On the Whistle: Arsenal 1-1 Brighton - "Rice red card, and transfer window thoughts"

Hello guys, full time at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal 1 Brighton 1. I'm not there myself today, I'm at my in-laws house but I have watched the game and there's only one place to start, right? There's a lot to talk about in this video because we'll talk a bit about the transfer deadline and everything that went on there but we've got to start with one thing and it's the refereeing decision which saw Declan Rice sent off because that really did define the game, Arsenal 1-0 up at that point in time. After that red card the game really completely turned on its head, Brighton was so dominant and Arsenal, let's be honest, were kind of clinging on at points there in that second half. So I saw the red card like many of you would have done on television and I have to admit at first I was exceptionally confused as to what had gone on because what I kind of seen was Veltman basically booting Declan Rice up in the air. Obviously replays show that what happens is Rice nicks the ball away and he gets a second yellow card for delaying the restart as the Premier League would put it. It feels incredibly harsh I have to say, I mean it's almost a reflex. He sees Veltman go to kick the ball, Veltman's not playing a pass to anyone as Ali McCoy very astutely pointed out and Peter Crouch said the same thing on the TNT analysis, it's pure gamesmanship. He sees Rice is standing in the way and thinks I'm going to pretend to take a free kick and see if I can get Rice booked. Probably already aware that Rice is on a yellow card, maybe they even talked about it at half-time as something to play on, something to target. Rice instinctively I think sticks his foot out and the referee deems him kind of the perpetrator in that situation even though he takes a big whack off Veltman for his trouble. So it was interesting I saw someone online, again I wasn't there myself, saying that Mikel Arteta didn't really react or speak to Rice as he went down the tunnel. I wonder if Arteta's view on it is maybe different to ours, we'll hear from him shortly in the press conference. That could be because he's just fed up of officiating decisions and knows nothing he says is going to make any difference at this point in time, certainly not for positive. Or maybe he was frustrated with Rice, he thought he could have been smarter in the situation, more aware of the fact that he was carrying a booking already. It's the first red card of Declan Rice's career. Here's kind of where I come down on it. I think that in that situation there's a bit of gamesmanship going on from both parties. Rice, yeah he's blocking the ball and he nudges it away. Veltman, yeah he's pretending to take a free kick that he's not actually going to take in order to get a free hit at Rice to send him off. I don't really understand how that is not the same as simulation, it's attempting to deceive the official. I think if you're going to book Rice you've got to book both players. And I think actually what I would want to see from a referee in that decision is intelligent game management and saying this is a scrap, this is handbags, this is nothing, let's keep the game 11 v 11 and not kill it as a spectacle. I know they talk about consistency, we want consistency. That's not something I ever really particularly say. I feel like I want referees to manage games in a mature adult way that applies logic and rationality and is sensible. Was that a sensible red card? Was that a warranted red card? Not for me, not for me. And did one of those players commit a more egregious offence than the other? Not for me. So I'm not sitting here saying Declan Rice is innocent. He does nudge that ball away, it is cynical. In some contexts it's a booking. Is it a sending off? Is it worse than anything Veltman did? No. The game itself, beyond that, well I thought the first half we started really well. Saka was flying on the right wing. Then we slowed down and we ended up scoring from quite a sort of route one situation really. Booted ball forward, Saka did well to win it, knock it on and Kai Havertz finished brilliantly. I mean the confidence with which he lifted that over the keeper. I'm sure last season we saw him in those positions and put them over the bar or into the crowd. I can remember more than one I think and that was just so brilliantly taken. So pleased to be on the score sheet again. But I didn't think it was our most fluent performance, you know, still early days in the season but Brighton obviously benefited hugely from the red card. But I have to say I was really impressed by the degree to which they dominated the game after that point. I think Arsenal will go down to 10 against some teams and still dominate, you know. But I feel like Brighton, as soon as we lost a man, they were all over us. I think our tactics might have played a part in that. I didn't love Arteta's decision to go to the back five. I felt like we sort of gifted them a lot of territory, gifted them a lot of space in midfield. I guess Arteta was thinking, you know, this is a good Brighton team and if I stick with the back four here we could get picked apart. Maybe, maybe. And maybe that shows a bit of pragmatism on his part. I felt that there's probably more we could have done to control the game even after going down 10 men. Not control the game but have more of a foothold in the game. But we don't have great options on the bench at this point in time. Mourinho obviously was sat up in the stands. Raheem Sterling we'll get on to, not available yet. You know, we saw Miles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Ranieri both on the bench today. Not sure it was the right game for them. Gabriel Jesus is out injured. Yeah, it's tough. Daklamas not only, of course, was sat up today, he will now miss the North London derby. MVAR was not able to review it, I believe, as it was a second yellow card. Some brave defending from the likes of Gabriel. Some sharp goalkeeping from David for a 1-1. We did have chances on the break. A couple of big ones. Havertz did brilliantly to get on to another long ball and hold off his man. Really good save, I thought, from Verbruggen who sticks his left leg out to keep that ball out. Saka might have gone down maybe when the ball bounced out to him. And then Saka himself again after a really good run by Havertz into the right hand channel. Great cross. Saka's stretching, just can't get the right contact. But it's not a disaster. But we're in this race against Man City. So I feel like every point is precious, and every point dropped stings a bit. Let's talk about the transfer window. Arsenal end deadline day by signing Neto, the goalkeeper on loan from Bournemouth, and Raheem Sterling on loan from Chelsea. First of all, I think Neto is a perfectly adequate backup goalkeeper. I think it's sensible. I was very worried about the prospect of spending up to €30 million on Joan Garcia, who's only really played a handful of first-team matches and not at the highest level in Spain. I think we need more time to really know what his level is before we go and spend a fee almost equivalent to what we spent on Aaron Ramsdale and David Raya, on a guy who's not going to play that much football. Hopefully not going to play that much football. We need David Raya to stay fit. I don't want him coming out of the team, especially the way he's playing at the start of the season. He's had a very good start. But I think Neto is perfectly fine in the short term. It does mean we're going to enter a next summer's transfer window probably looking for a goalie again, but it wouldn't be Arsenal if we weren't looking for a goalie in pre-season. And Sterling, Arsenal have been very upfront, transparent. Edu said, it's not a signing we thought about making at the start of the window, but I think an opportunity presented itself. And from what I understand, the finances are very favourable to Arsenal. They're not paying half his wages, frankly. They're paying a fair bit less than that. You've got a highly motivated player who knows the manager very well. The manager knows him. They've got a very good relationship. He'll understand the way he wants to play, what he wants him to do. They'll have a kind of shorthand there. He can play on the left, he can play on the right, he can play through the middle. He's scored goals everywhere. He's won every trophy there is to win in English football, four Premier League titles. I think it's an eminently sensible deal. Reminds me a bit of when Arsenal signed Yossi Benayoun back in the day. You're getting an experienced player who knows the league. It's a loan, no obligation, reasonable wages. I'm fine with it. There's my thoughts. I'm going to leave it there for now, guys. Thank you for watching as always. Frustrating day today. I think we need some players back from injury. That will certainly really help. Huge game in the North London Derby next weekend. All right, take care.