“Either you remove him from the squad or face the severe consequences…I’m tired of him now”: Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke has threatened to sack Mikel Arteta if he refused to remove this particular player from Arsenal’s squad
Arsenal lost to Manchester United in the FA Cup at the weekend, but, once again, most of the headlines after the game were about the referee.
Indeed, Andy Madley came under fire for his performance at the weekend.
Diogo Dalot’s red card was a tad controversial, Bruno Fernandes was furious at one point when a foul wasn’t given in his favour, while Gary Lineker called for a footballing law change after Gabriel Martinelli’s disallowed goal.
Meanwhile, Kai Havertz won a penalty in controversial circumstances as he went down under the lightest of touches from Harry Maguire.
Speaking on BBC 606, Chris Sutton has been discussing that decision to award the penalty, and he says that Havertz should be banned for his dive.
Kai Havertz should be banned
Sutton shared his verdict on Havertz’s dive against Manchester United.
The pundit was furious about this decision, claiming that Havertz should be banned here.
Havertz has been critcised for diving before, so he has history here.
“Harry Maguire on Havertz, it is never in a million years a penalty. It’s ridiculous how the referee is given that penalty.
“Well, the worry for Kai Havertz is that he may well be appearing in the simulation game. But no, the referee’s got to say, but this is the issue with divers, Rob. They should be banned three games, five games, and then they will stop.”
“Kai Havertz, not a great afternoon, missed the penalty. But you’ve won the award, Kai. You’ve won the simulation game. But he’s much better than that, isn’t he, Rob? I mean, dear me, that was awful and I don’t like it. Should be banned, should be banned.”
Indeed, it’s not a rule we see implemented often enough these days, but, back in 2017, the FA decided that players could be banned retroactively for diving.
The FA said, via the BBC, that bans would be given out ‘Where there is clear and overwhelming evidence to suggest a match official has been deceived by an act of simulation, and as a direct result, the offending player’s team has been awarded a penalty and/or an opposing player has been dismissed.’
Havertz’s incident does fit into those guidelines, so perhaps the FA will take a look at that and ban the German.
If Havertz is banned, it couldn’t have come at a worse time for Arsenal. After all, Gabriel Jesus has just ruptured his ACL, so Arsenal are down to the barebones in terms of attacking options.
