{"id":8704,"date":"2023-11-05T15:03:47","date_gmt":"2023-11-05T15:03:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=8704"},"modified":"2023-11-07T21:26:42","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T21:26:42","slug":"is-this-sport-or-a-soap-opera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=8704","title":{"rendered":"Is This Sport or a Soap Opera?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Normally, I try to write my reports as soon after the game as possible. But given the way we lost yesterday\u2019s game, I have chosen to wait until the morning so I can avoid making knee jerk reactions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now I have slept on it, and it seems even more ridiculous, I won\u2019t talk much about the game itself because the VAR decision is what we are all concerned with. Arsenal played ok. They didn\u2019t perform badly. Arteta instructed his players to contain this frenzied Newcastle side and regardless of the result, they did a good job in that regard. Other than the goal that should not have stood, Saudi Sportswashers created next to nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same could be said of Arsenal but they were the away team. The onus was on Newcastle as the home side, a big club as the media keep telling us. Yet it was Arsenal who had more possession and more passes in the final third. However, in terms of genuine chances there is little to report. The game changing moment came just after the hour mark. Jacob Murphy\u2019s wayward shot looked to have gone out of play, but the ref waved play on, a cross came in, Joelinton pushed Gabriel, and controlled the ball with his arm and Antony Gordon tapped home from a couple of yards out. VAR checked for three incidents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Did the ball go out of play? Yes, but there were apparently no conclusive angles, whatever that means.<\/li>
  2. Was it a foul by Joelinton on Gabriel? Well, I don\u2019t know if placing both hands on someone\u2019s back is a natural jumping position but the wise lads at Stockley Park certainly seemed to think so. Who are we to question their infinite wisdom?<\/li>
  3. Was Gordon offside? Given they change the offside rule every week, depending on whichever side they have decided is going to win today, they couldn\u2019t possibly have known the answer to that. Just go with your gut feeling, lads.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Apparently, they were all fine. In fact, there was indeed a fourth incident they should\u2019ve checked which was Joelinton\u2019s handling of the ball in the build-up. I\u2019m sure they would\u2019ve made up some abstract nonsense as to why that was also within the rules. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    After that, we huffed and puffed but we couldn\u2019t break down the Saudi Public Investment Fund Stoke as we suffered our first league defeat since May. Arteta was quite rightly furious with the decisions and did not hold back in his post-match interviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cWe have to talk about the result because we have to talk about how the Hell this goal stands. I feel embarrassed. It is a disgrace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I mean is he wrong? No, because this is merely the latest in a long list of disgraceful decisions. It has got to the point where correct decisions get overly praised because they are so rare. If you have this level of support from your peers and the available technology and you are still getting decisions consistently wrong you must ask yourself if there is in fact something bigger going on here. Because let\u2019s be honest, it is not a difficult job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Arteta will no doubt get a ban for this when he is merely speaking the truth. A few short weeks ago, Man United had a goal ruled out against Brighton as Marcus Rashford\u2019s cutback was correctly adjudged to have gone out of play. That ball was as every bit over the line as it was yesterday. So, what\u2019s changed? What is the difference? This decision will cost us points just as we were cheated out of two points when they \u201cforgot to draw the lines\u201d against Brentford. Or when Martinelli\u2019s goal at Old Trafford was ruled out for a non-existent foul. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But let us be clear on this; it is not just Arsenal. The entire league is affected by this. Consider the above United goal that was ruled out. And how can anyone forget Luis Dias\u2019 perfectly fine goal being ruled out for no apparent reason. Yesterday it was our turn to be the victims of yet another VAR cock up and next week it will be someone else\u2019s turn. How long will this be allowed to continue? This is a league of fine margins as Arteta said and we cannot afford for games to be decided by others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We are at a point where the 22 men on the field are no longer the centre of attention. It is now all about the man in the middle, the linesmen, and their cronies at Stockley Park. People want to watch sport, not a never-ending soap opera. Many other sports have similar technology, and it functions smoothly – rugby, cricket, tennis to name a few. So, what makes football so different? Is it the money involved? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    These decisions have an impact on who wins the league, who gets a European spot, who stays up, who goes down. These are not insignificant things. This is about the integrity of the sport of which there seems to be little these days. Quite how it is allowed for two clubs in the same league to be bankrolled by nation states, let alone one, is beyond me. We very nearly had a third. And now, the nation that owns the club we played yesterday has been \u201cawarded\u201d the chance to host the 2034 World cup, less than a year after the nation that bankrolls PSG, and if they had their way, Man United as well, hosted the last one. Well, there we have it. The ultimate act of sportswashing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So where do we go from here? Normally after a loss we assess what went wrong, how we can improve and we look ahead to the next fixture. On Wednesday night, we will host Sevilla in the Champions League and all the focus will shift to that. Because that\u2019s where football is at now. Incorrect decisions are made and then we all just accept it and move on. Hopefully what Arteta has said will start to change that. Because if we lose our integrity and sense of justice what do we really have left?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Normally, I try to write my reports as soon after the game as possible. But given the way we lost yesterday\u2019s game, I have chosen to wait until the morning so I can avoid making knee jerk reactions.  But now I have slept on it, and it seems even more ridiculous, I won\u2019t talk much […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8704"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8704"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8707,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8704\/revisions\/8707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}