Graeme Souness has demanded a major shake-up with VAR after Mikel Arteta impassioned rant.
Graeme Souness believes the criticism being levelled at Mikel Arteta for his furious post-match VAR rant is unjustified.
The Liverpool legend branded VAR the “technology from hell for referees”
And has demand the system be mann by ex-professionals after yet another contentious decision during Arsenal’s clash with Newcastle United last weekend.
In the immediate aftermath of the game,
lambasted VAR officials for allowing Anthony Gordon’s 64th-minute winner to stand – a decision described as “embarrassing” and a “disgrace”.
The Magpies winger awarded the only goal of the game after three separate VAR checks
The first to see if the ball had gone out of play,
The second to check if Gabriel Magalhaes had been fouled in the Arsenal box and the third to determine whether there was an offside.
Arteta received the support of Graeme Souness
Arsenal came out and backed their manager in a statement released the next day in which they affirmed the game involved “unacceptable refereeing and VAR errors”.
But some pundits, most notably Gary Neville, felt Arteta and Arsenal’s words “dangerous”.
Neville insisted both Arsenal and their head coach “should behave better in these circumstances”.
But Souness, a former manager himself, has shared his sympathies with Arsenal and co.
“I have to say I had sympathy with Mikel over his reaction to a flagrantly poor refereeing decision last weekend,”
He wrote in his Daily Mail column. “I’ve been in his shoes.
The conclusion that Anthony Gordon’s goal for Newcastle should stand was plainly wrong to anyone with an ounce of knowledge of the game.
“And of course, Mikel was having to come to terms with the fact that those officials were equipped with the most sophisticated video technology known to man.
“Those criticising him do not seem to have considered the bewildering rationale that lay behind allowing that goal to stand.
Please answer me the most significant question, which no one appeared to ask last weekend. .
Why did Gabriel, a big, strong 6ft 3in centre back, not put his head on a ball,
A yard off his goal line when it was there at a perfect height for him?
