Arsenal: Yes, the referee was rubbish, but he’s not to blame

Per Mertesacker has criticised John Moss for his failure to give a freekick for a double-hit penalty kick. And while Moss was rubbish, he was not to blame for the Arsenal loss.

The key controversy from Arsenal’s 4-2 humiliation to Nottingham Forest in the third round of the FA Cup on Sunday afternoon came with the Gunners 3-2 down, spurred on by a strange Danny Welbeck equaliser that saw Jordan Smith make an uncharacteristically odd decision to rush out of his goal and close down the ball.

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After Mathieu Debuchy was adjudged to have brought down Armand Traore with a hooked sliding tackle, which was a contentious decision already, Kieran Dowell stepped up to take the penalty and put the game to bed.

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As he bent his run towards the ball, shaping to strike his shot left-footed, his right foot, which was planted just before the ball, slipped. When, therefore, he did strike ball with the sweep of his left foot, his right foot had slipped in front of the ball, causing a deflection. That, by rule, is a double-touch, and would have resulted in a freekick to Arsenal — you can see the whole incident below.

Per Mertesacker, perhaps justifiably, was not best pleased with John Moss’ decision. Here is the German speaking after the match:

"“Yes [it was a double contact]. It would’ve been a free-kick for us. You could clearly see it, that’s why we shouted to the referee. He didn’t have any explanation and that’s on him. They obviously spoke to each other, and nobody saw the incident. David saw it and all the players did too.”"

Now, Mertesacker certainly has a point. Moss got it wrong — it did happen extremely quickly, and even in watching the video many times over, it takes a while to gauge what actually happened correctly. But that is not the reason that Arsenal lost this football game. They lost this football game because they weren’t good enough.

In fairness, Arsene Wenger, who is notorious for finding a way to blame anyone but himself and his players, admitted after the match that his team simply weren’t good enough to win, stating that Forest deserved the victory because of their better performance. And, for once, Wenger’s assessment is accurate. Forest were the better team.

Arsenal may have had 69% of the possession, but they only had two more shots than their hosts and engineered just four shots on target. Forest, on the other hand, had nine. And of the chances created and missed, there were a number that Forest enjoyed that should have been scored. Ben Brereton, who was excellent throughout, missed two excellent chances, denied by David Ospina both times, alone.

Next: Arsenal Vs Forest: 5 things we learned

Arsenal may want to talk about the referees. Fans may bemoan the decisions of Moss. Certainly, they were poor. But they are not a valid excuse for the team’s ineptness. This loss falls on the players and the management, and no one else.