Jamie O’Hara has criticised David Raya for the goalkeeper’s role in conceding Anthony Gordon’s controversial goal that saw Newcastle United beat Arsenal 1-0 last Saturday.
The 22-year-old scored the only goal of their match in the 64th minute in hugely contentious circumstances. Gordon beat Raya but the forward had to wait for VAR Andy Madley to check multiple incidents before determining there was inconclusive evidence to rule the effort out.
Madley looked to see if the ball had rolled out of play during the build-up, if Joelinton fouled Gabriel Magalhaes and if Gordon was offside. The ball also hit Joelinton’s arm whilst pushing the Arsenal defender in the back of the neck. But the VAR felt he could not rule the goal out.
Gordon’s controversial goal enraged Arsenal and Arteta at Newcastle
VAR Madley not advising referee Stuart Attwell to rule Newcastle’s goal out enraged Arsenal and Mikel Arteta. The Gunners issued a statement calling out ‘more unacceptable refereeing and VAR errors’ in support of Arteta, who had told Sky Sports that the goal was a ‘disgrace’.
O’Hara has taken aim at Arsenal for their statement, telling talkSPORT that they should ‘stop crying about VAR’. He simply puts Gordon’s effort down to poor defending as the ball did not go out of play. The ex-Tottenham Hotspur midfielder also feels Joelinton did not foul Gabriel.
O’Hara takes aim at Raya for the goalkeeper’s role in Gordon scoring
O’Hara has done the rounds with his claims, having also told Sky Sports that Arsenal should ‘stop moaning’. He has since added to that suggestion, as well, by questioning the role that Raya played in Gordon scoring the controversial goal that saw Newcastle beat Arsenal 1-0.
“Raya gets away with murder here because so much else is going on,” O’Hara posted on X, formerly called Twitter. “Where’s he going, old flipper wrists?”
Gordon had an easy tap-in once Joelinton met Joe Willock’s pass with Raya off Arsenal’s line to seal Newcastle’s win. The goalkeeper made a poor attempt at punching the delivery away and missed the ball. It left the 28-year-old in no-man’s land and watching as Gordon scored.
Raya was completely at sixes and sevens after reacting slowly whilst the ball ricocheted into Gordon’s feet. He could not set himself to recover from a poor attempt at punching the ball away. Raya has now conceded eight goals in his 10 outings since joining Arsenal this August.
The on-loan Brentford stopper is Arteta’s clear favourite between the posts despite his array of questionable performances. Raya has remained ahead of Aaron Ramsdale in the Gunners’ pecking order despite scaring Thierry Henry against Sevilla among his shoddy games so far.
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