According to Sky Sports, coach Mikel Arteta (Arsenal) was cleared by the independent investigation committee, after being charged by the English Football Association (FA) for criticizing the referee in the match against Newcastle in November.
Coach Arteta escaped FA punishment – Photo: GETTY IMAGES
The FA’s allegations do not have enough basis to prove
Arsenal lost 0-1 to Newcastle in round 11 of the Premier League on November 5. In this match, Newcastle won at home at St James’ Park thanks to Anthony Gordon’s only goal in the 64th minute.
This is also the most controversial situation in the match. In this phase, Arsenal players thought the ball had crossed the line before Joe Willock crossed into the penalty area. Joelinton then appeared to have knocked Gabriel down as he headed in to assist Gordon’s goal. Some Arsenal fans even thought that Gordon was offside.
Head referee Stuart Attwell consulted the VAR referee team, but did not directly watch the screen. In the end, he still maintained his decision to recognize the goal for Newcastle.
After the match, coach Arteta angrily criticized Newcastle’s decision to recognize the goal as “disgraceful” and “shameful”. He also criticized both the level of Premier League referees and VAR technology.
By mid-November, he was accused by the Football Association (FA) of breaching rule E3.1 for “comments that amounted to misconduct that was offensive to match officials and/or detrimental for the match and/or bring the match into disrepute”.
Accordingly, FA pointed out 3 main points causing controversy in this goal.
Firstly, has Joe Willock (Newcastle) let the ball roll out of bounds or not?
Second, whether Joelinton fouled Gabriel or not.
Third, whether Gordon was offside before scoring.
However, the independent investigation committee found that the FA’s accusations were unproven and said that coach Arteta only had two questions about the goal. That is whether Gabriel was fouled and whether the ball went out of bounds or not.
Escaped punishment for using Spanish
Then on November 13, Coach Arteta also sent a letter to the independent investigation committee to explain the incident. He claimed that translations of his remarks were corrupted from Spanish to English.
The situation is said to be that the ball has rolled out of bounds – Photo: GETTY IMAGES
Specifically, the word “disgrace” in English has a different meaning than the word “desgracia” in Spanish even though both are pronounced quite similarly.
In Spanish, the word “desgracia” carries the connotation of misfortune, tragedy or bad luck. This contrasts with the English connotation of contempt, dishonesty or disrespect.
In addition, coach Arteta also affirmed that he has made “significant efforts” to improve the quality of referees and VAR with the Referee Management Agency (PGMOL). He believes that VAR technology is “below the necessary standard”.
The evidence is that on November 2, Arteta attended a meeting with PGMOL – the time before the match against Newcastle took place. However, this meeting did not bring any improvement results.
Also according to the letter, the FA accused coach Arteta of using inappropriate language. Meanwhile, many other coaches also said the same thing but were not harmed.
With the decision to remove Arteta’s penalty, the FA did not make any complaints to the independent investigation committee. According to regulations, the FA and the Spanish strategist both have the right to appeal as long as it is within the allowed time limit. However, that deadline has now passed.
