Mikel Arteta set to face premier league panel tomorrow to decide His punishment after VAR rant with unanimous verdict on Arsenal statement
Arsenal have become the latest Premier League club to take their grievances with officiating public.
Less than a month after Liverpool released a statement following VAR controversy at Tottenham, the Gunners have now done the same. Their release came after explosive comments from manager Mikel Arteta after his side were beaten by a solitary – and controversial – goal against Newcastle.
Anthony Gordon put the ball in the back of Arsenal’s net, but it was only confirmed after a lengthy check into three aspects of the goal. Firstly, there were suggestions the ball had gone out of play in the build-up, then there were accusations of a foul against Gabriel Magalhaes, before finally a contentious offside call. Ultimately, the goal was allowed to stand with the Magpies earning a valuable three points against their top-four rivals.
Arteta wasn’t about to take the result lying down however, branding the awarding of the goal as “embarrassing”, “unacceptable”, “a disgrace” and “sickening”. Arsenal then backed up their manager with the release of an official statement demanding that the PGMOL “urgently address the standard of officiating and focus on action which moves us all on from retrospective analysis, attempted explanations and apologies.”.
They added: “The Premier League is the best league in the world with the best players, coaches and supporters, all of whom deserve better.”
So in light of Arteta and Arsenal’s comments, we’ve asked our team of Mirror Football writers whether they were acceptable and whether both should face retrospective action for their stance…
John Cross
Mikel Arteta was absolutely right to call out the VAR decisions.
The day that TV pundits, journalists and the media in general complain about managers saying too much is the day we might as well all give up and go home!
Having gone through what Arteta said, I’m not sure he implies bias or questions the integrity of the officials anywhere which is the key to any potential FA charge and is what has got the likes of Jurgen Klopp in trouble in the past.
A manager can have a view and be outspoken – and Arteta has every right to be upset. I’m sitting on my sofa watching the game and, with my own eyes, saw the ball go out of play.
Rewind five years ago, the linesman puts up his flag. Now he doesn’t as he has got the VAR safety net. VAR then say they stick with the on-field decision. And there’s your problem, the on-field decision was to rely on VAR. What a farce.
