In light of Mikel Arteta's comments about VAR and the PGMOL's handling of the Newcastle vs Arsenal game. The PGMOL have responded with audio showing how the decision over Anthony Gordon's goal was made... Could it spell danger for Mikel Arteta?
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Hello guys, Adam here from 442.
00:08 Now, I've been very ill the last couple of days,
00:11 probably since the weekend really.
00:13 Very raspy sore throat, headache, pain in my neck,
00:17 and I kind of, you might be able to hear it
00:19 in my voice today, I kind of sound like me,
00:21 but if my dad was Sean Dyche or something,
00:24 which would have been a very different upbringing,
00:26 to say the least, but I've had a lot of money though,
00:28 which I guess is a plus, but yeah, very stuffy nose.
00:31 And today we're gonna talk about a very stuffy goal.
00:35 Again, that stuffy goal,
00:36 the one that Newcastle scored against Arsenal last weekend,
00:39 because VAR have released audio
00:42 of the decision-making process,
00:44 as they've been doing for a few decisions.
00:46 So we're gonna go through that,
00:47 talk about whether it was right or wrong,
00:49 and then talk about the potential fallout,
00:51 the aftermath from the audio being released,
00:55 what it might mean for Mikkel Arteta,
00:56 given what he came out and said the other day.
01:00 So let's crack on.
01:02 So I'm gonna read out the important bits
01:04 of the transcripts here,
01:05 because otherwise we'll be here for five or six minutes,
01:07 and no one really wants to hear me narrate this,
01:10 like a bedtime story with a raspy voice.
01:12 So VAR, they initially, the first check that they wanna make
01:16 is whether the ball's gone out of play.
01:17 So they say, "So Stu," Stuart Atwell that is,
01:20 who's on assistant VAR,
01:22 "Can you have a look at this as well
01:23 "before we check the goal?
01:24 "For me, I've got no conclusive evidence
01:26 "that that ball is out."
01:28 To which Stuart Atwell goes, "No, I agree."
01:31 And they're saying now that this decision was cleared
01:33 because of the curvature of the ball
01:34 and there was no real conclusive camera angle
01:37 to empirically define whether it had gone out or stayed in.
01:42 And then the foul.
01:43 Now I did make a video on this last week,
01:45 and I've kind of changed my mind on it a little bit.
01:47 I think it was a pretty evident foul, shall we say.
01:52 I do actually now think that the goal
01:55 should have been disallowed.
01:57 Again though, this is what they had to say on that.
01:59 So VAR say, "I don't see a specific foul on Gabriel.
02:03 "I see two hands on his back,
02:04 "but I don't see anything of a push
02:06 "that warrants him flying forward like that."
02:08 So the ref goes, "All right, no problem.
02:11 "There could be a handball in there as well."
02:13 But for me, if you're an attacker,
02:15 and especially if you're as big as Joe Linton is as well,
02:17 and you're trying to leverage yourself
02:19 over the defender the way that he did,
02:21 you're almost using Gabriel as a springboard there.
02:23 By putting your arms out in front
02:25 and just propelling yourself above him to win that header,
02:28 you're almost using him as apparatus.
02:31 So I do think that's the wrong call,
02:33 and I think it was kind of dismissed too easily, really.
02:38 But nonetheless, at the end of the day,
02:40 the referees concluded that there was no pushing action
02:43 from Joe Linton and that he just sort of had his hands
02:45 on him like he was comforting him or something.
02:48 I don't know, but that's what they concluded.
02:50 There was no push so that they couldn't really
02:52 give a foul on that one.
02:54 Anyway, decision number three to make.
02:56 Decision number three was, of course,
02:57 the Anthony Gordon offside, in which the referee said,
03:01 and I quote, "They are struggling to find a point
03:03 "of contact where the ball comes off Joe Linton."
03:07 Meaning they didn't really know where the ball
03:09 or at what moment the ball came off Joe Linton
03:11 to go into Gordon's path.
03:13 And then admitting, "I don't know where the ball is,"
03:16 with it caught between two players in a sort of melee,
03:19 which I guess is fair enough.
03:20 Sometimes these things are hard to decipher
03:23 when you've sort of just got a bit of a two-man
03:25 scrap for a ball.
03:26 But listen, I don't think Gordon was offside.
03:29 I don't think that's really the controversial decision
03:31 in this whole process.
03:32 I think it's probably the push on Gabriel.
03:35 But anyway, to quote the assistant VAR, Stuart Atwell,
03:37 on the Anthony Gordon call,
03:39 "So now you've got to decide because you've got,
03:42 "I don't know, where the ball is,
03:43 "because the ball is being hidden from Joe Linton here.
03:46 "So you don't know where the ball is
03:47 "and you've got no conclusive evidence
03:49 "of Gordon being ahead of the ball."
03:52 So because of this inconclusiveness,
03:54 which I can kind of understand
03:55 because of the obstructed vision of the two players,
03:57 they couldn't really give offside for Gordon
04:00 and they had to go with the on-field decision yet again.
04:02 So I have no qualms with that one either.
04:05 And Howard Webb, the head of the PGMOL,
04:07 has reiterated that this was the correct process
04:10 on Sky Sports, saying that, you know,
04:12 there was no clear evidence to overturn all three decisions
04:15 and that, you know, it was an unusual situation
04:17 where three different things had to be checked.
04:20 So for me here, overall,
04:22 I think that VAR has actually done its job very well,
04:25 despite me now, to a later date,
04:27 disagreeing with the foul on Gabriel.
04:30 I still do think it's open to interpretation.
04:33 I don't think it's a clear-cut one.
04:34 I've just kind of changed my mind on it
04:35 from a personal perspective,
04:37 but ultimately the referees have to see
04:39 something clear and obvious
04:40 and they didn't deem that there was there.
04:42 I think the whole process was carried out very well.
04:45 Now, here lies the talking point,
04:47 because Mr. Mikel Arteta came out afterwards
04:49 and said that he felt sick to be a part of this.
04:52 - And he feels, I feel sick.
04:54 That's how I feel.
04:55 I feel sick to be part of this.
04:57 - And that it was an absolute disgraceful decision,
05:01 which is very, very similar to what Jurgen Klopp
05:03 kind of said after the Tottenham-Liverpool game.
05:06 However, here's the thing.
05:07 Jurgen Klopp was vindicated by the audio
05:10 that was released with the Luis Diaz offside
05:12 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
05:14 He was proved right,
05:15 and I mean, I was in a pub watching that game,
05:16 and I think everyone could kind of see,
05:19 "Mate, he's miles on."
05:20 And I'd had about two or three pints.
05:22 So, you know, if the referees couldn't see that
05:24 in a VAR room, then that just smacks of incompetency.
05:27 And Klopp was vindicated,
05:28 therefore could face no retrospective action.
05:31 However, to quote Arteta from two years ago,
05:34 when Arsenal were in a top four race,
05:35 they went to Tottenham under Antonio Conte and lost 3-0.
05:39 And Arteta came out and said,
05:40 "If I say what I think, I will be suspended for six months,"
05:43 referring to the referee decisions on that day.
05:45 So given that two years later now,
05:47 he's come out all gun swinging for the referees
05:50 and against the PGMOL,
05:51 and alluding towards some sort of bias,
05:54 that's been disproven by this process being proved
05:57 that, you know, it went ahead in a correct manner,
06:00 and it had no signs of agenda or bias underneath it,
06:03 which is, you know, what Arteta alluded towards.
06:06 So, so I guess the question that that leaves is,
06:08 will there be any retrospective action for Mikkel Arteta?
06:12 And should there be any retrospective action
06:14 for Mikkel Arteta?
06:16 Because I mean, it opens up a can of worms, doesn't it?
06:18 When you've got every Premier League manager,
06:20 or not everyone, but some of the Premier League managers now
06:22 from these big clubs coming out and almost,
06:26 ah, what word can I use?
06:27 Undermining the governing bodies, I guess,
06:31 to the extent that they are,
06:32 and alluding, like I said,
06:33 alluding towards some bias against their team.
06:36 It's really, it's painting the integrity of the PGMOL
06:40 in a bad light, really, at the end of the day, isn't it?
06:42 So, I'm just wondering, will retrospective action be taken?
06:46 Now we've got two weeks off,
06:47 and the PGMOL have got some time to sort of sit back
06:50 and respond now to what Mikkel Arteta has said.
06:52 I mean, they have responded in one way,
06:54 releasing the audio,
06:55 but should he face any retrospective action?
06:58 You can let me know in the comments below.
07:01 A slightly shorter video today,
07:02 but that is because I'm in pain.
07:04 (coughs)
07:07 Anyway, I should be better for the end of this week,
07:10 the next couple of days.
07:11 Fingers crossed, I've had a lot of Lemsip and Barocca,
07:14 which Adam Cleary told me to take.
07:16 It was a very potent drink, put it that way,
07:19 packed with vitamins, so it's kind of worked a charm.
07:22 Bit of lemon and honey as well,
07:23 so I'll be sounding a little bit better,
07:25 and I'll have a bit more life about me, I guess,
07:27 towards the end of the week.
07:28 But you can let me know what you think will happen
07:30 to Mikkel Arteta,
07:31 and whether you think anything should happen
07:33 to Mikkel Arteta.
07:35 Don't forget to subscribe,
07:37 and I will see you very, very, very soon.
07:40 Probably something to do with the England game,
07:41 because we've got that massive, massive game
07:44 against Malta, haven't we,
07:45 that's gonna ensure that we've, well, we've qualified.
07:48 It's what it is.
07:49 Anyway, I will see you very, very soon.
07:51 Take care, goodbye.
07:53 (microphone thuds)
07:56 [BLANK_AUDIO]