Former Chelsea striker Chris Sutton has taken issue with some recent comments from Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.
After Arsenal lost to Newcastle United recently, Mikel Arteta sparked controversy and intense debate with his post-match rant, in which he branded the decision to allow the Magpies’ goal to stand a “disgrace”.
Having criticised Premier League refereeing standards and VAR so publicly, Arteta soon found himself in the centre of something of a media storm. Alan Shearer took issue with Arteta’s statement, as did Michael Owen, amongst others.
Fortunately, there were no such officiating controversies to get frustrated about after the Gunners beat Burnley last time out. Fabio Vieira, for instance, could have no complaints about receiving a straight red card for his dangerous challenge on Josh Brownhill.
Mikel Arteta has laugh over refereeing performance
After the win over the Clarets, Arteta made a point to acknowledge his satisfaction with referee Michael Oliver’s performance, and the efficiency and accuracy of the VAR processes throughout the match.
As quoted by BBC Sport, Arteta said, “you have to ask me about VAR. It was perfect…Beautiful, the referee and VAR were top. Let’s have some humour as well and move forward.”
Whilst this statement may seem as though Arteta is offering an olive branch to PGMOL, Chris Sutton was not enamoured with the Spanish coach’s tone. Speaking on the It’s All Kicking Off podcast, he said, “I saw Mikel Arteta after the Arsenal game try and make a joke out of what he’d done on VAR the previous week, saying let’s have some humour about it.”
“Don’t come now after you have had a straightforward 3-1 home win against Burnley, don’t become the nice let’s make a joke about it, because the damage has already been done.”
“I didn’t like that. It was patronising wasn’t it? Condescending.”
Refereeing standards are a huge problem facing the Premier League
Of course, Sutton is right to point out that it is far easier to be in a magnanimous mood off the back of a win rather than a defeat.
The truth is, though, Arteta is not the only manager to have claimed that the standard of officiating in the Premier League is below par. Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi recently said “I don’t like 80 per cent of English referees,” as quoted by The Athletic.
Wolves manager Gary O’Neil said “hopefully the level improves,” after a refereeing mistake cost his side points. Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp received a two-match ban towards the end of last season for his tirade against refereeing standards.
Sutton’s concerns are one thing, but they aren’t the most pressing matter at hand. There is clearly a great deal of improvement needed from Premier League referees.
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