Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta says he will continue to freely air his views on refereeing decisions despite facing a Football Association charge.
Arteta is waiting to see if he faces punishment for comments after Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat by Newcastle on 4 November.
He called the Video Assistant Referee’s decision to not overturn Anthony Gordon’s winner “an absolute disgrace”.
“I am going to speak. I think you have to be yourself and as a leader you have to be authentic,” Arteta said.
“You cannot be someone you are not and this is who I am.”
Arteta, 41, has formally submitted his thoughts to the FA in relation to his comments over Gordon’s 64th-minute goal, which ended Arsenal’s unbeaten start in the Premier League.
There were three VAR checks – to see if the ball went out of play, if there was a foul and if there was an offside – which all came back in Newcastle’s favour.
Speaking at a news conference on Friday before their match at Brentford, the Gunners boss cited the importance of freedom of speech and said he believes communication will improve refereeing standards.
“We have [sent our observations to the FA] and we will try to give our point and the reasons why and there’s not a lot I can comment on,” Arteta added.
“When you get asked to give your observation you have to do it in the right way and there’s a process in place to do that.
“It is good that we are communicating and we all want to improve the game. Referees, managers, officials, sporting directors, journalists, we all want a better game.
“To get a better game we need freedom of speech, respectfully and in a constructive way, but we have to promote that.
“It is good that they are talking in front of the media about decisions because it brings clarity.”
Third-placed Arsenal travel to Brentford at 17:30 GMT on Saturday.