Arsenal told to ‘stop moaning, stop crying’ as pundit sides with VAR

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Jamie O’Hara has hit out against Arsenal in the wake of the club’s VAR complaints.

Newcastle United beat Arsenal 1-0 at St James’ Park on Saturday. The Tyneside outfit had a controversial goal to thank for their three points. 

Anthony Gordon’s second half strike was ultimately allowed to stand, after a lengthy VAR check reviewed three separate incidents that occurred in the build up to the goal. First, the ball looked to have gone out of play, there was also a potential foul on Arsenal centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes, and Gordon himself was possibly in an offside position. 

VAR eventually opted against ruling the goal out, sending Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta into a rage. The Spanish coach branded the decision a “disgrace.”

On Sunday, Arsenal put out an official club statement in support of Arteta’s stance on the issue. 

Arsenal and Mikel Arteta must move on from VAR row

However, not everyone is on the Arsenal boss’ side. Former Newcastle United strikers Alan Shearer and Michael Owen have both dismissed the coach’s complaints. 

Jamie O’Hara has now joined them in criticising the Gunners. Speaking on talkSPORT, the pundit said in response to the statement from Arsenal, “absolute shambles from them. Always moaning, complaining, get on with the game, if you are good enough, you’ll win it. They have had a great record at St. James’ Park, the ball wasn’t out, it wasn’t a foul and it was bad defending.”

“Stop moaning, stop crying about VAR, get on with the game and beat them.”

It is easy to understand why Arsenal feel hard done by in the wake of Saturday’s defeat. There is also undeniably an issue with the standards of refereeing and VAR implementation in the Premier League. This hardly the first high profile decision to have been called into question, after all, and that’s without mentioning the outright mistakes which have elicited apologies from the PGMOL.

However, putting the contentious goal aside, Arsenal did not do enough to win this game. The Gunners were ‘toothless’ in attack, failing to greatly test Nick Pope at any point. Arsenal’s lack of cutting edge needs to be Arteta’s focus this week. The VAR debate now needs to be set aside and forgotten, and the Gunners need to bounce back in their next match.