Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta accuses VAR Lee Mason of ‘not understanding’ his job after Brentford’s equaliser at Emirates | Football News

February 14, 2023 admin

Mikel Arteta accused VAR Lee Mason of “not understanding” his job after the official allowed Brentford’s late equaliser against his Arsenal side to stand, when it should have been ruled out for offside.

Ivan Toney’s 74th-minute goal earned the Bees a 1-1 draw against the Premier League leaders, despite Christian Norgaard being offside as he crossed for the striker to score, with the PGMOL admitting it was a “human error” to allow the goal as Mason forgot to draw the offside lines on the midfielder.

As a result of the error, Mason has been dropped from his VAR duties for this weekend’s round of Premier League fixtures – the second time he has received this punishment after disallowing Newcastle a goal against Crystal Palace in September.

Arteta said the blunder “cost Arsenal two points” in their Premier League title race – with Manchester City cutting the gap to the first-placed Gunners to three points a day later. Both Arsenal and City face each other on Wednesday night in a huge title showdown at the Emirates Stadium.

“We ended the [Brentford] game, after analysing it with the evidence and images, with a huge anger and disappointment,” said Arteta in his pre-match press conference for the City game.

“Because that wasn’t a human error. That was a big, big, big not conceiving and understanding your job. That’s not acceptable, I’m sorry. And that cost Arsenal two points and that’s not going to be restored.

“So we are going have to find those two points somewhere else in the league. But at the same time, we appreciate the apology and the explanations which were really open to be fair.

“We have got a lot of sympathy from a lot of colleagues and in the industry and in football. They are [saying] we cannot play with integrity in the way that we do. And that’s it. We have to move on.

“That has certainly made the players, the staff, the fans even stronger with a desire to pass this herald that they put on us. We move on with it.”

Asked if he was satisfied with the apology from the referee body, Arteta joked: “I will be satisfied if they give me the two points back, which is not going to be the case!

“They were serious, open genuine and honest apologies which is really good. But doesn’t take away from the fact that we have two less points that we should have in the table.

“Everybody makes errors and mistakes and we are part of that, me the first one in our job. But that was something else. I wasn’t having it, the club wasn’t having it. And I think it’s clear, the consequences of what happened.”

Despite the criticism on Mason, Arteta admitted this high-profile mistake, which came on the same day the PGMOL admitted Brighton should have been awarded a goal in their 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace, could actually help improve VAR in the long-term.

PGMOL overstate time taken to check Toney goal

The PGMOL’s official line is that it took three minutes to erroneously rule Ivan Toney’s equaliser at Arsenal as legitimate – and time pressures played a part in the decision.

But it actually took more than half a minute less than that for the goal to be given, with the award 2 minutes and 26 seconds after the ball crossed the goal-line.

That is far from out of the ordinary for a VAR review – as many examples have shown in the four and a half years it has been used in the Premier League.

“When I see the reaction, for example that [refereeing chief] Howard Webb had and the PGMOL and the Premier League had, and how genuine it was, that anger [shows] they want to do the best they can and they know the standards and everything that is at stake.

“I think, in the end, it will help. Hopefully we can use that to make the game better and have more integrity, have better professionals and pay attention to details that matter because at the end of the day it has a significant output on results.”

How will Arsenal’s players respond to this injustice as they prepare to host title rivals City on Wednesday night?

“That was the reaction after the game: we can’t do anything about it,” said Arteta. “Don’t use it as an excuse. Try to move on, face it and go for it, that’s it.”

How many points has VAR cost Arsenal this season?

Arsenal were denied victory against Brentford on Saturday due to a costly VAR error – and it was not the first time this season.

The error, acknowledged as such by PGMOL on Sunday, left Arsenal fuming as they missed the chance to move eight points clear, and it was not the first time a controversial VAR call has contributed towards them dropping points this season. In fact, it has happened on four separate occasions.

Here, we take a closer look at each incident and consider how it could have affected Arsenal’s points total…

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