Mikel Arteta’s anger over the decision making of the PGMOL officials during Arsenal’s defeat at Newcastle was plainly obvious from his demeanour in his post-match press conference.
The Spaniard was boiling with rage at the Magpies winning goal from Anthony Gordon, particularly as it came after three separate VAR calls, all of which went in favour of the hosts.
Arteta didn’t hold back from suggesting how sick and embarrassed he felt about the decision which he described as a “disgrace.”
For anyone watching the match live, they had to have felt a degree of sympathy with the north Londoners, and it brought the competency of the officials in charge of the game back into the conversation.
Not long after Liverpool appeared to be calling for a replay after some astonishingly poor officiating by PGMOL’s finest in their game against Tottenham, the narrative in a Premier League match was dictated by poor decisions again.
Though new PGMOL chief, Howard Webb, is doing his level best to be more transparent, including apologising when he feels it’s appropriate and going onto TV shows to explain how decisions were arrived at, his staff are consistently letting him down.
Broadcaster, Richard Keys, never backwards in coming forward with an opinion of his own, has weighed into the argument too.
‘It simply isn’t good enough. It can’t go on,’ he wrote on his personal blog.
‘I repeat what I said recently – our current crop of match officials aren’t fit for purpose. They’re hopeless. And they’re ruining the best league in the world.
‘As you’ve probably guessed – I’m angry today. As angry as Arteta was – and he had every right to be. And Arsenal had every right to defend their man.’
Richard keys is absolutely bang on in his backing of arteta the referee’s are Sunday league level. Also what is all this bias against arsenal fc, all of these so called pundits coming out against them is atrocious and it is never to this level against any other club. It’s disgusting and pathetic..
I think if you look at the ref in today’s match with Borussia Dortmund and Newcastle and compare it to the game with Arsenal the ref was spot on! Why is it that British refs are not just bad but so bad at making the right call? We can’t just blame the technology, there are 2 linesmen and a ref on the field but they can’t get themselves into a position to see what happened so why are they there? Often we watch replays and the ref is 2 yards away looking at the situation and still gives the wrong decision. It’s simple British referees are not up to the standards of European refs and Howard Webb needs to get new officials that can do the job. In any other job you would be sacked immediately, it’s spoiling the game and the best league in the world. It’s no good suspending them for a week for them to come back 2 weeks later and make the same mistakes. It’s time for PGMOL to improve- improve the technology and improve the people they are employing. Some of the rules need looking at because as an example if the centre of the ball is passed the line the ball is out – all this stuff about the ball is touching the line is nonsense- if the centre of the ball has crossed the line it’s out simple! Also players using their hands to push other players is a foul it’s very simple we can it football to play with our feet there shouldn’t be any reason for one player to have his hands on another. Also there must be technology we can use to be able to draw the lines correctly so that every single occurrence we can clearly see if the offside is committed- all this rubbish about a knee or shoulder was in front it’s pathetic
Richard Keys defending Arteta’s outburst? There is hope for the world 😆!
All the talk of the bias being ignored because Arsenal had 100 minutes to have scored during the game, miss the point.
It was a tight match which was always going to be decided on fine margins. Newcastle’s awarded goal was their ONLY shot in target all night long. Pity they got the victory on a very questionable decision.