Yes…? You are in the match thread, yes? You are capable of multi-tasking (unlike English referees)… yes?
Any advance on 140k… :0)
I’m sure after his next performance in one of our games we will probably have a petition on the go that reaches way beyond that figure
Good for Tuchel on not holding back and saying what he believes. He’ll get a fine but when Chelsea next have Taylor reffing them he’ll be under the spotlight. Not just from Chelsea fans but others who will be wondering if there is any evidence to back TT’s words up?
I’ve said before that officials need to be available for interview after the match as players and managers are. OK, let’s say Taylor did miss both the Havertz and hair pulling incidents. Let’s ask Dean whether he saw it in the VAR suite or was Richarlison blocking Mendy’s view? If not, why not? Or if he did see it and chose not to flag it to Taylor, again why not?
A couple of posters on here had a discussion of what is and what is not ‘lookable at’ in the lead up to a goal. I’ve seen talk that because there was another phase of play before Spurs’ equaliser and because a corner was awarded before their second then VAR couldn’t look at it? OK let an official come out post match and say" we can’t consider incidents x, y or z because of this reason or that". At least then maybe fans would know what’s what. 
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Just seen this on Twitter. He’s not mincing his words is he? 
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In the job less than a week and already demoted…
Ya just couldn’t make these things up if ya tried :0)
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Dean wasn’t the worst of this lot while he was acting as a ref, was he?
I know its better the result was a draw, but they were dreadful non decisions.
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Most of this is knowable and known already though.
Foul on Havertz
- To prevent VAR being used to go back through the build up to find a reason to a disallow a goal, the decision was made that if it is not a red card, and surly no one thinks that, only potential fouls made in the immediate build up to the goal should be reviewed when a goal is scored. What counts as immediate isnt at all defined and there will come an incident that really challenges what should and should not be considered for that, but this isnt that incident. Not leas because Chelsea won the ball back in the interim. There is no case to answer
Offside
- Richarlison is between the ball and the keeper as the ball goes in and so it certainly looked to be blocking his view to me. However, as I was reminded yesterday, refs are instructed to consider ONLY the point at which the shot was taken. This image below shows that Mendy had a good view of the ball at that point.
I don’t like that interpretation. Remember the ball went in at the far post and that means at some point in the ball flight Richarlison, while in an offside position, was between Mendy and the ball. Even if he made no movement towards the ball I think that SHOULD be offside, but that is not the interpretation. As such, it’s clear why this was allowed and so VAR again has nothing to answer for.
Hair Pull
- As with the first point, as the goal was scored from a different phase of play than the incident in question. Therefore VAR can only intervene if it thought it was a red card offense AND (importantly) what it saw on the screen was different than the ref described to the VAR (remember, they are talking to each other constantly). We’re left with the following 3 possibilities for why it didnt intervene.
- the ref saw the hair pull and didnt think it amounted to a red card (VAR may think otherwise but isnt there to overrule a ref’s decision on something they saw clearly and just came to a different decision about)
- The ref didnt see it clearly so leaned on the VAR, but on reflection the VAR didnt think it was a red card offense
- Despite the attraction being drawn to the incident by the players the VAR completely missed it.
Does that need clarity? Maybe. I don’t think given the various reasons that explain the lack of call being due to either point 1 or 2, I dont think 3 is really a likely explanation. What we’re then left with it learning whether it was the ref or the VAR who had final say on it, and why. I dont know that we learn much of value from the former. I think we would in an ideal world from the latter, but dont have high hopes of official communications adding much clarity to the decision making process. I mean, in this thread we have seen Gallagher cited as an ex ref who thought it was a red card. Yet his stated explanation goes no further than saying he thought it was violent conduct. As a counterpoint though, in the US we have Clattenburg providing analysis and he disagreed. His explanation went not much further than saying “I dont think thats a red.” That is equally as unhelpful in understand why a decision was made the way it was, it only shows us there is legitimate disagreement. These communications from people who are already paid to explain ref stuff to us offer exactly 0 clarity. I dont know if the PL were pushed to provide official explanations for key decisions theirs would be any better.
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@Limiescouse
Did you see above post by @sandsoftime which links the article on Dean not having a VAR role this weekend?
Obviously this may be coincidence where he has a weekend off, but if he is stood down it relates to incompetence notwithstanding your post explaining the decisions.
Tierney without a match too
And taylor, the guy at whom Tuchel’s ire was directed, has a match.
That’s the darling of the PGMOL, that’s different… 
It’s a fucking shambles. I’d say every clubs’ forums have people complaining about bias, simply because they are all so shit. There needs to be a review and proper strategy and investment to bring the referees to the same elite level as the players and coaching teams
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Well said that man
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It’s so unprofessional down at the bottom and so unprotected that all you get is the lot currently.
I still don’t understand when someone deliberately grabs someone’s hair and drags them to the ground, how it cannot be conceived to be violent conduct.
I used to be a referee instructor and I have played football for 40 years (still playing), I have my coaching badges up to UEFA B, so I think I understand football and the current level of refereeing standards including assistant Referees & the interpretation is an absolute joke and isn’t helped by the PGMOL.
The idea of VAR should be to get decisions right and the interpretation of the referee means ‘jack shit’
Not having a go at you but your in-depth explanation whilst accurate just shows you what an arse the current rules etc are.
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Honestly, I have the same feeling week after week when I am so certain in an interpretation of something that happened that I cannot conceive of someone else coming to the opposite conclusion. Yet I come here and see that opposite opinion stated with equal certainty. A big part of the anger and confusion about refs and VAR IMO comes from the inability of people to accept almost everything about refereeing a game is subjective, and that there are valid alternative readings of these contentious incidents.
It’s the difference between saying I dislike Clattenburg because I think his philosophy is wrong vs saying his decisions are wrong.
The referees should have a more in depth knowledge in what has gone before and should have cases that set out the necessary action. In life if someone dragged someone to the ground with their hair that would be describe as violent or agressive behaviour and shouldn’t have a place on the footy field.
The ones I get despondent about is where a defender has both arms around a player, holding, and they don’t get penalised for it or even looking at the 1st goal we conceded against Fulham, hands were in Trents shoulders impeding him from jumping, what used to termed as ‘climbing’. If you play the game you know that is illegal, but somehow they don’t get penalised. Saying that the bullshit you here from commentators saying it is part of the game grinds my gears as well.
Rant over, I feel better now 
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Jesus I had to ref a match last week when the ref did not turn up. Fuck me what a debacle, every judgement call from free kicks to throw ins is questioned. Of course I was perfect…
Glad it ended. You can have that gig.
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I just don’t understand why referees are so reluctant to penalise defenders for this. You see it in most games and it infuriates me.
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