Daniel Farke was not happy with the referee after Leeds United’s 2-1 defeat to Arsenal.
The Whites did well for an hour and were definitely the better side, but Arsenal’s quality showed after they went a goal down, and they then deservedly won the game.
There were no major controversial decisions in the game, as such. All three goals were scored without any protests, and there were also no calls for penalties from either side.
Yet, Farke was irked, and he made his feelings known after the game.
Arsenal vs Leeds TalkingPoints
Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Daniel Farke says Arsenal fans influenced the referee’s decisions vs Leeds
Home advantage always matters in football games, especially in the Premier League.
The Arsenal fans were excited to welcome their side back after a three-week international break, and the support was very good against Leeds United on Saturday.
Even though it was not a daunting atmosphere by any means, Farke felt the Emirates Stadium faithful did what they had to do to force some of the referee’s decisions.
The Leeds boss claimed that the yellow cards shown to Ao Tanaka and Ethan Ampadu were wrong decisions and only happened because the home fans got on the referee’s back. To anger him further, Farke claimed that he was booked simply for asking a question about the decisions.
He said, as relayed on HaytersTV: “There were three fouls on Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the first half in good situations for counter-attacks. I was going to the fourth official, ‘Listen, are we thinking about a yellow card, perhaps because it was a tactical foul?
“He said, ‘Yeah, we’re thinking about it, but Daniel, it’s 20-30 yards in your half. It’s not so dangerous. I said, ‘OK, listen, no problem. I accept this. I don’t ask for yellow cards, but please don’t do the same when it happens on the other side just because the whole stadium is asking for it.
“What happens? Ao Tanaka, 30 yards in their half, foul, yellow card, because the whole stadium is on it. Ethan Ampadu, 30 yards in their half, yellow card because the whole stadium is on it. OK, we’re not allowed to fill the stadium with our supporters. It’s so noisy, don’t let them influence. Do it with consistency.
“When I was asking the fourth official, ‘Come on, Oliver [Langford]. We have spoken before about it. Why are you doing this?’ He didn’t want to explain, and didn’t want to come to me. He was always more or less in Mikel’s technical area, and in my technical area, he didn’t want to show up. So I had to go over, and then I saw a yellow card because I went out of my technical area. All three yellow cards were not deserved or not with consistency.”
Farke concluded by saying: “I think there was no consistency in these decisions, and yeah, when you tell them this or ask them for explanations, they don’t have an explanation. They are just annoyed, and they give even the manager sometimes a yellow card.”
Mikel Arteta’s dominance over Daniel Farke continues
Mikel Arteta has a good record against most managers in the Premier League.
The Arsenal boss is widely regarded as the best manager in the country at the moment, so he is expected to beat whoever he faces every weekend. Arteta has managed to make that a habit against Farke.
The two managers have gone head to head five times over the years, and the Spaniard has beaten the German all five times, with an aggregate score of 16-1. Saturday afternoon was the first time that Farke’s side even managed to score against Arteta’s Arsenal.
That is the best record the Gunners’ boss has against any manager in the Premier League.