As Arsenal brushed Newcastle to the side with an ease we’ve rarely seen all season, the main thing most people seemed to be talking about was the incredible co-commentary of Don Goodman.

Fabian Schar left receives a red card from referee Mike Dean after fouling Arsenal s Gabriel Martinelli during the Premier League match at St James Park, Newcastle upon Tyne. Copyright: Lee Smith
Fabian Schar left receives a red card from referee Mike Dean after fouling Arsenal s Gabriel Martinelli during the Premier League match at St James Park, Newcastle upon Tyne. Copyright: Lee Smith

If there has been a more biased co-commentary performance this season, then I’ve forgotten about it.

It started early, with Granit Xhaka getting a stupid booking after just 20 minutes, prompting Goodman to spend most of the remaining 70 minutes urging him to get sent off.

“He’d be top of the list,” Goodman said about players you wouldn’t trust to play on a yellow card which, on the surface makes sense if you are crap at your job and not able to look at basic stats that other people compile for your education.

There’s no denying Granit Xhaka gets red cards but despite playing 160 games in the Premier League, and collecting 41 yellow cards in the process, not one of them has turned into a second-yellow red.

Not one.

Granit Xhaka has also only been sent off three times for Arsenal, twice in his first season and once this. In between, he had three full seasons without a red.

Granit Xhaka Premier League stats
Granit Xhaka Premier League stats via Transfermarkt

With about 87 minutes on the clock Goodman commented that Xhaka had ‘done well’ not to get sent off. He did better than you, Don. That’s for sure.

Other gems from Don Goodman during Newcastle United vs Arsenal included

  • Calling Dani Ceballos ‘naughty’ for being in pain after a tackle that saw Miguel Almiron go in the book.
  • Saying the red card for the horrendous, pointless tackle on Gabriel Martinelli was ‘borderline’ while repeatedly excusing it and saying that the only reason it wasn’t overturned was because it wasn’t a ‘clear and obvious error’.
  • Saying ‘that’s the world we live in’ when an Arsenal player fell over after getting clipped from behind while running, a foul we see 10 times a game, no matter who is playing.
  • Completely ignoring a late Callum Wilson barge on Mat Ryan after the keeper had claimed the ball and with nobody else around.

This isn’t a new thing from Goodman. Back in 2018 he was one of the points I noted after Arsenal had played his old side Wolves.

I wrote then:

There’s a more miserable commentator than Stewart Robson and It’s Don Goodman

Don Goodman
Don Goodman

He was unbearable. In fact, I was just constructing a tweet after only 10 minutes because he had been so relentless harsh on Arsenal when Wolves scored, not really backing me up.

The Arsenal crowd, that had been doing its best to get the team going, came in for criticism, as did just about everything Arsenal did. It was a hard listen, for sure and actually made me long for Stewart Robson. Yes. He really was THAT bad.

Who was he? It took until the second half to find out it was Wolves legend, Don Goodman.

Some of the best comments about Don Goodman

https://twitter.com/bajankris/status/1388878973128564745

https://twitter.com/daveterry44/status/1388860204071243780

https://twitter.com/freakinstunto/status/1388858062321111047