Arsenal’s dip in form continued after a disappointing 1-1 draw with Brentford at the Emirates. The Gunners rode their luck at times, but will ultimately feel hard done by, by a dubious VAR decision not to disallow Brentford’s equaliser for offside.
One man who certainly felt aggrieved was Mikel Arteta. However, the manager also praised his team for a dominant display.
Here’s what he said after the game…
Arteta on the draw…
“A really difficult game, we knew that, it’s not a coincidence & credit to them. I thought we were really dominant in the game. We scored the goal against the super low block & after that, just disappointment.”
On VAR…
“Yes I just looked and it is offside yes. It is frustrating but they will probably give an explanation later in the week. Today we haven’t got one. You have to apply certain principles in defending but that depends on you following…”
“If we apply what the referee told us every single week, before the game, that blockers, if you are offside, it will be offside. It’s offside.”
On the performance…
“I think it was a really strong performance. They are a really tricky team to play against, but I think we did a lot in the game. To have what happened in the way it happened is frustrating.”
On Trossard…
“Really pleased for [Leandro Trossard] and the team because he’s a player who can contribute in big moments. I thought he did well today. We could exploit his talent. He is a really brave player when the game is under pressure.”
I agree with Arteta. We were robbed by awful refereeing again. Remember Man U?
Another poor decision to chalk off more points from our title challenge this season. The officiating today was so bad, the handball in the West Ham v Chelsea was fucking scandalous. I said it on here a few weeks ago when you see stuff like today happen, I do really begin to find myself questioning the authenticity of this league at times. A part of me is starting to believe that it wouldn’t be beyond the realms of difficulty for the Premier League with the assistance of the PGMOL to help sculpt the narrative across all ‘entertainment zones’ of the… Read more »
Prem refs are too incompetent to fix matches. They make these mistakes because they are awful refs, with very few exceptions.
The current IFAB laws specifically show that it cannot be a handball if the player is using his hand (outstretched or not) in the way Soucek (not sure of the spelling) did in the West ham-Chelsea match; there is an illustration of this exact situation. I think it is a good rule, but you don’t have to agree to accept that a referee should never award a penalty under these circumstances. No conspiracy theory needed.
CORRECTION. If a player is using his hand to break a fall then it’s always ball to hand since there’s little they can do. For Soucek, he’s already down if you look at the positioning of his legs. His body has enough balance like a person kneeling down so he can’t be breaking a fall. Handball all day and that Brentford goal was offside.
@adifferentgeorge Alright there Gervinho? You missed the point like the best striker ever. Read the news this morning
They “forgot” to draw the lines I mean WTAF
I was referring to the West Ham non-penalty and I am absolutely right about that–just look at the laws. The point I was making–which you missed–was that you can’t use that example to show anything. Just leave it out. Talk about the Toney goal of you want, but don’t compare the other–irrelevant–situation.
Lee Mason, is from Manchester and he was on VAR duty and ruled out Martinelli’s goal too. And as someone who used to work in financial services, quite literally every single handbook on corruption you get given to you tells you to be extremely suspicious of the following conditions — A large pool of liquidity with multiple benefactors A lack of transparency or audit trail around key decisions A clear and obvious conflict of interest No accountability to senior stakeholders Volume and consistency in the same type of ‘errors’ The same personnel or group of people involved The officiating around… Read more »
I think the officiating in the Premier League is often very poor. I think it is often inconsistent from game to game, and often even within games. But that’s not evidence of anything except incompetence. I often see calls favouring the home side. I often see calls favouring the “bigger” side. And, like it or not, we have been getting several of these questionable calls in our favour recently (especially regarding yellow cards–both Partey and–incredibly–Xhaka have gotten away with pretty obvious bookable offenses recently). Yesterday, there was a plausible argument for a penalty for handball against Nketiah (I think it… Read more »
I’m getting PTSD from those latter Wenger years when we’d effectively exit 4 competitions within a span of 2-3 weeks in February.
Fortunately, Mustafi’s no longer on the payroll…….
The same dickhead operating offside VAR that day as this game.
Coincidence, much?
Ladies and Gentlemen, the game we all know and love is rife with corruption.
PGMOL just acknowledged and apologized. Their apology means fuck all; they very least they have to do, if they’re not going to sack him, is announce Lee Mason will not be involved in any Arsenal matches for the rest of the season, if ever.
There’s two hopes of that – and one of them’s Bob Hope.
Which time? Mike Riley is ultimately responsible for this mess, he’s hired these idiots. Also why is every ref in the league a white guy?
The free kick they got before the goal frustrates me even more. Their guy held Saliba and should’ve been booked for simulation…
Absolutely!!!
So frustrating that they should get a goal off that free-kick. It was a foul on Saliba if anything. Toney literally wrapped his arms around Saliba and locked/clasped his hands!
And it was offside as well.
Animal farm.
Yep. Toney should have been booked for locking Saliba in a clear attempt to con the ref.
Which proved to be quite easy in the end because the ref was a useless cunt.
There should have been no foul called, or it should have been given against them. But I have never seen a player booked for simulation in any game, ever, for anything except diving in the penalty area. I wish it happened, but it is not a serious possibility.
No one likes to see simulations – but if common sense prevailed and those that dive or try to con the ref were booked for their trouble – you would see that kind of thing die a death 100% almost overnight. But the implementation of common sense would probably stop one or two individuals in power from collecting a nice little earner. And if you think I’m talking about match fixing or just general bias at large, then you’d be spot on. These morons of the Sepp Blatter variety need to be flushed out ASAP, or the game will still… Read more »
Thank you. Said it at the time.
What’s to stop the ref just waving play on? They both had a hold of each other. Let them grapple and when the ball breaks loose it’s fair game for the nearest players to attack (or a throw in). No foul, more fluidity.
It was offside
Looked like there was a Brentford player offisde at every possible juncture of that action. But none of them were involved in the action?! Weird eh (cheating fks!). Must be said though it was also atrocious defending at every juncture of that action too. Still should have been ruled out, but it was soft to let such a weak goal in too.
Is Arteta mainly talking about the blocking of Gabriel? That player was clearly offside, but I have some understanding if one says that it was not a foul. He also did not touch the ball. So I am willing to let that go. However, what about the guy who gave the assist? Even on live view, I thought that player was offside. Rest assured, they are checking it, so I am probably right. Oh, to my surprise they are checking a different situation with Gabriel, wtf? Well, ok that maybe was really not a foul. I already gave them the… Read more »
The missus said to me when I got in from the game that on Gillette Soccer Saturday, Merse was tying himself up in knots (mind you, he does that all the time, bless him) trying to explain to a somewhat piss taking Unbelievable Jeff that the ref could take his pick from the number of offsides that could (and fucking should) have prevented that goal from standing.
Just watch MotD and when Arsenal Hater Danny Mills reckons it was offside, you know you have a case.
I said a few months back that a lack of squad depth or injuries wouldn’t harm this title challenge nowhere near as much as dropped points through poor officiating.
I stand by that. There has always been an agenda against this club and there always will be. Fucking jealous wankers.
Incoming suspension and fine from the fa for making an observation.
Funny, I thought Norgaard was offside before crossing it. Which blocker is he talking about?
First the guy who blocked partey
But i think also the guy who headed the ball to toney was offside when the ball was passed to him
no hes talking about the guy who crossed to Ivan Toney that player was offside after the free kick was already taken the 2nd phase where Ramsdale tried to block th shot but it ended up being a cross to Toney that player was offside and VAR didn’t check it
Gabriel was blocked by an offside player on the initial free kick.
Then it’s offside twice. My initial thinking was Henry standing on Gabriel isn’t interfering. But if they have been told blockers are going to be given then he is definitely off.
Then Norgasrd also looked off to me, and no question of his involvement.
Yep, offside twice. So, free kick that shouldn’t have been given, and two offsides… three fuckups by officials to chalk 2 points off our title challenge. Not sure that it was deliberate mike dean style, more incompetence… but fuck.
Are we really calling it incompetence if they have the still image that was shown on tv later, at least on my feed? Well, I guess the inability to correctly conclude what you see on that image is still a form of incompetence.
The blocker was offside, but I do to some extent understand if someone decides that it is not a foul. Then as far as I know it is also irrelevant if it’s offside or not. Not needed though, that scene, as the assist giver was offside anyway
Think Nørgaard was off. Apparently Mason forgot to draw the lines….
And we were lucky anyway…
You don’t deserve all those downvotes, it’s just human negative bias, we focus on the bad and forget to be grateful for the good. The goal they did score should’ve been offside but we also got away with some bad defending, Brentford had at least two chances that you’d expect them to score 90 times out of a 100 that they fluffed, and they could’ve easily not called the foul on Mbuemo when he scored after Saliba fell (I do think it was a foul but PL refs let that sort of thing go all the time, especially against us).… Read more »
An absurd analysis. Who cares if Brentford had missed 50 chances today; the point is, the officials awarded a goal that, by the rules, should be disallowed every time. We scored a goal according to the rules, they did not, and we nonetheless lost 2 points for it. In a title race, that is scandalous. How a league worth billions refuses to take action over the complete inability of their officials to apply the rules evenly and fairly, week to week, game to game, as any true competition promises, is shameful if not entirely corrupt.
Absurd, really? I get you’re looking for someone to take your anger out at but I did say that goal was offside and shouldn’t have been awarded. Strictly by the rules, yes, we should’ve won, but you can also have luck that has nothing to do with any controversial decisions whatsoever. We defender poorly, we could’ve easily conceded 2 or 3 goals that would’ve made that offside decision absolutely irrelevant, and you can criticise the officiating and the FA without overlooking that and realising we’re somewhat lucky to get a point from this game, or analysing our own defending and… Read more »
I agree, it was a bad performance. Brentford could/should have been 2-0 ahead.
Nevermind, bring on City and a much better performance
You can still be lucky in a game that had no controversial officiating decisions, that’s called football. And you can criticise the officiating the FA without overlooking the fact that our defending was poor, that if we were less lucky they could’ve easily scored 2 or 3 goals that would’ve made that offside decision completely irrelevant, and that our players and our staff have a lot to learn from today that they’ll hopefully apply in a few days v Man City.
Sure, but to say that we are equal parts lucky and unlucky is to imply that we didn’t do enough required within the rules of the game to win all three points. And we did: we scored a legitimate goal, they didn’t. Not a great performance from us, but a game we were going to win, which champions do, until the officials got involved: the one on the pitch for the free kick itself (isn’t this the same guy that charged us for not controlling our players against Oxford?), and the one on VAR who missed 2 offsides. Astounding. And… Read more »
No it isn’t, it’s laying the blame at two doorsteps.
We did enough to win the game, but we also did more than enough to lose it. Not everything has to be binary, either their fault or our fault, they bad or we bad, that might be how Twitter or social media works but not real life
Weird analysis. We were equally at fault for the referees failing to do their jobs correctly and awarding Brentford an illegitimate goal against us in a very tight game? No, I categorically disagree with you. Neither Arsenal nor Brentford was at fault for the catastrophic errors which lead to Brentford equalizing, simply the officials on the pitch and in the VAR booth. Disguising that by spreading the blame around is irresponsible and deeply damaging to our club and the game.
You don’t seem to get the concept that the two things have nothing to do with each other and can exist on different planes, and both be true at the same time. There’s not a finite amount of blame, like 50 blame points, and you run out of blame points if you acknowledge that our defending was poor and we were lucky not to concede more goals. I can do that and still assign just as many blame points to the ref being shite and losing us the game.
Look at my hand, see how blame points just appear out of thin air? *bling*
I can make as many as you want, plenty to go around. Whenever you need more just ask
Why would you want to blame our defending on Toney’s goal when Brentford were offside on two occasions in the move, both incompetently neglected by the officials on and off the pitch? Why would you want to blame our defending on the initial award of the free kick when Toney wrapped his arms around Saliba before the defender responded in kind?
You enjoy the blame game, but I don’t quite understand the reasoning behind your points system.
There’s no points system buddy, it was a joke to make a point that blame isn’t finite or binary. Beyond that I think our discussion has reached an impasse, have a lovely day
Had VAR done their job the goal would have rightly stood and you wouldn’t have been spouting such negative crap.
Or perhaps you would… 🙄
*wouldn’t
exactly it was poor defending. the posts above all saying it was offside, then debating who was actually offside.
Only debate is with the first offside, and perhaps to which of the 2 offsides Arteta is referring.
The defending being weak makes no difference to the fact it was 100% offside once, and probably twice.
Nor does the fact that it was 100% offside make any different to the defending being weak. Two things can be true.
Actually, no, not true.
If the play is offside, the defending has done its job quite well. We played them offside on two occasions during the move; it is the officials who have not done their job.
Why you are so eager to lay the blame with our defending when even Howard Webb has apologized to the club for the gross human error is odd, to say the least.
“Lucky Arsenal”
“Boring Arsenal”
Yawn.
Haven’t you got something better to with your Sunday than infiltrate a rival fans’ forum…?
Obviously not. Sad, very very sad.
Moving on swiftly
@Stockholm gooners, any recommendations for pubs/bars showing the game on Wednesday?
Bryggeriet Sportbar – Odenplan
Retro Sportbar & Restauran or O’learys – thers a couple in stockholm
I taught free kick leading to their goal was very soft. Tony clearly holding Saliba
Never a foul, totally shit by the refs to blow that.
In the chat we would call a performance like that cockless
supersoft, and feared the worst…….i guess saliba should of not put his arms around him if the ref was right side of him…but soft freekick, one or two offsides on the freekick, could ramsdale of got a block in?..Anyway, these tiny details make all the difference in tight games, that’s just how it is. Arsenal can’t be playing teams of the park week in and out, it’s a competitive league for Christ’s sake..
Yeah, to me that was a worse error than the offside one.
I do not agree. Reason is, that the offside can now be found out with technical help, I mean why do we have a VAR with 29 camera angles and his fancy lines?
If there was no VAR I would agree with you. The offside was maybe difficult to spot in real time, more difficult than this “foul”, but again, that’s what the VAR is there for and unlike some other things, offside is not an interpretation decision like if it’s enough for a foul or not. It’s either offside or onside.
There were two offsides in the goal. VAR only chose to look at the first one, the second one was even more obvious. The handball in the Chelsea game was also a shocker.
Having said that, Brentford deserved a goal, and we simply need to be scoring more, and that’s where the conversation needs to be… Two goals and we win.
Unfortunate, but what can you do? Arsenal need – more than ever now – to concentrate fully on the City game not dodgy VAR decisions or anything in else.
There’s no “We Was Robbed” trophy at the end of the season but even if there was, we don’t want to win it, do we?
A little bit extra for the seige mentality could be a positive
Mate, get a grip. If VAR had done their fucking job properly, we win that game 1-0 and you wouldn’t be coming out with your tiresome ‘one game at a time/let’s not get ahead of ourselves/must try harder’ rhetoric. You’re like a stuck record. Try using your eyeballs and see what happened yesterday for what it is. Yes, we were off the pace; name me a side in the history of the game who has played a blinder in every single game. But what can any side do when faced with corrupt officiating….? Give the lads – and the Arsenal… Read more »
Trossard for Nketiah must be worth a look in the coming weeks surely? Maybe even starting Wednesday. Missing so much dynamism in that attack without a Jesus ‘type’. May carry its risks to do it this early in his time with the club, but Trossard inter-changing with Saka/Martinelli on the flanks definitely feels the more like for like option, and potentially gives us a much more familiar feel to when we were really cooking pre-world cup.
I second you. I think Eddie needs a breather. His link play is awful and he can’t dribble for toffee!
Eddie’s good in games where he gets space. He’s not good in games like this where it’s 11 behind the ball and you need somebody who can pass and dribble to open up space. In hindsight I’d say that Trossard should have started this game with Eddie starting vs City, that’s more the sort of game he tends to do well in.
I would rest Martinelli on the bench on Wednesday and start Trossard on the left.
But I would keep faith with Eddie. If he struggles again, you can sub him for Martinelli.
That said, Trossard up front sounds interesting. But do you experiment like that in a game of this vital importance?
Eddie up front, Trossard left wing, Martinelli on the bench.
COYG
Right behind the manager here.
We have been on the wrong end of some ridiculous decisions this season; Martinelli’s opener at Old Trafford springs to mind.
Granted, we’re not going to achieve anything by moaning after the event.
But meekly saying nothing when you feel wronged gets you nowhere fast too.
Great to have Arteta as our manager. 👏
Mason was VAR for the Martinelli goal also
Yeah.
Wouldn’t you fucking know it…..? 🙄
Mikel’s substitution was the wrong call again. Should have brought Trossard on for Xhaka, and done the same last week at Everton.
Trossard has significantly more attacking nous than Xhaka, he would help Martinelli more out wide, and he would linkup better with Nketiah.
Everton and Brentford both scored after Martinelli went off. By which point, there was nobody else to bring on except for Vieira who isn’t a game changer by any stretch.
Xhaka’s had a good run at #8 but it’s time to try something different.
So, you know better than Arteta now?
Ridiculous.
This is a place for discussion and I simply gave my opinion.
I completely agree. xhaka needs to be rotated wasn’t making the right runs into the box
I strongly feel this is the way to go…Trossard for Martinelli, but then the average height of the team to defend set pieces would be concerning if we do this
Unless coaches are given access to the conversation between the VAR and the ref. The rest of the stories are kept in the dark
Might be unpopular but I’m thinking trossard needs to start ahead of martinelli until Jesus is fit again. He seems in a bit of a funk right now 😔
He’s earned the manager’s Tross innit
Play them both at the same time, they could work really well together.
Nobody is saying anything about the 11 players behind ball tactics… I am pretty sure every team will be using that against Arsenal now
Nope. This “We’ve been found out” scene is a load of bollocks. We keep doing what we’ve been doing for the best part of the season – high press when out of possession, move it quickly when in possession. Do that and the goals and results will be back. We’ve had our best start to a season in the clubs entire history playing this way. Why change now? Nothing an injection of energy pace and self belief can’t put right. We also need a rub of the green from the match day officials, who have, let’s not mince words here,… Read more »
I know it shouldn’t work like this but honestly I cant see how that was given as onside, and even in a 50/50 decision shouldn’t the premier league be thinking……this decision benefits man city winning the league which would really reflect poorly on the premier league during these investigations……….I know that’s bias thinking but seriously, if ever we should catch a break!!
Yes it was offside. Yes the refereeing was terrible, yes they’ve beaten man city/utd, Liverpool etc BUT who gives a crap, we still should have beat them, especially if we’re serious about winning the league. Remember, they also had some very good chances, more than we did. How Arteta can’t see what we’ve all been noticing about the usually outstanding Ben White has not been at his best for a few games now. Why did he start him and not Tomi? Poor decision.
All i read is Saliba criticism but on that goal, the ball bounced off heads too many times to count in the zonal area covered by Ben White. There was a time he owned that right side of goal, but he just watched the head tennis. This guy worries me. He is a passenger at present.
Media reporting Lee Mason VAR ‘forgot’ to draw the lines… any other profession would surely be gross negligence? Legal action in some professions?
Fuming
And Mason has already been punished once this season for a VAR error.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/sep/05/efl-incredibly-frustrated-with-technology-failure-as-pgmol-reviews-var
believe that was in the Brighton game? draw was fair result for us today. we didn’t do enough to win game.
So you think a perfectly good goal disallowed by an incompetent prick was ‘fair’……..?
I beg to differ mate.
I think we should check legal action then, especially if an image can be produced that clearly shows the offside of the assist giver. This is not an interpretation thing like if Gabriel was blocked legally or illegally. If they forgot to do their job, the game should be resumed at that point with free kick Arsenal after the offside. It’s as if the ref sends off the completely wrong player and the VAR “forgets” to tell him despite it being clearly visible on tv images. It needs to be found out in such case why there is picture evidence… Read more »
Exactly.
People on here today slagging off the team and the manager are missing the point (no pun intended) entirely.
This has been framed as Mason ‘forgetting to draw the lines’. I don’t believe
that for one second. He simply choose not to ‘draw the lines’.
And in many other professions, there would be redress for Arsenal, and Mason
would rightly lose his job.
There is no refereeing conspiracy; they are simply incompetent when everyone else can see the incidents.
Mason not only missed 3 offences, but broke the momentum of the match. Surely there must be better officials.
Wasn’t it Mason who wrongly disallowed Martinelli’s goal at Old Trafford? He should really retire.
#MasonOut
Another shocking decision.
There should be a team of three people checking and deliberating VAR decisions together. Not just a single person.
Yes it was.
Retire? He should be strapped to a rocket and shot into outer space.
Beheaded in the center circle before kickoff on Wednesday.
Let’s hope Mason gets sacked after this glaring miss, as suggested by ex-ref Keith Hackett. No use dropping Mason for a few games, only for him to return to make more mistakes. We’ve had enough! 🤬
Why does our VAR stink and when you look across Europe, it seems to be better. I still would prefer the way the Americans do it in American football. The officials go to the monitor and check for themselves. So called drawing of lines has changed and now forgotten in Arsenal games. There should be at least 3 people to make the decision and not ex referees. I didn’t see the game but I was listening on 5 live as I was out for the afternoon. Brentford in the pst has always been a bogey side and we are not… Read more »
Let’s be honest: we didn’t deserve the win. But that decision was shocking: there was actually TWO offsides leading to the Brentford goal, the second one from the header was cast-iron. That goal never should have stood.
Referring in this country is a complete joke.
That is not the narrative when Liverpool, City or Man U are winning. How often do we hear from MOTD commentators that the sign of champions is when they find a way to win without playing well.
Fats, whether we ‘deserved’ the win or not is beside the point mate.
VAR – or more to the point, the useless wankers they currently employ – got it wrong.
We played poorly yesterday, but that’s not the reason we only ended up with one point. If VAR had done their job properly we’d have had three points.
Then you can start arguing a toss as to whether or not we deserved them.
You’re right and I was too polite. It comes to something when you hear Charles Watt listing the offsides in one goal incident.
I can’t argue with you, Mr Q
Get rid of VAR, until you actually have competent people in charge of it who understand their own fucking rules because it’s just a joke now! Too many laughably bad decisions week in, week out!
No. Get rid of poor officials. I didn’t see VAR itself failing.
VAR in essence is fine; it’s the useless corrupt cunts currently operating it that need to be replaced. They act with pre-ordained bias not professional impartiality. They’ve even admitted – prior to yesterday’s game I might add – that Martinelli’s goal being disallowed up at Old Trafford (in addition to other incidents involving other matches) was an incorrect decision. The same guy who got it wrong up at Old Trafford got it wrong at the Emirates yesterday. The question that EVERYONE should be asking this morning, is why that incompetent cunt was still in his job after those pre Christmas… Read more »
Let’s hope they sack incompetent Lee Mason as suggested by ex-ref Keith Hackett. We don’t need him doing VAR if he’s 1) biased or 2) corrupt.
The VAR man has an assistant what was he doing other than drinking coffee , watching football and getting paid to do sweet FA for the FA
To misquote Edwin Starr:
VAR, huh, yeah.
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, uhh.
looked at video this morning and confirmed offside. Just as I thought yesterday. Today we get a statement that yes var made a mistake. We also get a statement that the bee that started in an offside position and blocked Gabriel did not commit a foul. Insane. Absolutely insane.
so here is the good news. With proper application of the rules Arsenal beat the most in form team in the league. Something City didn’t do.
The PGMOL apology won’t do us much good if we lose the title by 2 points.
Mason cost us 2 here and between 1 & 3 at Old Trafford.
How did Toney get so open. I think he dumped ode to the ground go to sky and look at the bottom of photo.
The PGMOL just formally admitted that the goal should not have stood.
https://africa.espn.com/football/english-premier-league/story/4875921/pgmol-admits-var-offside-errors-for-two-goals-brentford-vs-arsenal-brighton-vs-crystal-palace
So now what?
This is becoming ridiculous…
I just hope we don’t let that decision get to us. Can’t change so let’s turn up against City. Lee Mason is a twat
So why are we not using the semi-automated offside system that was so effective at the World Cup? Also we should adopt the timekeeping from the World Cup, as almost the whole 5 additional minutes was wasted yesterday.
And now pgmol has admitted their mistake on the offsides?! You can’t make this up, the officials have lost all credibility. Since when have they apologized and explained their errors? They are making it up as they go along, it’s scandalous at this point.
Pgmol hasn’t had any integrity since at least Mike Riley awarding a penalty to Wayne rooney diving and ending our unbeaten run.
The solution right be to deduct 2 points from City for their financial irregularities and therefore correcting the injustice if rigging the title race in favour of blue.
You’ve misspelled 200 there
At least Arteta has been proven right by Howard Webb.