Haaland reality, ban verdict - bitter Arteta and Arsenal forget home truths amid Man City furore

Mikel Arteta reacts after Leandro Trossard of Arsenal receives a red card during the Premier League match between City and Arsenal
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


The fallout from Manchester City's Premier League game with Arsenal continues.

The contest had everything - four goals, a red card, needle, talking points aplenty and spicy post-match comments. And, as the dust perhaps begins to settle, there are still gripes from both sides. Gunners boss Mikel Arteta spoke to the media on Tuesday ahead of their Carabao Cup tie against Bolton.

And, while opting not to engage too much with the City chat two days on, defended his side’s approach and ‘dark arts’ while making a pointed comment about the red cards his side have received this season. While plenty of Arsenal fans feel hard done by, and their manager feels he has more than a gripe or two, there’s a few factors the Gunners are perhaps missing amid the emotion.

READ MORE: 'Clever or dirty' - Stones takes swipe at Arsenal tactics as City view emerges

READ MORE: Bernardo Silva launches extraordinary Arsenal attack after Man City draw

Trossard 'stupidity'

Firstly, the Trossard decision. The Gunners man was already on a yellow card when he barged Bernardo Silva late in the first half. That in itself could easily have resulted in a second booking but when the Belgian, after seemingly pausing for a split second, then booted the ball away referee Michael Oliver had no alternative but to send him off.

With Declan Rice having been dismissed for the same offence against Brighton a matter of weeks ago, Arsenal's players cannot claim to not fully understand the message from officials this season on delaying restarts. Trossard had to go by the letter of the law.

As former top flight ref Dermot Gallagher said in the aftermath: "No [there can be no complaints], because it's a foul [on Silva], there's no doubt about that. Would the player have have kicked the ball away like that if there was no foul and pause in play?

"Most certainly not because he's not going to pass to Martinelli like that. I feel for him because he's gone to pull out but the damage is already done.

"We've already seen it earlier this season that referees are very hard on it this season. He should know better than to do it. The referees have said they'll be hard and fast on it. You could show me one or two where they've got away, but by and large, referees have been very strong on this. If one player gets away with it, it's not justification for another player to say 'I'm being punished'."

Time wasting tactics

Arteta made no apology for his side's tactics when reflecting on the encounter. Speaking on Tuesday he said: "We had to play the game that we had to play. The first 10, 15 minutes, we couldn’t with 11vs11. Then we got much better. Then we were thrown in a very different context and did what every team does. They played 30 seconds with 10 men. Look what they did for 30 seconds. It’s normal what they did. We had to do it in a different way.

"We learnt from the past. Unfortunately we’ve been in the same situation a few times. We were in that same situation with Granit [Xhaka] after 38 minutes and we lost 5-0. We’d better learn. If not I would be thick, very thick."

But the time wasting was clear for all to see. And in the end, it came back to bite the visitors as City scored in the ninth minute of added time.

That was a cause for complaint for some of an Arsenal persuasion after seven was initially signalled by the fourth official but it could and perhaps should have been more to start with and delays in the added time meant the game was extended still further.

Indeed, as Opta explained in the aftermath, David Raya wasted nine minutes of the match simply on goal kicks.

"On average they took 42.7 seconds to restart the game after being awarded either a corner, goal-kick, free-kick or throw-in. Each goal kick took Raya 45.3 seconds on average to complete, meaning that in total he wasted over nine minutes of the game on goal-kicks alone."

Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya clutches the ball during the Premier League draw with Manchester City
Arsenal and goalkeeper David Raya tried to waste time and delay the game during the second half against Manchester City

Red cards

That is 17 for Arsenal under Arteta, the most of any Premier League club in that timeframe. Indeed it is two in three top flight matches and both for second yellow cards for kicking the ball away and delaying a restart. Trossard followed Rice in receiving his marching orders this term, not that Arteta felt either decision was warranted despite the clear clampdown on the offence this season.

Speaking on Tuesday, he had this exchange with a reporter.

You’ve had players sent off in the past two games for kicking the ball away…

"For passing it you mean."

Have you had to remind them not to do that?

"Yeah I think so. Don’t touch the ball. We will play without the ball."

Haaland anger

There can be no denying Haaland was in the wrong when he threw the ball at Gabriel's head after Stones' late equaliser and had Oliver seen it, the Norwegian should have been booked. But any calls for a retrospective ban from those of an Arsenal persuasion are unfamiliar with the law.

As explained in the excellent ESPN VAR review, the decision was clear: "It's petulant, but the suggestion we should be seeing VAR red cards for this is wide of the mark. It was looked at by Brooks but not deemed to be an act of violent conduct.

"We see players kick and throw the ball at opponents regularly, but they are never sent off for it. That's not to say you couldn't argue the case within the law, but Haaland would really have had to throw the ball with far more force or brutality for the VAR to consider this to be a red card -- but the City striker would have been booked had the on-field officials seen it.

"As the VAR looked at it there can be no retrospective action, not that it would have reached the threshold for a charge. Although the possibility of retrospective action still exists, VAR means the chances of an incident not being looked at by any of the officials are extremely slim. So, as a consequence, it doesn't happen anymore."