One of the controversial incidents from Arsenal’s match against Everton yesterday was Ben Godfrey’s stamp on Takehiro Tomiyasu.
The officials deemed the Everton man’s action not malicious, including VAR even though it appeared he knew what he was doing.
The referee did not send the Englishman off for the incident, and that decision left most Arsenal fans fuming.
Gary Neville, who spent most of his playing career at Manchester United, is convinced Godfrey 100% meant to hurt the Arsenal man.
He said on Sky Sports’ coverage of the game via Sun Sports: “As a professional, he 100% means that.
“I can see why VAR has said it is accidental, we couldn’t prove it but as a professional he meant it but I can see why it is not a red.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
The decision not to send Godfrey off is just another example of why VAR is still too inconsistent.
In another game, the referee may have shown him the red card immediately.
Thankfully, Tomiyasu didn’t get hurt too badly as he is one of Arsenal’s most impactful players in this campaign.
The Japanese star still did his job last night and will hope to help the team win the next game.
It looked bad in slow motion but realistically why would Godfrey intentionally stomp on Tomiyasu? I can’t stand Dean but in the cold light of day he probably got this one right. On another day though he probably gets sent off (or if his last name was Xhaka)
How Dean missed the foul on Tavares immediately before Everton’s first goal is another matter…
I would like to say NO but i cant say with 100% certainty. I think he was lucky to stay on wether he meant it or not.
I wasn’t aware that accidental comes into the equation when play is dangerous?
We’ve all seen guys going for a challenge with eyes 100% on the ball and end up with a boot in the opposition’s face…it’s a red because it was dangerous end of story, intent is an after thought for extended bans.
Same way someone may clip an attacker and be the last man and get a red, regardless of accidental or not.
No excuse though, we were absolutely pathetic and in our last 2 games made teams that can barely string 2 passes together look great. Deserved to lose.
Also proud of Tomi….got on with it like a real man! Champion in my books, much better than rolling around for 2 minutes straight…
Refused to show weakness, need more players like that! MA could learn a thing or two about cojones from him.
Sorry PJ, our similar comments overlapped.Yes I wish we had more like Tomi.
The fact that Tomi is such a decent guy who did not overreact as others might have done, helped Godfrey escape the axe .As it happens I thought he was one of only three Arsenal players who were decent last night. In fact I thought he was our best player.
Iys in the facilitation of dangerouse play 2 inches higher he’s damaged his eye. That was a play out of control as if a 2 footed lunge would be. He should have seen red especially when you see so many accidents trips resulting in yellow cards. This is the second game in a week where VAR has done us and its not good enough the pgmol are a joke
The question shouldn’t be if his actions warranted a red card, as that would require the official in charge to actually read the player in question’s mind, the real question should be why didn’t his actions, intentional or otherwise, result in at least a yellow card…if that had been the case his later reckless challenge on Saka, which did result in him receiving a yellow, would have never happened, as he would have been already on a yellow, or, if it did, would have saw him justifiably tossed from the game…regardless, this matters little as based on our negative tactics I doubt we would have reversed the result even if they had gone down to 10 men
Watch it again and you will see he did look at Tomi just before he put his foot down then looked away as he did it to escape punishment.Red card and a long ban should of been the punishment.
Absolutely agree and watching Neville deliver his verdict and Carragher quietly in agreement, it looked horrible and deliberate
I agree that it deserved a red but in one way it remains a side issue to the awful perf we gave.
Yes, it MIGHT have meant we won but in the longer run it would still have not meant much , even if we had an extra three points.
Our REAL problems lie far deeper than anything an extra three points can fundamentally alter.