The English Premier League match between Newcastle and Arsenal heated up emotions. Newcastle’s winning goal was reviewed on video for three reasons, but the hit was upheld.
In the English Premier League, there is rarely a week that has been full of refereeing. The judgments made after VAR, i.e. video inspections, have aroused a huge amount of discussion and criticism in the island kingdom.
The topic came up again after the match between Newcastle and Arsenal played on Saturday.
Newcastle won the match at home by Anthony Gordon with a hit in the 64th minute. The goal was reviewed with the help of VAR for a long time, and in the end it was upheld.
What made the situation special was that VAR looked at the goal for three different reasons. First, it was investigated whether the ball crossed the end line in the previous situation. Then a possible foul was investigated and finally an offside.
In particular, the question of whether the ball crossed the sideline or not is almost impossible to solve based on the TV images.
Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta was furious after the match.
– How the hell was the goal accepted? Unbelievable. I’m embarrassed, but it’s my job to come here and try to defend my club, because conceding a goal is shameful, Arteta hissed.
– It shouldn’t have been a goal for more than one reason. We didn’t deserve to lose this game. We lost because we didn’t get clear judgments right.
Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe did not share his colleague’s view.
– To me, it looked like a fair goal. We are on the side of the field in blackout, we can’t see proper pictures through VAR. For every inspection, we thought one more would backfire, Howe said According to the BBC.
Saturday’s defeat was bitter for Arsenal, as a win would have put them on a par with Manchester City at the top of the league. The full points pot lifted Newcastle to sixth.
– I have been in England for 20 years and now I feel ashamed. People say this is the best league in the world. What happened today is nowhere near the level it should be in this league. This is not enough. It’s embarrassing to be involved in this, Arteta continued his outburst.
So far, the biggest VAR scandal in this season’s Premier League occurred a month ago in the match between Tottenham and Liverpool. Liverpool’s goal was disallowed for offside after a VAR review, even though TV footage clearly showed that Luis Diaz was not offside in the situation.
The umbrella organization of English referees apologized for the mistake at the time. In the case of the Newcastle and Arsenal goals, the situation is not as clear, and it is more difficult to verify a possible mistake.