- Arsenal were on the receiving end of serious VAR controversy in their match today
- Mikel Arteta has slammed VAR, calling it ’embarrassing’ and a ‘disgrace’
- Kai Havertz is a broken man at Arsenal: listen to the debate It all starts
Piers Morgan has labeled VAR ‘man of the match for Newcastle’ as the broadcaster was outraged by the Magpies’ controversial winning goal in their 1-0 victory over Arsenal.
The vocal Arsenal fan took to X, formerly Twitter, to vent after the Gunners’ unbeaten start to the Premier League season came to an end.
Anthony Gordon scored Newcastle’s winning goal in the 64th minute, with his effort subject to a nearly four-minute VAR check.
Three separate incidents assessed by decision involved abandoning the goal.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta had claimed the decision made him feel ‘sick’ and Morgan expressed similar frustration, labeling the decision as ‘pathetic’.
Piers Morgan took to social media to express his anger at Newcastle’s controversial winner
Anthony Gordon drives away in celebration after scoring the only but controversial goal
Officials had to review three separate incidents before deciding to award Gordon’s goal
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Morgan published a series of tweets, the first of which read: ‘So we all just watched the ball go out of play, then Gabriel was fouled and then clearly offside. But VAR still gave Newcastle the goal. Just sad.’
The VAR officials first checked whether the ball went out of bounds when Willock tried to keep the ball in ball.
It was then checked whether Joelinton had committed a foul on Gabriel, as it appeared the Brazilian pushed his compatriot in the back.
After ruling this was not a foul, VAR tried to check for offside as Gordon looked out for Joelinton.
However, it was confirmed that there was no closing angle where Joelinton made contact with the ball, meaning they did not know if Gordon was offside.
Morgan then continued to express his displeasure with VAR and also turned his attention to Arteta and Kai Havertz.
He insisted: ‘VAR was MoM for Newcastle but we deserved to lose. Arsenal were terrible. Once again, only Rice deserves all the praise. As long as we don’t have a real striker, and Arteta continues this ridiculous Havertz farce, we won’t win the League.’
Havertz has struggled since his move from Chelsea to London, but the versatile German is still picked by Arteta quite regularly.
Morgan claimed VAR was man of the match in a series of social media posts
Kai Havertz has struggled to maintain his form during his time at both Chelsea and Arsenal
Much of the Gunners’ fanbase often expresses their disappointment with Havertz online, while many, like Morgan, are full of praise for Declan Rice.
Morgan then sent a third tweet to Arteta, saying the manager was part of the reason why Arsenal wouldn’t win the league.
He said: ‘Arteta is absolutely losing his dick, and he is right when he says VAR is a disgrace and disgrace. BUT we were still cr*p and didn’t deserve to win. And HIS inexplicable decisions regarding Havertz & Raya, and not buying a top striker, hurt us.”
Despite Morgan’s complaints, Arsenal have only just lost their first league game of the season and remain in the hunt for the Premier League title.
They have also suffered more injuries, especially after captain Martin Odegaard was ruled out for the kick-off against Newcastle, and have done well in the league so far.