A seething Mikel Arteta described the officiating in Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat to Newcastle as “disgraceful” and “embarrassing” after referee Stuart Attwell and VAR Andy Madley allowed Anthony Gordon’s controversial winner to stand.
Gordon netted the decisive goal midway through the second half, but it was only awarded after a four-minute VAR review was conducted to analyse three separate incidents in the build-up to it.
The three contentious moments were: whether or not Joe Willock had kept the ball in play before crossing it into the box; whether or not Joelinton had fouled Gabriel Magalhaes before heading the ball across goal for Gordon to tap in; and whether or not either Joelinton or Gordon had been in an offside position.
Ultimately, the officials decided to give the goal with Gary Neville stating on Sky Sports that the VAR found “no conclusive” evidence to disallow it, much to Arteta’s visible dismay.
“We have to talk about the result because we have to talk about how the hell this goal [was allowed to] to stand up,” Arteta said in his post-match press conference. “It was incredible. I feel embarrassed.
“I come in here to defend the club and ask for help because it’s an absolute disgrace that this goal is allowed. It’s an absolute disgrace.
“For many reasons, it’s not a goal. There’s too much at stake. We put in so much effort to compete at this level and it’s an absolute disgrace. I’ve been more than 20 years in this country and this is nowhere the level [of officiating] to describe this as the best league in the world. I’m sorry.
“It makes it even worse, you just need to see one image and if you have any doubt you can look at the second one and if this a goal ok fine.”
When asked whether he would seek an explanation from the PGMOL, Arteta replied: “I don’t care. Honestly I don’t care what they say, it’s the outcome. It’s too late. Whatever they say it’s too late. It’s not a goal. It’s simple. It’s not a goal. Simple.
“For a goal to be allowed there are certain things prior to that that are not allowed in football. In here, in China, Japan, Spain, Italy and Portugal. They are not allowed.
“We lost three points today guys, do you know what that means? It’s too hard this league, there’s too much at stake. It’s embarrassing.”
Arteta refused to blame his players for losing their unbeaten start, saying: “I have to praise them. It’s not in their hands, it’s not in their control. I have to praise the players for the way they played here. How much they limited Newcastle to what they did and how much they tried. It’s incredible, honestly.”
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher had some sympathy with Arteta over the goal due to the inconclusive angle of whether the ball had gone out of play or not.
“The big one is about whether or not the ball went out,” he said on Saturday Night Football. “I don’t think there’s a foul while the offside is very difficult to see.
“There are lots of stills of the ball on the line or people saying on social media that the ball is out, but the camera angle we have here is not conclusive.”
He added: “What I would say is, since VAR came in, people have said it has tried to look for reasons to disallow a goal. If you’re then complaining about this situation, you can’t have the argument both ways.”
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