Former referee Graham Poll has slammed Mikel Arteta, Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp for their behaviour on the touchline as dissent continues to be a 'huge issue' in the Premier League. The trio have all, at some stage, been guilty of — quite literally — overstepping the line with their passionate outbursts.
In a recent interview, Poll claimed that the misconduct of managers on the sidelines has been a contributing factor towards player dissent. And, the 59-year-old has urged the likes of Arteta, Guardiola and Klopp to recognise that they're role models, suggesting that their behaviour towards officials can be transmittable to their players on the pitch.
Speaking to BettingSites, Poll conceded that the League Managers Association (LMA) should be stricter when dealing with those who step out of their technical area. He said: "Player dissent is a huge issue and the conduct of managers just encourages this.
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"Arteta, Guardiola, Klopp are all as bad as each other and the LMA should be embarrassed at their inability to act. Do they have a role to play?
"Of course referees should take action as soon as managers come out of the technical areas but let’s get the managers to recognise the importance they have as role models and moderate their behaviour."
In the interview with BettingSites, Poll also delved into the latest Video Assistant Referee mistake when Arsenal and Bournemouth locked horns. Upon kick-off, a number of the Cherries' players were inside the Gunners' half but VAR failed to notice — and act upon — the encroachment.
"VAR once again appeared to let Arsenal FC down again on Saturday as both the on-field referee, Chris Kavanagh, and his colleagues at Stockley Park failed to punish the FACT that a number of Bournemouth players were in the opposing half before the kick off at the start of the match," Poll said. "Kavanagh should have seen the encroachment and ordered the kick off to be retaken long before Bournemouth got into the Arsenal penalty area.
"This happens in a vast number of games but a goal does not follow within 10 seconds and so the offence goes unnoticed and unpunished. Had the player who encroached the most, Antoine Semenyo (Bournemouth number 24), been the player who scored there could well have been an intervention by VAR but with Howard Webb now in charge we will only see less technical offences that are missed being corrected.
"Had the game finished 0-1 there could have been more criticism but that’s how luck plays a massive part in a referee’s career. But it didn’t and if, like me, you want your football games to flow, you would applaud Webb’s approach; however I do expect him to have a word in Kavanagh’s ear to be more vigilant at set pieces."
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