Arsenal ‘inferiority complex’ laid bare as baffling Nketiah v Ederson penalty reaction continues

Mikel Arteta should never have picked Rob Holding in a narrow FA Cup defeat three weeks ago. And Erling Haaland FORGOT everything in the win over Arsenal.

Eddie heights
The only possible interesting way of dissecting a great football game is, as has been firmly established over the last few years, to examine all the refereeing calls in painstakingly minute detail. It’s such incredible fun.

Better yet, why not focus fairly heavy on a decision from the official which actually did not affect the final outcome of the match? Perfect.

‘Most of their ire was reserved for Ederson’s frequent time-wasting,’ The Sun‘s Dave Kidd writes of the Arsenal supporters. ‘The Brazilian had just been booked for this offence when he conceded the penalty.

‘Nketiah’s angled shot was brilliantly cleared off the line by Ake, but as the Dutchman slid in, Ederson followed through to collide with Arsenal’s centre-forward.

‘Where was the keeper supposed to go?’

Poor Ederson. He simply had no choice but to plough into Nketiah and make absolutely no contact with the ball whatsoever in the process.

‘Ref Anthony Taylor didn’t care and pointed to the spot.’

Alternatively, ref Anthony Taylor was right.

READ MORE: Arsenal were nonchalant, not scared – let Neville and co. crow because the title race is still on

Come together, right now
Except Mark Halsey, The Sun‘s resident refereeing expert, also reckons the call was wrong.

‘The Manchester City keeper came out and Nketiah got his shot away before the momentum of both players saw a coming together, so I wouldn’t have awarded a spot-kick.’

It was not ‘the momentum of both players’ that ‘saw a coming together’ at all. It was the momentum of Ederson. They weren’t both heading the same way. Ederson collided with Nketiah and the Arsenal striker was going in a different direction. This was not an unavoidable accident. Ederson literally jumped into Nketiah, who was heading towards the touchline.

‘This is the sort of incident that you often see in the Premier League where no foul is given.’

Then those are the mistakes. Just because this ‘sort of incident’ isn’t usually a foul doesn’t mean it isn’t actually a foul. They should be given far more often.

Imagine a hypothetical scenario in which both players still take the same paths but instead of shooting, Nketiah takes a touch and goes past Ederson, who subsequently takes him out by crashing into him. It would be an obvious penalty with no debate. Just because Nketiah managed to shoot doesn’t make him fair game to knock over.

Ask a simple question
‘Why Ederson wasn’t sent off for Manchester City in crucial Premier League win at Arsenal’ – Daily Mirror website.

Because it was a foul but not an offence worthy of a yellow card. And for the record, ‘Nketiah jumped into Ederson and the pair collided’ is just absolute nonsense. Nketiah was going the other way. Ederson jumped into him.

Whole lot of history
‘There have been times in the last few weeks when the weight of history and the pain of nearly 20 years of lost ambitions seemed to be crushing Arsenal’ – Oliver Holt, Daily Mail.

Since when did ‘the weight of history and the pain of nearly 20 years of lost ambitions’ become a synonym for ‘a lack of squad depth’?

‘They blinked first when Arteta fielded a weakened team in an FA Cup tie against City three weeks ago as if to protect himself from going toe to toe with the champions. Arsenal lost and they have not won since.’

So we’re retrospectively considering it an official mistake that Arteta picked Matt Turner, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Rob Holding, Kieran Tierney and Fabio Vieira, resting a handful of key players, for an FA Cup tie Arsenal only lost narrowly to Manchester City?

Arteta ‘blinked first’ by sending Holding out to keep Erling Haaland quiet, ensuring they would lose a league match to the same opponent three weeks later. Sure.

‘It reinforced their inferiority complex about City. Last night’s result felt like a self-fulfilling prophecy.’

It showed that Manchester City have a stronger squad than Arsenal, which was already common knowledge. And what would have happened to that ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’ if Nketiah could head a ball properly when unmarked in the opposition penalty area?

If Arsenal can have 10 shots to nine and 63.5% possession against a team they have an ‘inferiority complex’ over, just think how bloody brilliant they could be when not so clearly inhibited by fear.

Forget me not
‘Erling Haaland reveals he FORGOT Pep Guardiola’s half-time tactical tweaks in crunch title clash with Arsenal’ – The Sun website.

‘Haaland “couldn’t remember” Guardiola instruction during win over Arsenal’ – Daily Mirror website.

”I honestly can’t remember!’: Erling Haaland says Pep Guardiola’s tactical half time tweaks were key to Man City’s win over Arsenal but admits he FORGOT what the instructions were – before scoring late on to inspire crucial victory’ – MailOnline.

He FORGOT them after the game when asked to explain what they were, because he was so delighted with the victory and no longer needed to remember tactical instructions for a match which had finished. And changing what Haaland said post-match – “I honestly can’t remember” – to “couldn’t remember” is a c***’s trick which completely changes the meaning of the story. But you already know that.

Hot Rod
‘Look at Rodri; he made one of the interceptions of the season on Granit Xhaka, off-balance, stretching out a foot to nick the ball away from the Arsenal midfielder as he was about to shoot’ – Henry Winter, The Times.

Or perhaps look at Ruben Dias, who was the Manchester City player actually responsible for that moment.

Is this the worst description ever of a brilliant goal?
‘Ramsdale was in no man’s land on the edge of his area and De Bruyne lobbed it over him with his left foot in a lazy arc. It bounced just inside the post and over the line’ – Oliver Holt, Daily Mail.

Evergreen sentence of the day
‘Guardiola’s team selection was odd’ – Ian Ladyman, Daily Mail.