Dropping points because of poor performance or a managerial malfunction is one thing, having them stolen from you by forces outside of your control is quite another.
There’s no denying Arsenal were far from their best against Brentford on Saturday and, in truth, were probably fortunate to have taken the lead when they did but to have been denied the three points because the VAR official neglected to do the simplest of tasks assigned to him is unforgiveable and the ramifications may yet go far beyond this match.
VAR was introduced to the Premier League in an effort to cut out the mistakes that were unfairly deciding matches because, in all fairness, it’s very easy for a match official to miss an offside in real time. This wasn’t supposed to be a system to malign them, more so to assist them get simple calls correct – as it does so effectively in tennis, cricket, rugby and others.
All the Premier League seems to have managed, however, is the addition of a layer of incompetence atop the steaming pile of match officialdom that already troubles the league week-in, week-out. The errors seen across the league this weekend are inexcusable and must surely result in immediate change.
And while the missed offside in the Arsenal game was most egregious in our minds, it was scarcely the worst VAR error of the weekend, with potentially match-altering mistakes in the Crystal Palace v Brighton and West Ham v Chelsea fixtures.
What staggers most of all is that these errors were made despite the assistance of multiple, slow-motion replays from myriad angles and the availability of computer technology to assist with lines, graphs, orientation and all manner of other necessities. It couldn’t be better set up to ensure correct decisions are made.
And yet, despite all that, it is the club that must ultimately bear the consequences. If our bid for the league title should fail by a point this season, what will that mean for the integrity of the competition, for the league, for the association of match officials? Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.
I could go on for pages and pages more about the fall-out from this weekend but, by now, I don’t doubt you have read and re-read all there is to read. I’m sure we can, and will, pick it up again another time.
As to the game itself, it’s becoming clear that Arsenal are experiencing a tough run. In the first half of the season, we were an unknown quantity and teams simply didn’t know how to handle us. Now, however, they are starting to wise up and the manager will need to find a solution.
In many ways it is a mark of respect that so many teams are now choosing to set up a deep block and double-up in wide areas against us, desperate to stop us finding the time and space they came so readily in the first half of this campaign. The only surprise is that it has taken this long for them to do so.
I warned in the aftermath of the defeat at Everton that teams would be looking to imitate the Dyche model and so it proved on Saturday as Brentford mimicked its most effective elements, and to good effect, it should be added.
Although the Manchester City game on Wednesday will likely be a different kettle of fish, Mikel must now think long and hard about how he sets up in matches where our opposition’s goal is to spoil, disrupt and frustrate. We have an abundance of talent, creativity and energy in this young side but they’re struggling to find the right tempo at the moment and that tone must come from the manager.
At present, full focus will undoubtedly be on out-maneuvering Pep at the Emirates but, longer term, the manager will need to find a way of responding and re-focussing his side. Momentum, or the loss of it, can have a huge impact on a team’s results and Arsenal must find a way to recapture their’s or see a newly-energised City usurp them in the second half of this campaign.
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