Goal line technology - great.
I don’t mind VAR in general but those fucking offsides.
What was everybodies thoughts on the United goal yesterday.
In fairness I don’t think Mctominay meant to catch Son, but he did catch him and it is a foul. He don’t half make a meal of it though… (but all footballers do I guess)
Other leagues have some shockers but generally the common sense seems to be in place overall.
Problem you remove it for all offsides then you get some utter barmy decisions I think the very simple amendments solve it and yet what you get from the upper elcheons of the game is an attempt to reinvent the wheel such as what Wenger suggested.
Someone needs to take a step back and ask ‘why are we doing this?’ How does disallowing Firmino’s goal on Saturday improve football as a spectacle or lead to a fairer outcome? It doesn’t. No one is gaining an advantage by having their arm 5 mms ahead of someone else’s foot 30 yards from goal. This is assuming that the VAR has correctly identified the exact moment the ball was kicked and has used the correct point on the arm to detemine the ‘t-shirt’ line, wherever the fuck that’s supposed to be.
Something needs to be done because when fans are back in the ground I think the pressure is going to seriously ramp up. People are just not going to accept this indefinitely.
The lack of fans is an interesting issue. As frustrating as this can be for us at home, I didnt realize just how shit it is until I experienced it as a fan in the stadium having absolutely no idea what the hell was going on before 5 minutes later one of our players was sent off. It’s confusing and fuels feelings of injustice. It’s literally the opposite of what it was intended to do.
I think the Utd one was soft. The Newcastle one where they didnt get a Pen was horrendous
For me it was a foul as his hand was well away from his body and he did catch him in the face it was careless, so no yellow card but the contact stopped any chance of further pressure from Son
Anyone who thinks the refs being miced up and forced to explain through their explanations only needs to listen to Clattenburg do studio analysis to disabuse yourself of this idea. He is utterly incoherent. In trying to explain the Can penalty he seemed to be suggesting it was debatable whether Can intended to head it. Schmeichel then asked him to clarify if it can be a handball if it comes off his head first and Clattenburg answered a completely different question leaving everyone confused.
That is why they need to. It will force them to improve their understanding of what they are reffing and lead to them getting better.
I remember when they brought it in in RL in Aus, at first a lot of the refs got cained for some of the decisions they would make, or hoiw they would justify decisions, but it lead to them getting far better. And it also lead to players showing a greater respect from players cause they knew any abuse would get picked up by the mics
That refusal to give the pen in the City game reveals the biggest weakness in VAR, or people’s expectations of it at least. If ref’s dont understand what they’re seeing, and too often they dont, then no amount of tools are going to help them make the right decision.
A late pen to City would mean Chelsea lose points and it would help Liverpool so obviously they say no pen. Clear agenda there
Noticed them commenting on MLS that offside had to be clear on replay for them to overturn a decision in MLS this season.
I’ve noted they’ve had less overturns this season as it seemed as farcical if not more so than here last season.
I know it’s MLS but it is a good idea in my view. Always said scrap the lines if it’s obvious that it’s offside or on and decision on the pitch is wrong then overturn it if you can’t say for certain then don’t.
That Jota one against Villa annoyed me the most and after Everton that’s saying something (I was away for a weekend in Lisbon though so didn’t see it).
They weren’t 100% on Matty Cash touching it and the lines on Jota looked more than dubious.
Going back to last weekend, in the Villa - Man Utd game. The Greenwood handball. Dale Johnson of ESPN says that close proximity was the reason of no penalty and ref deemed natural hand position.
You just know that if one of our players did this in today’s game, the ref would’ve jumped at the chance to give Bruno a penalty, with Taylor no doubt deeming it unnatural.
Pretty good piece with Howard Webb on the implementation of VAR in the MLS
There are bits in there I really disagree with, especially the part about fans appreciating it, but it’s interesting to hear they are experimenting with transmitting the conversations.
Yeah I mentioned above about their offside it’s pretty simple really, the rule was never intended to expect that geometry would be used.
Made it far more watchable this season than some of the football in Europe.
Howard Webb and getting it right, that is a contradiction in terms at least.
Liverpool v Villa last month. Bobby scores. On field decision is onside.
VAR checks if Jota is offside. Matty Cash may have touched the ball - the ball’s rotation changes as it passes him. VAR rules can’t tell. So the lines come out to find the sleeve offside. End result offside as VAR has no conclusive proof that Cash touched it. On field decision is overturned.
QUOTE: The Athletic understands that an initial check took place to examine whether Aston Villa defender Matty Cash had made contact with the ball. The VAR could not get a clear image that Cash touched the ball and so had to assume he did not
Last night. Man Utd v Fulham. Cavani scores. On field decision is onside.
De Gea kicks it forward. Cavani initially offside. Bruno attempts a flick. If he touched it, then all is onside. On field decision is onside. VAR looks at Penandes. Ball not changed rotation or deviation. Like Cash, foot close to ball. VAR says no proof that he either touched or not, so GOES with on field decision. A goal.
VAR can’t tell if Bruno touches it…well it’s Man Utd. Give 'em the goal.
They are trying to defend it by saying they have to stick with on field decision if can’t tell. But for us? Shafted as usual
Yeah that Cash one was odd, as I said it annoyed me the most, if the decision had been offside on the pitch then I’d have no real qualms.
I suppose they could say they weren’t taking Cash into account otherwise VAR is overruling twice and on one decision with Matty Cash it can’t clearly say yes or no if he touches it.
I genuinely don’t understand the frustration with the Cash situation. Before looking to check what was going to be a tight offside they looked at if there was a reason to ignore it. They couldn’t see conclusively there was so they went to the hawkeye system.
It’s overall a terrible use of VAR, but I dont get the criticism of the way the Cash situation played into it.
So you’re happy with applying the rules one way for us, and then apply them in Man Utd’s favour for a similar incident?
Here’s a quote from Bruno:
“Honestly I didn’t feel the touch,” the playmaker admitted to Match of the Day after the full-time whistle. "The referee said I touched the ball.
I’m just pointing out blatant bias in VAR’s decision making.
After watching the goal he didn’t feel it because quite clearly there isn’t one.
