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Arsenal suffered a first defeat of the season after an error strewn performance against Bournemouth yesterday evening.
The team saw Ben White return, Raheem Sterling replace Bukayo Saka on the right, who was not in the squad at all, and a first start for Mikel Merino in midfield. It was a functional side more than an exciting one, and it was a strange game. The pitch was really slow, heavily watered, and that affected the pace of play for both sides. Nothing much happened in either goalmouth until the big incident of the first half.
Quite what Leandro Trossard was trying to do, I’m not sure, but he played a ball from inside their half over the top of our defence and into the path of Evanilson. William Saliba was there, he pulled him back and the referee issued a yellow card. VAR suggested a review, after which the yellow card was rescinded and a red pulled out instead for denying a goalscoring opportunity.
I think it’s one of those where it’s both a bit harsh but also understandable. Would I want it if the situation was reversed and it was Gabriel Martinelli, for example, about to streak through? Yes, I think so, even if it was a long way from goal. Here’s the thing for me – when it comes right down to it, I think Saliba made a mistake. He is quick enough to have chased Evanilson down, and got back to make a tackle. We’ve seen him do that before, more than once, and even if they went through and scored, there was lots of time to make it right. But on this occasion he just panicked in a split second and gave the officials the decision to make. And when the Liverpool fan on VAR had the chance to ensure Saliba would be suspended for our game against them next week, he took it.
That made it an uphill battle, and for the third time this season we were down to 10 men for an extended period. Whatever about the rights and wrongs of the decisions, it’s a problem we need to get on top of. In this…
Source link : https://arseblog.com/2024/10/bournemouth-2-0-arsenal-a-bad-day-at-the-office/
Author : arseblog
Publish date : 2024-10-20 07:21:03
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