Craig Burley makes surprising criticism of Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta over VAR drama
Football expert and former Scotland player Craig Burley called Arsenal’s manager Mikel Arteta a “hypocrite.” Arsenal is currently leading the Premier League by five points over Manchester City, with two games left to play. Although Man City has one game fewer, Arsenal is very close to winning their first title since 2004, and fans can almost taste the victory.
Arsenal fans have every reason to celebrate if their team wins, but Arteta isn’t very popular outside the Emirates Stadium. On Sunday, Leandro Trossard scored the winning goal against West Ham United at the London Stadium. However, much of the talk afterward was about West Ham’s disallowed equalizer. After a long review by VAR, Callum Wilson’s goal was ruled off because Arsenal’s goalkeeper David Raya was judged to have been fouled during a corner kick.
Many fans and experts noticed that several other fouls happened in Arsenal’s penalty area in the same moment. Burley was quick to criticize Arteta, saying, “Arteta is one of the biggest hypocrites in modern football.” He said that if it had been an Arsenal player fouling the goalkeeper, Arteta would have spoken out about the other fouls, but because the decision went Arsenal’s way, he played the “Mr Nice Guy.”
The debate after the match was clearly influenced by club loyalties, which is normal in football. The controversy showed how common fouling, holding, and blocking are in the penalty area during set pieces like corners. Arsenal often comes up in these discussions because of the idea that they’re sometimes hypocritical, but really, this kind of rough play happens all over football.
Goalkeepers often find themselves surrounded, and players block others who aren’t even going for the ball. Fans don’t like how corners can take up so much time because referees struggle to stop these constant fouls. There’s no easy fix, but one thing is clear: fouling during dead-ball situations is a big problem that everyone is dealing with.