Mikel Arteta issues PGMOL rallying cry as Arsenal overcome history at Manchester City
Arsenal overcome the odds
Before we get to the red card – and don’t worry, we will get to it – let’s start with the positives from Sunday.
Arsenal were given a real test at the Etihad. The Gunners generally start strong in away games, but in the opening exchanges here they were awful. Erling Haaland was allowed far too cheap a goal, and when Ilkay Gundogan struck the post with a free kick, it really felt like a matter of when not if City would find a second.
Perhaps though Arsenal had watched the boxing the night before. Unlike Anthony Joshua, the Gunners took the blows in this heavyweight clash, but stayed standing. Eventually they began to hit back.
Riccardo Calafiori’s goal showed the kind of clinical edge that has gone against Arsenal so often in recent seasons. After that they could have gained the lead through Leandro Trossard or Gabriel as the began to wrestle back control of the game. By the time Gabriel nodded the Gunners in front, there were few that could argue it wasn’t deserved.
Because of the outstanding levels Arsenal have set themselves, maybe some people would have expected that. But that shouldn’t take away from just how spectacular an achievement that is.
The last team to come from a goal down to leave at the Etihad was Chelsea in 2021. When teams fall behind away at Manchester City, they simply do not come back. The fact that they were able to do that is testament to just how good this Arsenal side are right now. As Mikel Arteta would say – “chapeau”.
Ok, now on to the bit we would rather not be talking about. For the second time in four matches, we are discussing a refereeing decision.
This game was on course to become a classic. After two anaemic snore-fests last season, Arsenal and Manchester City served up an all-timer of a first half. The game was played with needle, quality and pace. Two thoroughbreds running at full pelt.
The second half should have been a fascinating battle as City’s kings fought desperately to maintain their crown from Arsenal’s princes. Unfortunately, we never got to see it.
Of course, by the letter of the law, it is a yellow card. Trossard is trying to kick the ball away. If he was trying to play in Gabriel Martinelli, someone of his quality wouldn’t have booted it sky high. But do we really want to see players being sent off for this? Do we want titles being decided by this? Do we want the product being ruined by this? Mikel Arteta certainly doesn’t think so.
“I cannot be happy,” he said in his post-match press conference. “I want to be involved in a game at this level that puts the game in a situation that we can enjoy and talk about it in the proper way. We’re not talking about that.”
The second half was dramatic as Arsenal were able to hold out until the very last. But it should have been so much better.
Yes, there is the argument about consistency. Jeremy Doku should have been booked for kicking the ball away, just as Joao Pedro should have been against Brighton. But away from the pettiness of victim narratives there is a wider question about whether referees are officiators or enforcers.
Dermot Gallagher came out with the ludicrous statement that “common sense and refereeing do not go hand in hand.” That could not be further from the truth. There are some games were the same tackle will be a yellow card and some games where it won’t. What counts as a straight red in a match between Arsenal and Bournemouth for example, could well be judged by a different standard in a North London Derby. That is the art of refereeing.
Of course there’s a line, but the impossible demand for consistency is part of the problem here. We have created an environment where each refereeing decision is so intensely scrutinised that officials feel a need to enforce every decision to the letter of the law. The reality is that they don’t and they would do well to remember that. Hopefully these last two ludicrously harsh spectacle ruining incident will change things. It’s hard to see that happening though.
