Souness speaks out after Arteta is slammed following "embarrassing" VAR rant
Graeme Souness has backed Mikel Arteta in the wake of the Arsenal manager's furious rant on VAR last weekend.
The Spaniard was in disbelief at the fact that Anthony Gordon's controversial second-half strike was allowed to stand at St. James' Park as the Gunners surrendered their unbeaten start to the season against Newcastle. After branding the decision as "embarrassing" and "a disgrace", Arsenal released a statement backing their manager.
That led to criticism from fans and pundits alike, including Gary Neville, who branded such a move as "dangerous". But Souness has sympathy for Arteta and his passionate reaction following yet another controversial VAR decision.
Writing in his column for The Mail, Souness said: "I have to say I had sympathy with Mikel Arteta over his reaction to a flagrantly poor refereeing decision last weekend. I’ve been in his shoes.
"The conclusion that Anthony Gordon’s goal for Newcastle should stand was plainly wrong to anyone with an ounce of knowledge of the game. And of course, Mikel was having to come to terms with the fact that those officials were equipped with the most sophisticated video technology known to man.
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"You have to ask yourself how hard it must have been for him when he walked into his press conference, given that he had half an hour to calm down — yet still went for the officials and their decision-making in a big way. I can well imagine how he felt. I would have been boiling.
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Graeme Souness has spoken out in defence of Mikel Arteta (Football Daily)"It’s all very well for people to say, ‘Arteta’s let his great club down because they have a reputation for class’ but I don’t see it like that. Yes, for me Arsenal have always been one of the classiest clubs. But I saw Arteta as a man whose frustrations were so enormous that he just couldn’t deal with it in the cold, calculated way that all the experts seem to think he should have done."
Souness went on to criticise the decision to allow Gordon's goal in the light of a foul on Gabriel Magalhaes before questioning VAR in its current guise. He added: "The uncomfortable truth is that VAR has turned out to be the technology from hell for these referees. It was supposed to make their life more comfortable, with fewer mistakes. It’s turned out to be the exact opposite.
"The question the refereeing establishment need to be asking themselves is: ‘How do we improve?’ They can go and have their seminars and their get-togethers every day of the week, but they’re still going to continue to make the same mistakes unless they involve people who intuitively understand the game. The ones who’ve actually played it."
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