By Samuel A. November 5, 2023
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta went all in at the Premier League refereeing after a gross injustice on Tyneside, before turning attention to the shortcomings of his own team.
Arteta angrily outlined his discontent at a truly bizarre sequence that saw Gordon’s goal checked for three violations before the VAR finally awarded Newcastle the goal, making Arsenal furious. Arteta described the controversial decision to award Newcastle’s winning goal against Arsenal as “disgraceful” and “embarrassing”.
Anthony Gordon’s goal survived the triple VAR check with Arsenal arguing the ball had gone out of play in the build-up and Gabriel was then pushed in the buildup.
Claims for an apparent offside were also not upheld after VAR deemed they could not determine the moment of contact when the ball was passed to Gordon.
“It’s a disgrace,” Arteta said in his post match interview. “It’s embarrassing. That’s how I feel and that’s how everybody feels in that dressing room. You cannot imagine the amount of messages we’ve got saying this cannot continue. It’s embarrassing. I’m sorry, embarrassing.”
The Arsenal manager added: “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.” Gordon’s goal handed the Gunners to their first Premier League defeat of the season.
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe, on the other hand, saw matters rather differently. “It looked a good goal to me,” he said.
Arteta’s fury with Newcastle’s goal continued in his press conference: “We have to talk about the result because we have to talk about how the hell this goal is stand up. It’s incredible. I feel embarrassed, but I have to be the one coming now here to try to defend the club and please ask for help because it is an absolute disgrace this goal is allowed. It’s an absolute disgrace. It’s not a goal. For many reasons it’s not a goal. For more than one reason it’s not a goal. It’s too much at stake. We put so much effort, it’s so difficult to compete at this level, and it’s an absolute disgrace. I feel embarrassed. I’ve been more than 20 years in this country, and this is nowhere near the level to describe this as the best league in the world. I am sorry.”
Asides the poor VAR decision, another talking point was the lackluster performance of Havertz, who couldn’t fill up the boots of Martin Ødegaard in his absence. Asides the poor challenge on Sean Longstaff, he played through the game in his usual languid style to very little effect. Arteta’s decision to pay Chelsea £65m for the German was a surprise at the time and still looks like a project of vanity. With the influential and gifted Gabriel Jesus prone to injury, Arteta could and should’ve opted for a striker instead of signing Havertz in a position that already had FOUR top players that could be utilized in those positions. It is certainly something Arteta must revisit in January, with Brentford’s Ivan Toney the obvious target, alongside Victor Osimhen.
There is still plenty of time for Arsenal and Arteta to put this right in this team full of talent and stop turning blind eyes to below par performances that are not helping the team, especially from Havertz. VAR will be the big talking point of this game, along with Arteta’s outburst, but there are also matters closer to home for Arsenal’s manager to examine.
