VAR leaves the Gunners feeling robbed
Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal squad have again come under the spotlight after their 2-0 loss against West Ham on Thursday night. In what started off to look like it was going to be all Arsenal’s night was halted after 13 minutes of play, when an attempted clearance from Gabriel and Zinchenko landed into the path of Bowen who squared the ball into Soucek who put the Hammers 1-0 in front.
After a lengthy check from VAR the goal was given and Arsenal were given the short end of the stick, going behind 1-0. In my opinion and from what I’ve seen of the replays and the countless screenshots going viral on social media, the ball was out of play before Bowen squared it into the box and shouldn’t have stood. Now I understand why it was given, technically, because Bowen’s body was in the way of the camera, you can’t 100% confirm the ball went out of play and after all the drama this year over ball’s being in and out the play, I get why they’ve given it, but I don’t agree.
With the same thing happening, you’d expect the Premier League to come in and do something about it but they don’t seem to be even thinking about a way to fix these issues. In a lot of sports around the world, there’s cameras inside of goalposts to make it easier for officials to make the right call, in some sports there’s cameras that fly over entire stadiums so that they have all angles and decision’s like these are easier to make, but with the Premier League, it’s like they don’t want to make these changes that will actually help the game rather than hinder it.
The same goes for the offside technology that was used at the World Cup and is used in leagues across the world, why haven’t the Premier League invested into it? Something that’s virtually impossible to get wrong, something that doesn’t rely on humans, who clearly make errors from time to time, but they chose to stay with the outdated system and wonder why there’s constant problems.
For me it feels dodgy, I can’t understand why they wouldn’t make their lives easier and the game better for doing so. With the game constantly evolving and rules being changed every year, why can’t they make changes that will actually improve the game over hindering it? If they can’t get it right, then why even have it at all?
Not only that, but I personally feel like Arsenal should have been awarded at least two penalties after Jesus and Saka were both brought down in the box, but VAR ruled that both challenges with “too soft” to be given, and for me, they were both clear penalties and left me feeling like we were completely robbed.
I hate to blame a loss of the officials and yes, we should have been more clinical in our chances, but that first goal took a lot of the pressure off West Ham and left us chasing a equaliser, changing the whole mood of the game, and although Arsenal did put their heads down and kept pushing, it changed the game. I think that if the goal was ruled out, the game ends differently.
What’s your thoughts Gooners?
Daisy Mae
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…
Stop making excuses, we didn’t deserve points from that game, that’s all there is to it!
Arsenals to predictable… No faith in bench players.. Sideways and back passes the norm.. Backline not attacking the spaces to draw the opponents out of positions… painfully slow buildup
Robbed ?
We were awful and it’s been coming for weeks
Martinelli
Ziny
White
Jesus has two golden chances and is NOT a striker
Saka
All have been awful and they have been in decline for weeks
And maybe Liverpool were robbed a week ago. I support the point on improving var where possible – I think the only possible hindrance would be some necessary additions to stadiums? – but we weren’t robbed. We were *probably* unlucky with the first goal, but the referees did their jobs correctly, so that’s where it ends. The players didn’t respond adequately and whu played their game well, so we lost. Introspection is needed, not looking for outside forces to blame.
Of course Arsenal need to self-reflect and improve performances. However, that does note negate the concern that the use of technology was suboptimal in that specific situation. Whether or not the ball had gone out should be a matter of fact rather than opinion given currently available technology.
We agree on the points – my concern is that the balance tends towards blaming externalities, the self reflection side seems to be forgotten. It’s easier to feel “robbed”.
Your argument against the technology as being “suboptimal” should also be applied to the official who awarded the goal then!
As you’ve argued against VAR technology vehemently in the past, if one had taken your preferred method and relied on the official, you would still have had the exact same conclusion.
Would you then have argued about opinion versus fact?
Reply to David.
Davi , Shrewd profoundly true and sober minded sense from you,once AGAIN!
I do find articles written clearly in the absense of REAL non biased thought by ANY writer intensely FRUSTRATING,when surely all MATURE MINDED FANS ONLY WANT THE ACTUAL TRUTH.
Only when we have TRUTH and not more boringly common fan bias, can we ever hope to begin to put right whatever is causing any problem.
THAT is why bias and lack of real thought offends my intellect, whenever and from whomsoever it comes.
Never from you though, as I cannot help noticing!!
As with the Newcastle game we should of defended better then the poor var decisions would not of mattered.
@John
Exactly. We were at 6s and 7s for that goal, all over the place. Poor Raya looked like he was playing Wakamole.😂
IMO which is plausible, we need a proper RB & a striker. Our buildup play is now predictable.
Odegaard & Gabriel were the only players on the pitch because Rice played with a handbrake of too much respect for his old side.
Saka has grown abysmally complacent & is feeling indispensable so should be made to sit out few games.
I think the writer, in contrast to her other article on this game published only ninety minutes earlier, avoids the reality of WHY we lost, in her quest to lay the blame on VAR.
I DO, however,firmly agree with all she writes about the PREM leagues unwise reliance on primitive technology which has been well and effectively surpassed in other countries And that, as the writer says, is an appallingly lax error by those in charge our OUR Prem.
But on the wider theme of this piece, I disagree that we lost because of VAR. We lost because we could not score and did not look like scoring, had we played all night long.
AND because we made defensive errors and had an entirely predictable tactical shape and constant lack of passing pace too, ALL OF WHICH are the responsibility of MA to fix.
I am unsure he looks like even WISHING to change them either, sadly!
Jon you make excellent points.
My takeaways from the game were
1. Buildup was too slow
2. Virtually no movement off the ball
3. Predictable tactics that need to change
4. All 3 attackers are not on form
5. We have no striker threat. No threat through the middle and no presence in the box.
Blaming VAR deflects from the fact we were poor against West Ham.
Arteta’s tactics were abominable, Jesus continues to waste chances, and we are all possession and no finishing.
Last year we were quick in the buildup and direct in attack and kept teams off balance.
This year we have regressed tactically in my opinion, and have become 1 dimensional and Predictable.
Durand, we are in COMPLETE agreement, then I regret to have to say, as NEITHER OF US wishes what is plainly happening almost all season long , despite our still promising league position.
I see any realistic chances to win the title now ENTIRELY dependent on JANUARY bringing in several quality new players . And I see that possibility as vanishingly small, TBH!
Of all the leading clubs in the Prem we are by a distance the most predictably STATIC in shape and in passing pace.
We have many top class players but the entirely predictable tactics used lets them and us down.
Jon, it seems we have some agreement regarding VAR!!
It is unbelievable that the PL and PGMOL are way behind the technology available, especially as the PL are supposed to be the richest in the world.
I watched on in disbelief as we were outplayed, outfought and outwitted throughout the game.
There is no doubt in my mind that teams have sussed out our play and, at the moment, MA doesn’t seem to have an answer.
Ken We DO have much to agre about on VAR , leavi ng aside our basic disgreement on not having TWO refs but only ONE , for me anyway.
Refs do themselves no favours IMO, by constantly being undermined and this losing general respect across fans, players and all who know football by agreeing , under presssure, from VAR and changing their original decision, which happens almost 100% of all the times VAR has ever intervened, except TWICE, in all those four years , I believe.
I wish to concentrate on what can be done to improve VAR,whilst accepting those like me have lost th battle to get it gone. I wish to limit all VAR interventions to ONLY NON SUBJECTIVE CALLS.
No re reffing penalty area fouls for a pen or no pen. No rereffing handballs or not handballs. Almost ALL handballs are now ball to hand or to arm anyway and TRUE handballs are fairly rare, not extinct of course, but still only a minority of all given handball desiosions. VAR just for in or out of area fouls; in or out of goalline when a balls is played before goals scored , like last nights match. Keep VAR for wrong identification of correct player when a red is issued. Keep VAR for alll NON SUBJECTIVE CALLS, as only those are the ones that cause regular controversy.
I, like almost all football folk, LONG for a return to when handball meant a deliberate hand or arm towards the ball, not the reverse, as now happens
IMO, the general worldwide outcry against the regular farce that handball has become will, INEVITABLY, lead to a return to sanity by IFAB. I pray it happens this coming summer. I think we both realise that probably next season a chip will be put inside the ball to stop the ball over the line decisions which may yet MEAN WE DO NOT WIN THE TITLE THIS SEASON.
But as you say, we did not lose last night because of VAR but for a poor all round display to a better team who fully deserved to win
I m keen to know how you see my suggestions Ken and what ones you agee with and reject, and WHY.
I agree that tactically we are naive, far too rigid, move the ball far too slowly and are easy to set up against and far too predictable. Almost all on here seem to say much the same. Sigh!
I have Covid again right- mildly fortunately – now, so am staying indoors til next week.
Hope your Christmas was a good one and HAPPY NEW YEAR AND GENUINE BEST WISHES TO YOU, OLD CHUM.
No robbery took place Daisy Mae. Yes, we were unlucky that Oliver gave the first goal, after the ball probably did go out, but the second goal was sound, and both Jesus & Saka need to go back to diving school.
Sometimes VAR works “unfairly” for us, as it did against Liverpool, but no complaints from you then, and most of the time they do get it right, although I’ll agree that we have had some very wrong VAR calls in the past.
Offside tech, as used worldwide was voted against by the clubs, but I believe there’s been a rethink on that and we’ll soon see it in the Premier League, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see dedicated goal line cameras or chips inside the ball to resolve issues like the one last night and against Newcastle recently.
West Ham were deserved winners.
We are not good enough to win the title with performances like that. Champions take the rub of the green in both ways and push on with a winning run of games. I don’t see that coming from us without a striker or a left back. Out of form players need to be dropped, Martinelli is running around like a chicken with no head on and Jesus needs a compass to find the net.
What I don’t understand is that for about five seconds Amazon Prime showed a view from the opposite side of the goal, showing the front rather than the rear of Bowen and the ball clearly over the line, at which point the commentator said he didn’t think it would be given. No one seems to mention this, and I’m now thinking I hallucinated it.
TBH I don’t remember seeing this, but as you say it was only for five seconds.
If I’m thinking of the same one, that view is at an angle so you can’t really tell if it was fully out of play. If the view was in line, it would be obscured by the goal post and netting.
It’s why they keep telling about needing a bird’s eye view from above, or a chip in the ball
Talking* not telling
Ive supported Arsenal for almost 60 years and this is an average side compared to all the others ive known. I think the standard of football everywhere is no where neer as good as it was 20 years ago. Arsenal , Man unt, even liverpool you cant compare them to 20 years ago. As for var whoever thought it up should be certified, its useless.
Jo, I agree with your last line ONLY.
As for the rest, you are living in the past my friend.
I HAVE BEEN WATCHING US SINCE 1958 and can state without any hesitation at all that modern teams- your own listed ones and all other top level ones – would “THRASH” the lesser, slower ones of twenty years and more ago.
POSSIBLY EXCEPT our own Invincibles.
Mind I SAY POSSIBLY EXCEPT, not DEFINITELY EXCEPT.
Football improves in standard, not necessarily in excitement , but in STANDARD, each passing decade.
REALITY!!
There are cameras on top of the stadium which the FA refused to use. Scandalous.
Im afraid your wrong my friend, they may be quicker but half of them couldnt hit a barn door from 10 yards. You cant compare our forwards to bergkamp henry, perez. As for vieira, and co, well. Man unt today against scholes giggs, beckham. Sorry mate looks better today because its quicker, dosent make it better.