It was a Premier League gameweek filled with controversial VAR decisions and Arsenal's clash with Manchester United was no exception.
Twelve minutes into the first half, Martin Odegaard dispossessed Christian Eriksen in the centre of the pitch before passing to Bukayo Saka who then played a lovely through ball for Gabriel Martinelli to latch onto. The Brazilian made no mistake in beating David de Gea and thought he had given his side a well-deserved lead.
However, after a recommendation to take a look at the VAR monitor, referee Paul Tierney did a U-turn on his initial decision and ruled the goal out due to Odegaard committing a 'foul' on Eriksen in the build-up despite there being minimal contact. Speaking at half-time, Sky Sports pundit and former Manchester United star Roy Keane admitted it was soft but refused to bring himself to say it was wrong to disallow it.
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"Yeah it's soft, of course. But what helps United, Odegaard doesn't get a touch on the ball," Keane said. "We've played in a different era, it's not a foul but in today's game, you get touched (and it's a foul). They're all doing it, a few times in the game players are staying down when they're touched - I don't like to see it. But the way the games going, it is a foul."
Let's be honest, if it was the other way round, Keane would have been blasting Odegaard for diving. You just know it. Anyway, despite having his own doubts about the decision, Keane then had the cheek to label Mikel Arteta as a "sore loser" after the Arsenal boss also voiced his concerns surrounding the officiating.
"The lack of consistency, last week there was a foul on Aaron Ramsdale (against Aston Villa), that is soft and not a foul," Arteta explained. "There's a tackle on Bukayo Saka, it's soft and not a penalty. Today it is a foul, the threshold in the first action, you could see there was some strong tackles but there was no yellow because it is a big game. It's really difficult to understand."
Keane instantly responded to the Spaniard's comments, claiming all he ever does is moan when Arsenal lose. "Listen I'm fed up with all their excuses anyway, I'm serious," he said. "Arteta gets interviewed after the game, he's a sore loser like us all but he's got to give a little bit of credit to Man United but he never does.
"Every time he loses the game, it's about what they didn't do properly or the officials, stop making excuses. You done okay, take your plaudits but give me the points any day of the week."
By the way, this is the same Roy Keane who was warned by the FA to avoid making pre-match comments about referees. In 2009, Keane had said that he hoped referee Keith Hill would not feel the urge to do Crystal Palace any favours because his Ipswich side had supposedly been the victims of a wrong decision in a game against Bristol City three days earlier.
In the same year, Keane was also quoted saying "I'm sure I was brought up to believe this is a man's game. If there wasn't contact then the stadiums would be empty". Well well well, someone has changed their tune. Although he did his best to put the blame on the officials, Keane was eventually sacked as Ipswich Town manager.
At the end of the day, you just have to laugh. It's easy for Keane to stand there as a pundit and agree with the referee's decision, but he's already proved that he is even worse than Arteta when it comes to making excuses. The irony is extraordinary and quite simply boring, as most of the ridiculous takes on Arsenal so often are. If you aren't allowed to celebrate a win, you aren't allowed to be upset with a questionable refereeing decision. What's it going to be next?
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