Arsenal sign Kylian Mbappe as all VAR arguments ended forever; what a time to be alive | OneFootball

O frabjous day. After a seismic afternoon in both the title and relegation battles in the Premier League, the big news is that there will from this day forth be no more arguments against technology in football.

It’s a huge relief all round, frankly.

And it’s a magnificent and righteous and correct conclusion only slightly undermined by one national newspaper demanding the entire Premier League season be replayed as they argue – largely, it must be said, with themselves – against technology in football.

Meanwhile, the good news just keeps coming for Arsenal who are also now signing Kylian Mbappe.

Bed time

There are, inevitably, a great many takes to be found floating around in the flotsam and jetsam of football opinion in the wake of West Ham’s disallowed equaliser against Arsenal.

They range from the icy cold to the lukewarm to the provocatively spicy, but our absolute favourite was definitely this, nestled in among assorted emotionally mature adults declaring solemnly that the evils of VAR had finally killed the football forever, from Sky’s Rob Dorsett.

We truly think it might be the most adorable thing we’ve ever read. First of all, we’re really not sure there was an argument that needed putting to bed about goal-line technology and referee watch alerts. But sure, one in the eye for the haters there.

Still, let’s just take a quick glance around the main football content sites this morning to see just how thoroughly all debate around the use of VAR has now been ended with such utter finality by the unanimous agreement of all involved.

There is absolutely no dissent to be found in any of the morning’s headlines. It is indeed the glorious day the game’s overlords have been waiting for. At last, the luddites have been crushed. All now agree completely that VAR has saved the football and there will be no more argument, dissent and controversy from this day forth.

Truly, there is not one headline to be found questioning the all-knowing righteousness of our technology overlords.

Well, apart from this one, but there’s always going to be one contrarian, isn’t there?

And, fine, there’s also this…

And, okay, you could argue this doesn’t exactly sound like all the arguments have been put to bed…

And nor does this, okay…

Or this one, to be fair…

And even we must concede that these fans don’t seem to have got the memo that all such arguments have now been put to bed…

And, look, it would be remiss of us not to note that there is also this headline at something called ‘The Sun’? No, we’ve never heard of it before either, but they don’t seem certain all is squared away forever…

Or here…

And this doesn’t sound very put-to-beddish…

And nor does one if we’re being scrupulously fair about it…

And n… well, you get the idea with that.

Wrestle mania

Keep in mind Dorsett’s assertion that all arguments against technology have been put to bed by that late decision at the London Stadium when considering the following from the normally more thoughtful Daily Express.

It’s a strong headline, but it gets better when we get to the specifics of yesterday’s decision.

We then get into a lengthy dissection of the various fouls and wrestling offences being committed by various players from both teams at what is now quite a standard Barclays corner.

It’s a point 16 Conclusions made upon these very pages that isolating one foul from all that can feel arbitrary, and that corners have been a largely ungovernable mess all season. And Arsenal are not bit-part players in that. But it was also the decisive foul that had the most direct impact on proceedings.

While we agree there is a need to do… something about corners, we’re also not sure that ‘the entire Premier League season needs to be replayed’ is that useful a conclusion after a foul has been given for something the same article grudgingly concedes:

In isolation, replaying the entire Premier League season does seem a bit over the top as a response to some officials deciding a foul was in fact a foul.

View to a Kyl

The good news just keeps coming for Arsenal, who as well as closing in on the Premier League title now basically have the summer signing of Kylian Mbappe in the bag.

Over to football.london for the latest there.

Now, we don’t entirely mind a bit of mischief here. It’s perfectly reasonable to deduce all is not well for Mbappe at Real Madrid, and Arsenal are literally one game away from becoming European champions. It’s not that absurd that they’d be interested.

We do think that, European champions or not, the path may still be quite a crowded one, though.

But still, the European champions thing is key. That’s according to Emmanuel Petit, who is the source of this apparent ‘path’ to a ‘dream’ transfer.

That path is: winning the Champions League would be a big deal and send a big message. It’s not wrong, but it’s not that compelling.

Especially when even Petit’s attempts to convince himself are so, well, unconvincing. After talking himself into the idea for some time, he eventually concludes:

This path Arsenal have been handed does rather appear to have all dog dirts and stinging nettles on it.