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Graeme Souness criticises Arsenal players over Jorginho incident
Graeme Souness that the referee was right to not send Jorginho off during Arsenal’s defeat to Chelsea, and insisted that it was only the Gunners players who should have seen yellow in the incident that enraged the home fans.
Jorginho was initially booked for a foul on Alexandre Lacazette. And some of the Arsenal players felt that the Blues midfielder should be shown a second yellow when he then clashed with Matteo Guendouzi in the middle of the park.
The referee decided to not book Jorginho, leaving Arsenal supporters irate, particularly as he went on to score Chelsea’s equaliser in their 2-1 win.
Interestingly however, Souness criticised Guendouzi for going down too easily. And he also hit out at the Arsenal players who pleaded with the referee to send Jorginho off.
: “Guendouzi throws himself to the ground. He’s got a hold of his wrist. How do you go to ground like that with so little contact?
“I hate to see that [referring to Arsenal players calling for a card]. ‘Send him off’. Torreira joins in, Lacazette joins in.
“How do you go down like that? Guendouzi, a lot bigger than him. For me, that’s not a second yellow card. It’s a yellow card for the ones that were waving their hands at the referee.”
TBR View – Souness criticism seems harsh
In truth, it seems difficult to agree with Souness’s view on the incident. Firstly, Guendouzi is pulled back by Jorginho so the Chelsea midfielder could have surely had few complaints if he was shown a second yellow card.
Guendouzi does perhaps go to ground too easily. But pundits will often suggest that players who are fouled and stay on their foot would have got a free-kick had they gone down. So it is unfair to blame Guendouzi for making sure that he won the free-kick.
It is disappointing to see players call for another player to be sent off. But once again, it would probably not be too difficult to find at least one other incident over the weekend where players have called for an opponent to be shown a card.
And it now seems to happen so often that it must have an impact on referees. When there are tight calls, the officials must be relieved when one team does not appeal too strongly.
That suggests that the team are not convinced that the marginal call should go their way, and that must influence a referee who faces making a big, potentially game-changing decision.
Arsenal did not benefit by appealing on that occasion. But it would be fascinating to see how many tight calls are awarded to a team that does not appeal for anything. It would be no surprise if it was much fewer than they should get.
It would be fantastic if players did not feel the need to appeal for opponents to be sent off. But it seems unfair to suggest that Arsenal have done anything out of the ordinary.