VAR faces criticism after Arsenal's defeat.

Famous TV presenter Piers Morgan and many fans are outraged by VAR's decision to award the goal that helped Newcastle beat Arsenal 1-0 in the 11th round of the Premier League.

After Anthony Gordon scored against Arsenal in the 64th minute at St James' Park, VAR intervened, reviewing the situation for four minutes with three possible disallowances. First, whether Joe Willock had let the ball out of bounds before passing it in; second, whether Joelinton had pushed Gabriel; and third, whether Gordon was offside when he scored. Ultimately, the goal was awarded to Newcastle.

Three situations were reviewed by VAR before the decision to award the goal to Newcastle was upheld. The first was the possibility of Willock being off the pitch...

And finally, the possibility of Gordon being offside. (Screenshot) — And finally, the possibility of Gordon being offside. *(Screenshot)*

On social media platform X, journalist Piers Morgan – who conducted the controversial interview with Cristiano Ronaldo – criticized VAR. "So we just saw the ball go out of bounds, then Gabriel was fouled, then it was clearly offside. But VAR still awarded the goal to Newcastle. It's pathetic," he wrote.

Below this post, many fans agreed with Morgan's point of view. "This is a shocking decision," one fan commented.

"I give up. The refereeing gets worse every week. It's shameful," another person commented.

Chris Waddle, who played for Newcastle from 1980-1985, was also surprised by the VAR decision. "I thought VAR would take a long time because so much was happening in that situation," he commented live on BBC Radio 5 Live : "The ball looked like it was out of bounds and Joelinton's push."

When the goal was confirmed, Waddle commented further: "It's great that there's a goal in the game, but how could VAR confirm it like that? There haven't been many highlights from the start of the game, and now there are."

Contrary to the criticism, in his live commentary on Sky Sports , former Man Utd defender Gary Neville cited the VAR team's analysis, stating that the ball was still in play when Willock attempted to save it. He also argued that the major fault lay with the Arsenal defense, with goalkeeper David Raya misjudging the ball's trajectory, and Gabriel deliberately bending down to try and head the ball away but missing, therefore Joelington could not be considered to have committed a foul.

Regarding Gordon's potential offside position, the former England defender commented at the time: "VAR asked for more time to determine the outcome. Ultimately, the goal was awarded. VAR said there was no convincing evidence to justify disallowing the goal."

Similarly, former Liverpool center-back Jamie Carragher argued that Joelinton did not foul Gabriel, that the offside situation was difficult to determine, and that the biggest issue was whether the ball had gone completely over the goal line. However, beIN Sports ' camera angle showed the ball still touching the line by a few millimeters.

VAR also made two other controversial decisions in the first half, failing to send off Kai Havertz for a dangerous two-footed tackle on Sean Longstaff and Bruno Guimaraes for a foul on Jorginho.

The controversial VAR decision to award Gordon's goal resulted in Arsenal's first Premier League defeat of the season, after seven wins and three draws. Arsenal also failed to score in their 17th game across all competitions this season. Meanwhile, for the first time since April 2012, Newcastle won four consecutive matches at St James' Park without conceding a goal.

Hong Duy

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