I don’t even feel deflated or angry at the result. I feel numb. It’s hard to stay professional in these scenarios, Arteta is better than me. I’d be kicking and punching everything around me. We’ve witnessed one of the worst VAR performances in quite some time
The Gunners suffered their first defeat of the season against a compact Newcastle side on Saturday at St James Park. If the win was well deserved is still a hot debate among dedicated fans of the English Premier League . As expected most Arsenal fans are of the opinion that the Gunners were robbed while rival fans are turning a blind eye to the VAR's decision of upholding Gordon's goal despite Joelinton's push on Gabriel.
The VAR's decision aside , I expected more from the Arsenal players during the match . Were they hungry for a victory enough? for me I don’t think so . I mean the Gunners managed to just have one shot on target through out the 98 minutes (8 minutes added time ) of play . You would agree that was just a poor display from the boys . We couldn't just penetrate the final third of the Newcastle team .
I get the fact that we are entitled to feel agrieved about what happened on Saturday but Arteta should also admit that since the start of the season, we are not really playing to the required level. We have been a bit unlucky with injuries but some players have been dreadful. Arsenal showed nothing going forward which was really cringe to watch to be very honest .
Even though most Gunners will judge VAR as MoM for Newcastle but we deserved to lose. Arsenal were really dreadful. Only Rice, again, deserves any praise. Rice was the only player in that match for me that played like something was at stake .So long as we have no proper striker, and Arteta persists in this ridiculous Havertz farce, we won’t win the League. We should really be honest with ourselves . Our attacking midfield was impotent. Playing 3 players in midfield that aren’t known for creating goals was an obvious disaster. On the other hand , Newcastle didn’t do anything to earn them a victory either.
The injuries woes we have I guess is already having a great toll on the team and it's quite obvious . Jesus , Partey , Timber and recently Odeegard's absence is really a huge miss and there is really no doubt about that . I just find it hard how this has always been a jinx on the Arsenal team . This scenario won't just stop happening and repeating itself where important team players go missing when we actually need them the most .
Back to the VAR decision , the scenario won't be done absolute justice if one doesn't fault David Raya's attempt at stopping Joe Willock's cross to the box . He absolutely fumbled the ball. This VAR brouhaha won't be a thing if he had adequately dealt with that cross . Silly mistakes amounts to great punishments and his mistake cost us the loss at St James Park putting an end to Arsenal's unbeaten run.
For me I feel Raya positions himself too far ahead of his near post.It has arguably cost Arsenal against Spurs, Chelsea & Newcastle, 3 games in which they dropped points in.Could it be time for Ramsdale to be given another shot? Tricky situation indeed .
Asides Arsenal lack of intention going forward , the officiating was abjectly poor. I thought the rule states that there has to be two players behind the goalkeeper for the player scoring to be onside? The ball was out of play before the cross came in , a foul on Gabriel as well was ignored. I feel the PGMOL should actually do a lot better in ensuring matches are actually officiated properly.
I mean its really appalling to see Bruno Guimares on the pitch after the multiple fouls he commited especially on Jorginho . Bruno Guimares got very lucky and that should have been a red card. When you put all of that together, I thought the standard of the refereeing, including the goal, was too big a game for him (the referee)and he didn’t handle the game very well at all.
I’m very surprised that some people believe that being a PL referee is a job that shouldn’t be on the line as if they were some type of superior human beings with immaculate understanding. In society, if you don’t do your job right, you get fired. Why not here? So many questions asked waiting to be answered..
I really just hope the boys can keep their heads up and stand up from their defeat . Next stop is the Champions League game against Sevilla at the Emirates . It will be nice and intriguing to see how they bounce off from the Newcastle defeat to face the challenges ahead . All the very best to them in their future endeavors is all I can say .