‘What a joke’: Richard Keys slams officials in Leeds v Arsenal game this weekend

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Richard Keys has slammed the farce at Leeds United this weekend which saw the game delayed by nearly 40 minutes due to technology.

Leeds against Arsenal had to be ground to a halt as the officials’ VAR communications and goal-line tech seemed to go offline due to a power cut inside Elland Road. The game eventually got going again and coincidentally, VAR played a big role in the outcome.

However, despite VAR proving it’s uses during the game, Richard Keys wrote in his weekly column how he found the whole debacle a ‘joke’.

“Why was the Leeds game help up for 38 minutes whilst they fixed the technology? Does no-one care about paying fans in the stadium? Are we so reliant on technology now that we can’t play a game without it? What a joke. And don’t tell me that it was needed to sort out the mess at the end.

“I was watching 3500 miles away and could see that Bamford instigated that trouble. And that Gabriel’s response was petulant not violent. All it needed was for the officials to do their jobs properly,” Keys commented.

Bukayo Saka’s goal was enough to give Arsenal the win in the end in what was a frantic 90 minutes.

TBR’s View: Officials Couldn’t Really Win

Keys might be making a valid enough point here but the officials couldn’t win really. What if VAR hadn’t been in and then Gabriel’s red stood and Leeds equalised? Mikel Arteta would have been absolutely fuming and rightly so.

In the end, the right call was made to avoid any future arguments. Arsenal were the ones to benefit from the technology this weekend but there’ll be occasions when it happens for everyone.

Keys is certainly not afraid to voice his opinion but on this occasion, he is a bit wide of the mark.