Theo got the ball on the edge of our area. He started to run, and he didn't stop until he had put through an inch perfect pass to Ade to score the goal which should have taken us through to the Champions League semi finals. My wonderful friend James and I went nuts. In a pub full of Liverpool fans (God knows why), we made a ridiculous amount of noise as we jumped up and down celebrating the emergence of a superstar and, more importantly, the fact that we were 6 minutes away from the semi finals of the most prestigious cup competition in the world. It was a fantastic feeling, and I was certain that the memory of that goal would stay with me untainted for a very long time. This was not to be the case.

We had literally only just sat down from the madness of the previous two minutes when Liverpool were awarded a ridiculously soft penalty which was duly dispatched by the otherwise anonymous Steven Gerrard. I do not want to get into debate about whether or not Liverpool should have been awarded the penalty (of course they should not). No, I want to look at the inconsistency in refereeing that we saw over the two legs. After all, it does not really matter if Ryan Babel was actually fouled by Kolo Toure or not. The fact is that if he was deemed to have been fouled, then it is very difficult to accept that the 'tackle' by Dirk Kuyt on Alex Hleb last week was legal. These two decisions have cost Arsenal a place in the last four of the Champions League.

People might say that it is too easy to look at the referee's decisions and ignore the flaws in the Arsenal team which contributed to our failure to proceed in the tournament, so I will acknowledge them now:

Firstly, without Rosicky, the team does not have a natural right winger in Emmanuel Eboue. I disagree with the majority of Arsenal fans who consistently moan about the Ivorian, but I recognise the fact that his contribution to the side is not necessarily as strong as it should be. Perhaps Theo Walcott should have started in his place, but we'll never know whether this would have made a difference.Secondly, playing Toure at right back and putting Senderos in the centre simply highlighted the fact that the squad is very short on central defenders, an issue which must be dealt with over the summer.

I will not go overboard criticising the side, because we have played well all season and it would be incredibly harsh to dismiss our plays over the last year as a failure when the team has vastly improved over the since finishing 4th in 2006/2007. Many of the negative, moaning Arsenal fans will come out with loads of absolute rubbish now; ignore them. We have a very talented bunch of players who will provide trophies in the years to come. I truly believe that. With a bit more luck with injuries and a couple of signings this team can be great.

Whilst I am happy to accept that Arsenal are by no means the finished article, ultimately two refereeing decisions were extremely costly and they have cost the side dearly. People constantly say that, when something happens in football which should not, 'this kind of thing happens in football' and 'referees are only human'. Yes, they are. But this does not excuse the ridiculous level of inconsistency that takes place in the officiating of the sport. It must be a bloody difficult job to referee a game, and you are never going to please everyone. But as a fan, all I want to know is that should my team lose the match, it has happened because we have been beaten by a better side or that we have gone down to a wonderful 30 yard strike. As it is, I have an extremely bitter taste in my mouth today due to inconsistent refereeing, as well as the gone off Tropicana I had this morning.

It is so rare these days that a game passes without there having been a contentious refereeing decision. A lot of this is due to that fact that football gets such an incredible amount of media coverage that every little decision can be analysed. But all one needs to do is look at a couple of the ridiculous, farcical decisions that Arsenal have had to deal with over the last couple of months in order to illustrate my point:
  • Adebayor has a goal ruled out for offside against 'Boro when the ball has been played off the opposition
  • The penalty conceded against Birmingham when Clichy won the ball, and the penalty not given to Arsenal when Ade was hauled down in the box
  • Dirk Kuyt attempting to rip Alex Hleb's arm off not being given as a penalty, yet Babel being tapped on the back being deemed a foul

It is not just Arsenal who suffer from these decisions, but since I only follow the Gunners I cannot comment on other teams. The question is what can be done to stamp out terrible decisions? It is a very difficult to find an answer to this. But the fact of the matter is that something has to happen. With so much at stake, matters should be decided by footballers, not referees. There are always going to be winners and losers in sport. Nobody is ever going to be entirely happy with what has taken place on the pitch. But more and more often, a lot of the talk is about a little man in a black uniform who interprets the game in his own way and is solely responsible for making decisions which affect many people. If only their decisions were not so inconsistent, perhaps I would not have felt like jumping off a bridge this morning.

The injustice of it all.