Arsenal have come under a lot of criticism recently following their draw against Manchester City.
The Gunners conceded after just nine minutes through Erling Haaland. It was a poor start, but a stunner from Riccardo Calafiori followed by a bullet header from Gabriel Magalhaes gave Arsenal the lead.
The Londoners seemed to be in control at that point, but Leandro Trossard got a red card for delaying the restart, and that completely changed Arsenal’s game plan.
That has put the Gunners in the firing line, but Graeme Souness has identified something else that Arsenal constantly do and not get punished.
Graeme Souness explains how ‘dummy referees’ are falling for one Arsenal tactic
Arsenal are getting hammered for everything they did against Manchester City.
The footballing world seems to have lost its mind because it looks like people wanted the Gunners to play an expansive game with 10 men instead of protecting the lead they had.
Souness has claimed in his column in the Daily Mail that he didn’t like how Arsenal played, but the former Liverpool star has another problem with the Gunners.
While speaking about Gabriel’s goal in the first half, Souness accused Arsenal of tricking the referee by obstructing the goalkeeper.
Ben White often came under criticism for the ‘dark arts’ in the 2023/24 season, and Souness now feels that Arsenal are fooling the officials by rotating the blockers.
He has now urged opposition players to surround the referee before every corner to get themselves a free-kick.
Souness said: “I also just don’t know when referees will wake up to what Arsenal do at set-pieces and corners. An accurate kicker of the ball delivers it under the crossbar, where aggressive players attack it, pinning and fouling the goalkeeper.
“It happened again at City. Gabriel Martinelli walks in, turns his back on the goal to obstruct Ederson and Gabriel scores. Do that anywhere else on the pitch and it’s a foul.
“If I was facing Arsenal, I would be taking three or four of my team-mates in front of the referee and pointing out to him what’s about to happen.
“Arsenal are getting away with it every week. They rotate the blockers, so the dummy referees don’t see it and deal with it.”
Souness’ comments make no sense – here’s why
People seem to have a problem with whatever Arsenal do these days.
The Gunners are the best team in the Premier League in set-pieces in both boxes, and almost every club in the division is struggling to deal with them.
Instead of praising Nicolas Jover and Mikel Arteta for their tactics, pundits like Souness are urging referees to punish Arsenal for no reason.
Martinelli didn’t do anything wrong, he just turned around and stood his ground – he has every right to do that. It was Ederson who blindly barged into him and had nowhere to go.
Pundits should focus on the good work Arsenal are doing in set pieces instead of creating narratives that will give referees more reason to punish the Gunners.
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