Tag Archives: Arsenal

A hat trick of defeats; a hat trick of bad VAR decisions

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VAR was supposed to bring consistency into the game. To reduce mistakes made by referees on decisions they either missed, or thought were worse (or no as bad) in the heat of the moment.

When it was being bought in, one comment was “it will ruin talking about football as we will no longer have a bad referee mistake to talk about over a pint”.

They were right to an extent that we no longer talk about poor on pitch decisions over a (socially distanced) pint. But instead of VAR bringing consistent and improved decision making, we now spend our time debating if the right decision was made by a referee spending 2 or 3 minutes watching replays from the comfort of somewhere in middle-England.

Arsenal have lost 3 games already this season. Liverpool, Manchester City and Leicester City.

Whilst in non of the games did we do enough to win, we have been on the wrong end of poor VAR decisions at key times that could have seen the game swing towards us.

With 2 minutes gone in the game between Arsenal and Liverpool at Anfield, Kieran Tierney and Sadio Mane were both heading towards the byline.

The Senegalese winger took a step towards Tierney, thrusting his elbow into the Arsenal players throat in the process.

It was an unnatural movement and was clearly violent conduct, a red card offence. VAR decided the referee had not made a mistake in only issuing a yellow card.

It would have left Liverpool playing with 10-men for 88 minutes.

In the 25th minute Arsenal took the lead before Liverpool equalised 3 minutes later. Their goal scorer? Sadio Mane.

Liverpool would win 3-1 and Mane would be named man of the match. He should have been sent off.

Arsenal’s next defeat would be against Manchester City.

Just before half time at 1-nil down, Gabriel went up for a corner. He was challenged by Kyle Walker, who went with his feet rather than his head.

Both men were jumping off the ground, with Walker’s foot being at the same height as Gabriel’s head as headed down. It was a high foot. All day long.

VAR gave nothing and the game continued.

Then against Leicester at home.

The score was 0-0 when Alexandre Lacazette rose at the near post to head it in, the ball bouncing off the far post.

The linesman immediately put his flag up, clearly thinking Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had touched it in.

Auba was in an offside position but did not touch the ball, and was not interfering with play. The linesman’s decision should have been overturned.

Instead, VAR supported the linesman’s flag by decided that Granit Xhaka was offside.

As the corner came in, Xhaka was standing on the keeper, but was not offside.

When Lacazette headed the ball, Xhaka had taken a step to his left and Kasper Schmeichel a step to his right.

This meant that whilst Xhaka was ahead of all outfield Leicester players, he was not interfering with the site lines of Schmeichel. He was not in an offside position.

The problem is VAR seemed to not use all the angles.

Based on the top picture, Xhaka was in an offside position, interfering with the keeper. But the side on view removes depth perception.

When you then look at the view from behind the goal, it is clear and obvious that Xhaka and Schmeichel were not as close to each other as the side on picture made it.

VAR should have overruled the linesman’s clear and obvious error and allowed the goal.

Neither Aubameyang or Xhaka were interfering with play, and therefore not offside.

In all 3 games we had further chances to score.

Lacazette missed a chance to make it 1-1 against Liverpool, and 1-0 against Leicester, whilst Aubameyang missed a chance against Manchester City to make it 1-1.

Had the strikers done their job, the poor VAR decisions would not have had an impact.

But as it is, Arsenal were let down by the officials.

A goal incorrectly disallowed, a red card not given, a penalty turned down.

We have lost 3 games this season, siting in 10th place and for the first time there is a little bit of pressure on Mikel Arteta.

A hat trick of defeats; a hat trick of poor VAR decisions.

Keenos

Arsenal new boys “best signings in years”

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Over the summer criticism of Edu creeped in as the transfer window rolled on.

The criticism was not unfounded, as Arsenal publicly struggled in their pursuit of Houssem Aouar and only completed the signing of Thomas Partey on the last day of the season.

But praise actually needs to be given for the transfer business we did over the summer. Especially with the recruitment of Thomas Partey and Gabriel.

Arsenal signed Brazilian centre back Gabriel on September 1st for a fee in the region of £24million.

He came with a good reputation in France, having impressed for Lille last season.

But there were questions marks.

Prior to 2019/20, he had a couple of uninspiring loan deals at Troyes before joining Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb, where he made just one league appearance for each club’s senior team.

His statistics, however, held up well.

Whether it was aerial duels, ground duels or passing, he was producing better statistics than anyone at Arsenal. Although this came with the caveat that he was playing in France.

He has taken to English football like a duck to water and should already be considered one of the best central defenders in the league.

When you consider Manchester City and Manchester United have spent so much on central defenders in recent years, and Chelsea had to settle on vetran Thiago Silva, Gabriel feels like a real coup.

Virgil van Dijk aside, it is a struggle to name a better central defender in the league than Gabriel. And at 22 (and with van Dijk out for a year), Gabriel will quickly establish himself as the best in the league.

Thomas Partey was signed on the last day of the transfer window.

We have only seen him for 90 minutes in the Europa League, but he confirmed what we already know about him – that he is a beat of a central midfielder.

A few people expected Partey to replace Granit Xhaka as the midfield anchor. But this would result in Partey losing 50% of his influence.

Just because you are a defensive midfielder, does not mean that your job is to sit in front of the defence.

Take Patrick Vieira for example.

One of the greatest midfielders to have ever played the game, he always played with someone behind him – Emmanuel Petit or Gilberto for Arsenal and Didier Deschamps for France.

That allowed Vieira to press forward, to bully players across the park. If he was the anchor, he would have to be more statics. Cleaning up rather than dominating.

Partey is in a similar mould.

You want the Ghanaian to have the freedom to press opponents regardless of where they are on the pitch.

Against Rapid Wein we saw this.

He would push forward, bullying players, with Mo Elneny playing behind him providing that cover.

Partey’s game is ready made for the Premier League.

In Partey and Gabriel Arsenal have made two big signings. Two players that we have missed for a decade.

A dominant central defender and an equally dominant central midfielder.

They are the men Edu now needs to build the team around for the next 5 years.

We might have finished the transfer window not adding the creativity we craved, but through Edu’s recruitment and Mikel Arteta’s coaching, we now look more defensively solid.

Once a manager has built that solid foundation, he will transition into a more attacking style of play.

Partey and Gabriel are Arsenal’s best signings in years.

We are looking good.

Keenos

Leicester will test how far Arsenal have come under Mikel Arteta

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733 days ago, it felt like the dawn of a new era at Emirates Stadium. Just over two years ago, the Gunners put on a scintillating display to brush Leicester aside and climb into the top four. It was without doubt one of the most memorable matches in Unai Emery’s ill-fated time in charge. Sunday’s repeat of the fixture, two seasons on, could be the catalyst that kickstarts the Mikel Arteta era at Arsenal.

In their first European game of the season, Arsenal made hard work of beating Rapid Vienna. It was a laboured and lethargic victory, the kind which have become common under Arteta, as he seeks to toughen the core of a previously brittle squad. 

The debut of £45 million summer signing Thomas Partey was symbolic of the strength his manager is attempting to instil across the whole team. The Ghanaian won 10 of 13 duels he contested, also completing five tackles. On the ball, he had 102 touches and finished with a passing accuracy of 83%. Partey was purposeful, whilst his team-mates often lacked intent and incisiveness.

Despite an accomplished debut from their new recruit and a win in Vienna, Arsenal still have several issues to fix. Most importantly, they must become more unpredictable and dynamic when in possession. On too many occasions since the start of the season, they have looked passive and pedestrian, struggling to make killer passes into the final third. 

This has led to an over-reliance on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to bail them out of trouble, which he did once again on Thursday. Although the Gabon international is a serial goalscoring threat, he needs help up front. The lack of support he often receives is one of the downfalls of Arteta’s favoured 3-4-3 formation. 

This shape makes Arsenal more difficult to beat defensively(they have conceded the second-fewest goals in the Premier League so far this season) but nullifies aspects of their attacking threat as a consequence. In his first 10 months at the helm, the Spaniard has preferred a more cautious approach, attempting to keep his team in games from first whistle to last. 

This sound and pragmatic philosophy has so far payed off. But, for Arsenal to avoid a repeat of the manner in which they stagnated under Emery, his successor must allow his players to be more adventurous in attack. Arteta did this to great effect in the second half against Rapid Vienna, when he introduced Hector Bellerin. The full-back’s runs down the right flank afforded Nicolas Pepe time and space to take up dangerous attacking positions. When Pepe cut inside, this allowed Bellerin the time to deliver dangerous balls into the penalty area, which resulted in Arsenal’s winner. 

That winner serves as a sign that Arteta is intent on creating a side that will evolve into an attacking machine, if all goes to plan. The first phase of making his Arsenal team tougherlooks to have been completed. Now comes the next phase of crafting a squad that attacks with ruthlessness and scores for fun. 

For that, there is no better place to start than going toe to toe with a high-flying Leicester, who sit above the Gunners on goal difference. In a clash of great importance for both sides, a convincing win could be one that signals the arrival of Arteta’s Arsenal.

Zac Campbell