Former FIFA official Keith Hackett has called for “retrospective action” to be taken against Arsenal star Noni Madueke after an incident in the Gunners’ 1-1 draw with Brentford.
Madueke scored the opening goal for Arsenal on the hour mark after a truly awful first half from Mikel Arteta’s side, brilliantly planting a header from Piero Hincapie’s cross past Caoimhin Kelleher.
But Brentford hit back through Keane Lewis-Potter’s header from a long throw and will feel hard done by with just a point after Igor Thiago missed a couple of chances late on having bullied Arsenal for most of the evening.
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Both sets of fans were frustrated with the performance of referee John Brooks, who issued five yellow cards and appeared to spend most of the game blowing his whistle.
Madueke was convinced he was fouled by Rico Henry in the box towards the end of the first half only for his appeals to be waved away by Brooks.
And Hackett insists Madueke went down far too easily and should be punished after the game for his “clear act of simulation” as Brooks failed to show him a yellow card.
Hackett told Football Insider: “This is a clear act of simulation, attempting to deceive the referee, who, in fairness, did not buy the dive.
“However, referee John Brooks, at this point, should have issued the appropriate sanction of a yellow card. If referees are not going to apply a sanction for these incidents, we will continue to see growth.
“I will continue to say that, where no sanction is applied, I would like an independent review panel to investigate and review these acts and issues retrospective action.”
Calls of “you’re not fit to referee” rang around the stadium when Brooks failed to show Gabriel a second yellow card when the Arsenal defender crashed into Dango Ouattara on the right wing in the 83rd minute.
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Reacting to the incident, Hackett added: “The challenge by Gabriel is reckless and not the type of challenge you make when you’re already on a yellow card.”
When asked if Gabriel should have been shown a second yellow card, Brentford boss Keith Andrews told TNT Sports: “I think it was a definite yellow.”
Martin Keown agreed that Gabriel could easily have been sent off and was frustrated with Brooks’ performance.
“I’m not even going to argue with that! I don’t know how you felt, but do you feel like with this ref, he was like ‘do whatever you want inside the box’, but outside the box, he was giving a lot of fouls,” Keown told TNT Sports.
