Alan Shearer was left relieved that VAR was unable to step in and rule out Arsenal’s opening goal against Tottenham.
The Gunners hosted their fierce rivals on Wednesday night as both sides returned to Premier League action. It has been a difficult campaign for both clubs, but it was the visitors who took the lead 25 minutes in, when Son Heung-min fired in from the edge of the box.
It took 15 minutes for the hosts to get back on level terms, though it came in controversial fashion. Leandro Trossard took on Pedro Porro on Arsenal’s left wing, but the Spurs right-back was able to block the Belgian’s attempted cross.
Referee Simon Hooper awarded a corner, but replays showed the ball had actually come off Trossard’s leg last. VAR cannot get involved in those decisions though, with only goals and possible red cards under their rules.
To rub salt into the wound, the resulting corner was floated to Gabriel at the back post, with the Brazilian beating Radu Dragusin to head in via Dominic Solanke’s midriff. Trossard would quickly add a second for the hosts to seal a comeback win for Mikel Arteta’s men.
Shearer conceded that Spurs could be legitimately left feeling hard done by, though insisted their defending at set-pieces is not up to scratch. He told Match of the Day: “And rightly so [Spurs will be angry]. It’s a poor decision, it clearly comes off Trossard last. But how many times have we said it, again Tottenham concede from a corner.
“What they do also is try to reduce the numbers, they leave two up. But again they’re all over the place. Gabriel wants it more than Dragusin, he’s got the flight of the ball and again Spurs were weak at a set-piece and were punished again.”
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While he admitted the move to award Arsenal a corner was a ‘poor decision’, Shearer insisted that VAR should stay well away from overturning those calls in the future. He said: “No I wouldn’t like it, no. They’ve had enough problems with VAR anyway so to give them extra responsibilities!”
While Shearer admitted that Arsenal’s equaliser should not have stood, Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou opted against blaming the referee for his side’s defeat. Instead, he insisted that his side had not performed the the level required.
“Nowhere near good enough, especially in the first half. We were too passive. We let Arsenal dictate the game. Second half was a little better not nowhere near good enough. Not acceptable,” he told TNT Sports.
“Ultimately the responsibility lies with me and how I prepare the players. I’m more interested in how we play and we were not anywhere near the levels today. Go back to work and prepare for a tough game.
“Of course they [defeats] hurt me. Not acceptable. Too many losses this year. Too many games getting away from us. It needs to stop. No other way of looking at it. If you give up now, there’s no point. Right now we have a big game against Everton this weekend. That’s our focus.”
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