And Zouma has since admitted Costa deliberately cheats.

He told BeIn Sport: 'No, we're not surprised because we know Diego. Everyone knows Diego and this guy likes to cheat a lot and put the opponent out of his game.

That happened in the game but he's a really nice guy. We're proud to have him, like the other players, and we're happy to win this.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... clash.html

[GoonerAlexandre]

f**k off, what a biased charging though

Hell, they've even warned Cazorla for his behaviour after the sending off. What the heck did he do, wait around OUTSIDE the pitch?

Charged Gabriel for taking too long

f***ing pathetic, even if Costa's been charged

[Zenith]

This is basically the FA admitting Mike Dean and his officials failed to meet the required standards to officiate a Premier League match. They too should face consequences for their shambolic performance as match officials.