Piers Morgan moaned that VAR is “ruining football” after his team Arsenal were narrowly denied an opening goal against Brentford due to offside on Saturday evening. The Gunners thought they had taken a 1-0 lead before half-time through Leandro Trossard’s close-range header in the 5.30pm kick-off.
But a VAR check saw the goal chalked off a few moments later. Trossard was shown to – just – be beyond Gabriel Jesus whose header was initially saved by Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken before the Belgian converted the rebound.
Famous Arsenal fan Morgan wasn’t happy, though, and said on X (formerly Twitter): “FFS… VAR wrecking football yet again. I hate it so much.” Others asked whether VAR had drawn the correct line with it appearing to go through Jesus’ legs.
Some questioned that the offside line was drawn from Jesus’ shoulder rather than what appeared to be his furthest forward body part which looked to be his outstretched left leg.
It is not the first time Morgan and Arsenal have been left aggrieved by decisions that have gone against them.
Mikel Arteta was charged by the FA earlier this month after complaining about Arsenal’s defeat at Newcastle which he labelled an “absolute disgrace”. The Spaniard added: “It’s embarrassing, I’m sorry, embarrassing. I feel sick.
“That’s how I feel. I feel sick to be part of this. It is not good enough and we cannot accept that.” He was keen after their next match, a home win against Burnley, to praise the officials however.
The Gunners boss said: “And with the red card, yes. Thank you for asking me. The VAR was right. The referee was right. Really good decision.”
He explained ahead of Arsenal’s trip to the Gtech Community Stadium though that he fears the Premier League could lose some of its passion in its effort to clamp down on disrespect towards referees.
