Arsenal’s recent defeat to Newcastle was marred by VAR controversy, and Gary Neville expressed his displeasure with the actions of coach Nicolas Jover towards the end of the match. The game at St. James’ Park had its fair share of contentious moments, particularly involving VAR decisions.
The first half of the match was relatively uneventful until Kai Havertz’s reckless challenge near the byline. Havertz leaped off the ground in an attempt to win the ball, provoking some heated reactions from the Newcastle players. A VAR check determined that the challenge was reckless but not dangerous, sparing Havertz from a red card. However, this was just the beginning of the VAR’s involvement in the game.
As the match intensified, Bruno Guimaraes made a lunging tackle, missing his target but then got up and made contact with Jorginho, leading with his forearm and elbow. This resulted in a brief scuffle that had to be broken up. Once again, VAR intervened and decided that there was no red card, despite the protests.
In the second half, former Arsenal midfielder Joe Willock played a crucial role, keeping the ball in play and providing a cross that eventually led to Anthony Gordon’s opening goal via Joelinton. VAR was called into action three times during the sequence, reviewing the Willock cross, a potential foul by Joelinton, and whether Gordon was offside.
The decision was finally announced as a goal after several minutes of waiting; in the hours that followed, opinions would diverge. With a final burst of set-pieces, the Gunners attempted to pull even, but they were unable to do so and suffered their first Premier League loss.
Neville criticized coach Jover after the game for yelling at Leandro Trossard prior to several crucial late corners and free kicks. “It was driving me crazy, The set-piece coach down here, he was doing my head in as well,” he stated on the Gary Neville Podcast.
“He was yelling nonstop, acting as though he were the manager. That might not be helpful. He is yelling angrily at Trossard for stealing the set pieces. Settle down; you’ve told him three or four times, you’ve gone over it with him during the week, and it’s posted on the board in the locker room before the game.
“To me it felt like he was putting more pressure on Trossard taking the corners, which, to be fair, Trossard didn’t handle because his corners were appalling.”
Though it may not have been of the greatest assistance in this particular case, it remains to be seen if that will likely impact the emotional tone with which the Arsenal coaching team performs their work.
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