VAR-free zone

Published in Football 365 on 2 Jan 2022:

While I think Arsenal have had more than their fair share of being on the wrong end of VAR and refereeing decisions over the years, the less said about this the better because nothing will change. Better to accentuate the positives, the things the club can, and have changed to make these decisions less of a factor. 

City get an undeserved win. This young Arsenal team should use this to fuel the rest of their season. City claimed they were tired, had less time to prepare. Forgive me if I shed no tears. Who cares? Their bench was ridiculous.

We took a giant step today, a million miles away from the reverse fixture earlier this season. Even Xhaka was better here, though ultimately he cost us the game. Not just for the penalty (it was a penalty, Silva did dive and both can be true), but the aftermath as well because Gabriel picked up the first booking then. He was naive for the second and had to go. He gave Atwell no choice. He will learn. Xhaka, probably not.

The main thing is we stood toe to toe, and proved we could live with them. Those two incidents aside (the Odegaard penalty shout wasn't as massive a turning point), you'd struggle to think of any point in the game where City seized control in their customary fashion.

This was a game where maybe losing in this manner is far more useful as motivation for the long term . Winning might have been another false dawn for a young team. I'm hugely encouraged for the second half of the season.

Tired (but hopeful) Gooner

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It was obviously frustrating to lose in that manner but there are so many positives to take. Just like Singapore's valiant effort against Indonesia in the Suzuki Cup semi-final. We ended the game with 8 players and held out till extra-time. Truly incredible. Sometimes losing is painful but necessary so that the right lessons are learnt.

Here I think we would have been greatly encouraged by the performance. We were truly magnificent in the first half and I believe this team has woken up to the fact of how good they already are, and how much better they can be. The lessons here are that details, small moments matter. You cannot allow small setbacks to put you off. Penalties get called against you, It happens. We get calls we don't deserve too. It is tough to take when the officiating is bad and seems to be stacked against you but these are the current realities. Reacting in the manner we did, didn't help and isn't the only option.

This might just be the most pivotal moment of the season. There are still 18 games to go, everything to play for because we are still sitting in 4th. The other teams have games in hand but as we have seen, things this season are much more volatile with covid disrupting fixtures and it's probably better to have points in the bag. If Arsenal does not have a sports psychologist, they should definitely go get one now. This team clearly thrives on confidence and they are flying, notwithstanding the undeserved loss.

My message to the team would be, "You have just shown the rest of the league what you can do against the best team in the land. They got lucky."

My FB post on the Singapore team:

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What. A. Game. Never been prouder of a losing effort by any team I have supported. To go down fighting under normal circumstances, against better teams, is par for the course. It is expected you give nothing less than your all. The typical scenario is a backs-to-the-wall effort while parking the bus against superior opponents. But this was bonkers. Down to 10 men, we limped into half time and you would think that we might play a little more conservatively and hope to catch the Indonesians on the break. But we somehow managed to collect ourselves, and even started playing better, perhaps fueled by a sense of injustice at the sending off. We pushed forward with a sense of adventure. The reward? Another red card, this one totally understandable as we got caught on the break. No one would have had a harsh word if we had just packed the box and hoped to make it to penalties with 9 players. Instead I laughed out loud when I saw the team still attacking with great spirit - "what are you doing?!" Madness. In truth, a better team might have ripped us to shreds. But slowly, I began to understand. This was a show of defiance, a message that we wouldn't lie down meekly or lose in that typical manner when teams fight against the odds of numerical disadvantage. We weren't telling the Indonesians to beat us by breaking down a rearguard action. We were going to give them a game we never did with 11 players, and even if we lost, it would not be for lack of courage. And it was truly incredible, inspirational and ultimately heartbreaking but what a ride! Thanks for the memories Lions!