The Referees or The Twelfth Man

Slot just talked about it in his post-match interview. Said he’s asking himself if he should change the general attitude of the players and encourage them to go down when there is a contact in the box. Saying he doesn’t want to do it because it’s not ‘who we are’, but still asking himself the question, and regretting that our fair-play isn’t more recognized and rewarded by the refs..

That penalty not being given definitely changed the game and helped Leeds to hold out further in their defensive attitude. It’s scandalous imo and should be harshly questioned by the media. Not holding my breat though.

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it goes back to them making it actually harder on themselves by blurring the lines…

a foul is a foul is a foul is a foul.

We drew today because we were not good enough to open them up and score. Bad day on our side. With that said, the ref was really poor. He gave their defenders lots of free kicks for barely any contact. Big groks just flopped whenever we went near them, and Kavanagh was happy to oblige, all day long.

In addition to that, he couldn’t wait to give nothing to us e.g. Chiesa, beat his man, going outside, very threatening. Defender, left back, grabbed his shirt outside the box and kept hold of it, aggressively pulling Chiesa down inside the box. A strong shout for a penalty but Kavanage instantly dismissed it out of hand.

In the first half a Leeds player put a full boot through Bradley’s head too, but again, Kavavagh couldn’t wait to wave it away as not a foul. We’ve seen players get treated for 5+ minutes for less.

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But what is a foul is largely subjective so what one person thinks is a foul someone else will reasonably think otherwise with neither of them being definitively right. VAR is implemented to stay out of those disagreements and focus on things where a ref may have made a wrong decision because they saw the incident incorrectly. In this context that means if the ref saw grappling and thought it was just a normal battle and not a foul then VAR is not to get involved in that even if the person operating VAR would have given if they were the ref.

Buy beyond that, I think the bigger issue is a tiny % of refs would give a pen for that without the forward throwing himself on the floor because reffing has some really dumb default ideas

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tere are subjective fouls, cant disagree, but what we saw on Ekitike was not Subjective…

i however, understand the reasoning…

Ekitike doesnt go down, therefore wasnt impeded enough to pass some thresholdy thingo, ergo VAR doesnt get involved to overturn the refs initial decision.

so we come to a conclusion.

meanwhile im left watching the replay of a Leeds defender with his hands all over Ekitike in the box…i mean, i think even Martin Skrtel would have boned up a bit watching that

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The Ekitike incident shows what’s broken in the game. If he goes down I’m quite sure a pen is given, he doesn’t and it’s seen as not enough. This then encourages players to go down as they know they won’t get a decision if they don’t. Negative feedback loop that football is unlikely ever to come out of.

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and we have a media cycle of how we earned a penalty with a dive and we don’t like to see that.

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yep, and it really is quite easily - not solved- but at least countered, using the tech that is VAR…

all VAR has to do is start to give ones like the Ekitike one and players will then have a level of comfort to keep playing through the moment, knowing the decision can still be made after the phase.

it wont SOLVE the issue of initiating contact and emphasising the fouls, but it sure as hell would give players that make the decision to keep going and force the play a bit more comfort knowing it still CAN get reviewed.

If we accept that by managing to pass the ball shows hes not been impeded enough to pass some kind of threshold, then we are resigned to the obvious.

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Not sure if its a discussion anymore.
We were cheated out of a penalty. And the excuse is that our player tried to play on.
Its so fucking obvious now.
Corruption.

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Yet if we all fall down…we’re given yellow cards for feigning a foul…cannot win at anytime in the game…

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Everyone tying themselves in knots to explain why it wasn’t given. It wasn’t given because Kavanagh is a fucking cheat who cost us a PL title a few years back.
Darren England as VAR. We’ve been here before.

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Boring…

Yeah, I get it, you’re happy to see us get shafted by the same refs over and over again.

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At the risk of boring you even further…
Try to explain why Ekitike didn’t get a penalty yesterday?

Notwithstanding the shit performance or any related football issues…Take that incident of a cast iron penalty being denied, and explain it?

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Agood referee plays on then no advantage happens so pulls it back for the foul and awards the penalty and sends the player off.

Also, by advantage, I mean a goal as the defenders actions stopped a clear run through on goal and there was no attempt to play the ball

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The problem with the Ekitike decision is that the ref saw the incident incorrectly, and VAR in that instance should have called him to the monitor. That’s what the installation of technology is supposed to do? Correct incorrect decisions.
They change the narrative when it suits. I understand your point, but in a clear cut incorrect decision, there has to be input.

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Fuck them, if it needs exaggeration and drama to get a pen, then let’s do it by all means. At this stage, I don’t care one jolt what will be written in the media.

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I dont really care about what is written/said about us. I’m just talking about the general incoherence of this sort of issue is viewed “within the game”, which is the biggest obstacle to changing how these sorts of issues are officiated.

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Are you talking about the Ekitike non penalty as an issue where incoherence exists?
Because if thats the case, then we may as well forget about any standards of officiating.

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