Honestly, are we not bored of talking about referees? Do they deserve more power? Should teams be docked points for crowding near them? How about we mic them up and hear from them after decisions?

It's only natural that referees are at the centre of footballing discourse but it is not their role or the point. It is an unavoidable paradox that we both love and hate to analyse them. Keeping referees in the back pocket as supporters is an easy way out when things get tough.

They are the upholders of law in a game that brings out unleashed emotion. The black and white in a world of colour. Officials are the people everyone knows we need but still don't want. They are an outside reason to blame for poor performance and another thing to get angry at. They answer so many questions but still leave much to be explained. They are the perfect foil for everything football throws up. They are the cold, robotic beings surrounded by vivid personality.

You can agree and disagree on individual moments, but almost always come together about one referee or another. Everyone remembers that decision made against their team and the unbridled anger and confusion it stirred up.

Arsenal have felt like this for a while. Across the last two seasons, in particular, they have too often been the ones involved when controversies have happened. Not that other teams have not been left to rue or debate contentious incidents, it's just that Arsenal really do find themselves engulfed in this stuff.

Some of this is because they are competing at the top end. They play more often on television than others, and when calls are made that impact them it has a bigger reach.

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Maybe the nature of Mikel Arteta's control-orientated style has meant more close games on the scoreline and therefore referee decisions have a bigger impact on results. It is not easy to determine.

We are not talking about moving one or two places in mid-table but actually progressing to the latter stages of the Champions League or going deep in a title race. Does it matter more? It certainly feels like it.

Arteta can reel off a long list of controversial calls with his team. Gabriel Martinelli's red card for two separate offences in the same move against Wolves over two years ago isn't the sort of thing usually picked up by referees but was here. The referee was Michael Oliver.

Then there were several grievances in the one goal away to Newcastle United last season. Did the ball go out of play? Was there a foul? Was there another foul? This led to a club statement. Where do we go from here?

Referees are scandals in other countries, more so than in England. In Turkey, France, and Spain there are investigations going on. This is high-level stuff.

Ultimately, what do the complaints actually help? Fighting for actual refereeing change and improvement is one thing but shouting into a void is another.

Club biases take over but one area we can find consensus is that referees not being a point of discussion is beneficial for everyone. It is a tiring debate.

Arsenal know this better than most. They dominated the first half of the season with referees so much so that Arteta was being blamed in some quarters for abusing 'the dark arts.' Had this taken over and distracted his team? Were referees becoming too big of a thing for them to deal with? It takes a major stretch in these conversations to keep them going for so long. Narratives have to narrative.

First it was Declan Rice 'delaying the restart in play', then it was Leandro Trossard. Both situations were unique and different. The rules weren't upheld outside of them which is possibly the biggest annoyance, but they rarely are.

Has anybody else been sent off for a second yellow card for kicking the ball away yet? It is easy to understand why Arsenal have been made to feel isolated here.

The rough comes with the smooth, though. It is hard to accept but the game is a better one if you do. The reality is that a great deal of fortune is at play when it comes to referees. Paying less attention to them will make the footballing experience a better one than ramping up focus and offering extra scrutiny.

Arsenal have been on the wrong side of some calls but have gained from others. This is how football works. It cannot be contained and will never will be.

Bayern Munich will say that Arsenal should have conceded a second penalty in their Champions League quarter-final tie last year. Arsenal argue that Bukayo Saka deserved one himself later on. Two wrongs don't make a right but this is sort of how it all goes.

In the Trossard game earlier this season, City were aggrieved at Oliver before Riccardo Calafiori's equaliser and then delighted when he produced red before half time. See how these things work?

To try and make something bigger from it all and to attach more meaning to these characters is to blow things wide open to an ugly, ugly world. Too much of football is being deconstructed in courtrooms and on paper as it is.

The game is too confusing to require other elements being considered. This does not excuse mistakes - because the standard of refereeing really is low and really is not good enough - but the answer is not to continue giving them more control or protection. It is also not to come down harder on them in public.

Managers screaming in their faces does not help. Supporters venting online or in the ground gets us nowhere, and claiming conspiracy where incompetence will do is not recommended.

Points deductions and referees do not go well together. Referees and attention are not a good duo either. Arsenal know how aggravating it all is and the last thing needed is more.