Arsenal boss will continue to give views about referees despite FA charge
Mikel Arteta was appointed Arsenal manager in December 2019
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta says he will continue to freely air his views on refereeing decisions despite facing a Football Association charge.
Arteta is waiting to see if he faces punishment for comments after Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat by Newcastle on 4 November.
He called the Video Assistant Referee’s decision to not overturn Anthony Gordon’s winner “an absolute disgrace”.
“I am going to speak. I think you have to be yourself and as a leader you have to be authentic,” Arteta said.
“You cannot be someone you are not and this is who I am.”
Arteta, 41, has formally submitted his thoughts to the FA in relation to his comments over Gordon’s 64th-minute goal, which ended Arsenal’s unbeaten start in the Premier League.
There were three VAR checks – to see if the ball went out of play, if there was a foul and if there was an offside – which all came back in Newcastle’s favour.
Speaking at a news conference on Friday before their match at Brentford, the Gunners boss cited the importance of freedom of speech and said he believes communication will improve refereeing standards.
“We have [sent our observations to the FA] and we will try to give our point and the reasons why and there’s not a lot I can comment on,” Arteta added.
“When you get asked to give your observation you have to do it in the right way and there’s a process in place to do that.
“It is good that we are communicating and we all want to improve the game. Referees, managers, officials, sporting directors, journalists, we all want a better game.
“To get a better game we need freedom of speech, respectfully and in a constructive way, but we have to promote that.
“It is good that they are talking in front of the media about decisions because it brings clarity.”
Third-placed Arsenal travel to Brentford at 17:30 GMT on Saturday.