Mikel Arteta told he’s ‘damaged’ Arsenal and would’ve been ‘pulled in’ by club’s ex-chief | Football | Sport

Former Arsenal Vice Chairman David Dein believes Mikel Arteta has damaged his former club’s image with his recent VAR outburst. The Gunners boss hit out at the officials after his side were beaten 1-0 by Newcastle, feeling the Magpies’ goal should have been ruled out for a number of reasons.

Anthony Gordon scored the all-important goal at St James’ Park, beating David Raya’s shot. However, Arsenal were left feeling unsatisfied as they felt Joelinton overstepped Gabriel when he laid the ball down to his teammate.

VAR checked the incident and ruled that Gabriel bent down to head the ball rather than falling to the ground due to pressure from Joelinton alone, leaving Arteta furious. The Arsenal boss called the official a ‘shame’ in a furious rant which has since landed the Spaniard in hot water with the FA.

Following Arteta’s comments, the Gunners then issued a statement to ‘support’ their manager and insist they fully supported the sentiment of his message. However, former chairman Dein was surprised by the official message of support and felt he would not have replicated the act when he was in charge of the club between 1983 and 2007.

Asked talkSPORT whether he would have defended Arteta, Dein said: “It wouldn’t have happened. But we’re in an emotional game and these things happen, I think it’s unfortunate, and you live and learn.”

Dein was then asked if he would have dragged Arteta in for private talks to address his behaviour, to which he replied: “Probably. But you don’t want to undermine the manager either.

“The manager in the heat of the moment – that’s what he believed in – I was at Newcastle that game, he felt wronged that he felt the decisions were going against him. In the final analysis, I think that it was misleading, because in reality it was 101 minutes – three minutes added on in the first half and eight minutes in the second.

“In 101 minutes of football, we only had one shot on target, so you can’t really say that the team deserved to win. It is what it is. There is a process in how they deal with these things and me. I think it was a bit unnecessary. I don’t think it did any good for the image of the club.” Dein then praised Arteta for the way he rebuilt his former home and breathed new life into the club.