Arsenal for the Champions League, and now we are seeing the real Liverpool…

The Mailbox touts Arsenal as Champions League dark horses, while there are fears that we have been given a more accurate reading of Liverpool this week…

Get your views in to theeditor@football365.com…

 

Are Liverpool reverting to the mean?
It’s very easy, as a Liverpool fan, to be philosophical about the defeat in France last night. The team was disjointed, never got into a flow (just like the Luton game), and deserved to lose. And it’s a game that they can afford to lose, so it isn’t a big deal.

But VAR again – I mean, WTF was that all about? A two minute check, the referee signals a goal, and then literally a second later is running over to the television to look at a debatable handball in the middle of the pitch five phases of play before the goal was scored, ruling the goal out instantly.

There is no need for loads of hand-wringing here because this isn’t likely to have much of an effect on Liverpool’s season, but it was farcical. The referee was ten yards away from Mac Allister, saw the incident clearly, and it was, in footballing terms, an age before a goal was scored. It was hard not to draw the conclusion – and it’s a conclusion that we have been drawing a lot across football recently – that the VAR official went looking for reasons to disallow the goal, and managed to find one.

Jonathan Liew says that UEFA do go back further in the passage of play than the premier league do, so perhaps it is all fair enough in the grand scheme of things (you can have a debate about the actual handball if you like, but let’s face it, no-one actually understands what handball means any more), but sometimes it feels as we are not watching the same sport.

So yes, this is a whinge about VAR but I have the luxury of not caring too much about the result, so I can afford to not get bent out of shape about it. Had Liverpool needed a point last night, I imagine I would be a lot less philosophical about it. But it’s hard not to conclude on a broader angle that VAR was brought in to resolve mistakes in football, and right now, it’s demonstrably failing. I can’t help feeling that the game was considerably better without it, and that perhaps the nature of football does not lend itself to this kind of technology. But there’s no going back, is there?

As an aside, Liverpool’s last two performances (even taking into account the starting eleven last night) have been more what I expected when the season started. Brentford are playing well, will be fresher, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see them get some kind of result. And that will be the same for all of City’s “rivals” from here on out. The league will be done and dusted for them by the end of February.
Matthew (at least the United fans had something to cheer about last night)

 

Liverpool’s loss
A few opinions on Liverpool’s second defeat of the season… while the 1st loss away to Spurs in the league was farcical and undeserved, todays setback was abject and wholly deserved ! Trailing at HT, Klopp’s three changes at the midpoint were the exact three (Doak, Endo, Tsimikas) I too wouldve made. This trio had me wincing the duration of that first 45, not that the others alongside were sterling by any measure

On Ben Doak, he is so very promising yet so very green. Right now he’s greener than he is promising.

Endo appears short to me. As in, literally short, in stature, like his legs are constantly at full stretch in the tackle. He flails about and he sacrifices control, I’d be surprised if he were winning more than a third of his challenges. Also, he seems forever a split second behind the play and he is ponderous in possession. Not a newsflash but it is clear Endo will not be our answer as a holding player, to MacAllisters detriment being forced to play the 6.

And Tsimikas… wow what to say about this lad. He’s quickly gone from our Greek Scouser–Kostas Tsimikas to the weak Scouser–you’ve cost us Tsimikas. No, perhaps that’s too harsh. But while some defenders get dispossessed b/c they get an unexpected hospital ball on the turn, or they’re double / tripled up on, or they get pinned against a touchline, Tsimikas simply dawdles in his own half. Then he flops. Then the opposition are away and it’s acres of space. It’s a repeated pattern with him, it’s not the first or last time it will occur

Phew, and that was just the first half and the subs !

No need to over analyze the shipwreck that came after, but i reckon Klopp didn’t want to have to bring on Salah, Szoboslai or Trent for a (failed) rescue mission, but speaking of Trent he will forever be slow to close down on any lofted ball over his right flank. Whatever else TAA goes on to do in his career, this will plague him. Maybe not every game, but it will happen time and again, and it will happen for the entirety of his career. No way Reece James or Kyle Walker or Trippier let that happen to them with such utter regularity.

Still looking shapely in the europa table but if we drop points vs Brentford at the wknd it will start to cause deeper concern.
Eric, Los Angeles CA (MacAllister’s handball for the would-be equalizer was 100% a handball)

Read more: Chaotic Toulouse defeat and more VAR antics leave weary Liverpool with Europa work still to do

Works better in Europe?
Guess we can put to bed the theory that VAR is not an issue in European matches.
Gaurav MUFC Amsterdam

 

Arsenal for the Champions League?
Watching the Arsenal game last night, they looked in such control against an admittedly below par Sevilla. Arsenal seem set up to contain and not to concede, whilst also boasting attacking prowess in the shape of Saka, Martinelli and upon return from injuries, Jesus and Odegaard. Declan Rice has slotted in to the midfield effortlessly and is a titan in there. Saliba will be one of the best centre backs of the decade if he carries on his outstanding form.

Playing this way, I feel Arsenal are a dark horse to win the Champions League, perhaps a little similar to how Chelsea surprised a lot of people a few years back. Arsenal should top their qualifying group to land a potential favour draw in R16. From the quarters the tournament can be wide open as was seen last season when one of one of Milan, Inter, Benfica and Napoli was guaranteed a final spot due to how the draw went. From there it can be decided by very small margins.

Arsenal have already edged out Man City in the league playing the way they are. It’s a long shot still obviously but perhaps winning the CL is going to be Arsenal’s best chance this season seeing as Man City are so incredibly consistent in the league?
Chris, Sunny South

 

Ten Hag to blame
So I’ve looked back at the Rashford sending off and I’ve changed my mind. Similar to years ago when Nani was sent off against Real Madrid, so many said it was harsh however Keane asked the question, “Did Nani give the ref an opportunity to send him off?” So, did Rashford give the Referee or in this case, the WWE I mean VAR (not funny) a chance to send him off? You’ve got to say yes.

I have to chuck so much blame on Hag for the result.
For him to say that first 20 minutes was the best they’ve played since he’s been there, that’s worrying. 18 months and that’s the best you’ve got us to play, for 20 minutes. Dear me.
Now, I hate VAR, despise it, however, Hag is sounding like it’s only Utd who have been hard done by. Moaning that the penalty shouldn’t have been but neglecting to say that Utds penalty was even softer considering it hit Maguire’s hand first, plus in the first couple minutes, McTominay screws a clearance where Maguire almost catches the ball. Offside for their first? Possibly, maybe, but no. I’d be more concerned in Varane looking more like he needed a pee more than he wanted to challenge. Watch it, just what was that?

Playing Dalot at left back is fine if you DON’T have another left back, but he was sat on the bench. Bringing on Varane instead of Lindelof was wrong. I don’t see what he brings to the defense, can’t run, tackle, pass or head, speaks no English and I doubt Maguire speaks much French. Maguire is a RCB and it shows, so Lindelof was the sub. Varane is a horrible defender.

Amrabat is no better than Fred, if I say it long enough you might see it, however, why sign him albeit on loan because he spanked up all the money, he is a DM and Eriksen is NOT, neither is McTominay, he should have started because we have nobody else, or at least as soon as Rashford was off, get Eriksen off for him. It’s amateur game management. He’s neither a proactive or reactive manager, it’s like he has set times for subs no matter what, just what is he?

He should know that as soon as you go down to 10 you’re gonna be under pressure until half time at least.
Rashford shouldn’t have even started, Pellestri played a big part in his cameo for us winning at Fulham, but no, Hag does have his little faves even if it means playing them out if position, he does it all the time and it’s gonna cost him.

Why was Mount signed? Really, I’d love to know why. I’m not saying he’s a good or bad player, but we will never know if all he gets is 10/15 minutes every other game.

Rashford sending off didn’t lose us the game. Chucking Bruno out wide leaving the middle short, keeping Eriksen on until half time when you know you’re gonna need to defend until half time, that lost us the game. We lost it in those last 10 minutes of the first half, a situation where any decent manager would have sorted it. Dare I also say, a decent captain would have noticed it too.

But we still had hope, going 3-2 up before brain farting our way to losing. 3-2 up, with 10 men, just sit and hold out fgs, we were basically given a get out of jail free card. Bring on Lindelof or Reguilon or both. They were feckin knackered and playing against really young, fast Copenhagen attacking subs. Hag only used 3 subs, what must the players on that bench be thinking? I wouldn’t say it if we had 11, but we had 10 for nearly an hour, just defend, stick Garnacho up front and just defend. It wouldn’t have been pretty, but Utd never are anyway.

Hag is not the man, say what you want, think what you want, I don’t care. It’s isn’t not supporting your team if you’re critical, it’s the exact opposite. Supporting Hag is not supporting your team.

It should be a pre requisite to qualify from that sort of group, I don’t even think we’ll do enough to drop to the Europa League.
Hugo

 

Feeling the heat
The recent outbursts from Arteta and now ETH, lead me to one conclusion and one conclusion only. Both managers are completely out of their depth. The pressure has got to them and Mariah Careys dulcet tones are not on the radio yet. I have some sympathy with ETH given he has had to perform under the cloud of the owners selling the club, which must be unsettling. Arteta has no such excuse. He’s been given buckets full of cash and bought all the players he wanted. Granted these outbursts serve as a distraction from player performances and tactics but they only really give said players an excuse for not winning.
Rosie Poppins

 

Johnny Nic was right all along
I’m team Johnny Nic now. Get rid of VAR for everything other than offside I think. At least with offsides you draw lines (when possible) and its black and white, no subjective human decision making to compound a prior subjective human decision.

Rashford wasn’t even almost a red card offence. He has the bloody ball and he’s shielding it from the defender. I would argue the defender slips his foot in under where Rashford was about to put his. If anything it’s a bad challenge going the other way only the Copenhagen player came off worse! He tried to get the ball and missed, then gets stood on because last time I checked Rashford can’t float so needs to put his foot somewhere on earth.

As a Liverpool fan I’m happy to watch Utd lose. But they do that well enough without VAR destroying contests with shocking decisions. Football is gone, Johnny Nic was right all along
Patricio Del Toro

 

Now you know how it feels
All I’ll say is that I’m glad to see the “big clubs/big six/seven/eight” getting absolutely buggered by VAR and the officiating that goes along with it. My Everton have been dealing with this incompetency/corruption/bias for TWO YEARS now, but nobody batted an eyelid. When we complained about the EXACT same things that are happening to the “big clubs” now, we were told to pipe down, that these things “even themselves out” and to stop complaining.

Perhaps now that the teams that matter are getting the short end of the stick, we’ll finally see enough of an uproar to get this monstrosity known as VAR removed and the referees given remedial retraining in the laws of the game.

To quote the great John McClane: “Welcome to the party pal.”
TX Bill (Bitter? Yeah, you bet I am.) EFC

 

A call for clarity
I think the football world is losing its collective mind.

First, the supposed connection drawn last week with Brexit and VAR makes little sense.

‘When VAR was mooted around as the thing to make football great and eliminate mistakes, it just reminds me of Brexit. They tell you all the good things that will come from it, you know, the Lampard Goal for England but neglecting to tell you about the bad and the bad is f**kin bad.’

Who is ‘they’ here? No one with any semblence of intelligence or any actual relevant knowledge thought Brexit would give any of the supposed benefits claimed by others. Those others were generally the voices of reactionary people who claimed to be talking common sense and thought that any arguments to the contrary were just being made to make life unnecessarily difficult. Brexit was generally the position of the ill-informed, and those who sought to blame anyone and anything else rather than taking responsibility for their own shortcomings. They also provided no more attractive alternative. Sorry, but the reactionary and ill-informed responses are generally coming from the anti-VAR crowd.

Second, the point is illustrated generally by the lack of understanding of VAR. It is evident that, without VAR, the Newcastle goal v Arsenal would have been exactly the same. Even the Liverpool goal against Tottenham was ruled offside by the on-field team. There are cases where maybe VAR could do better (specifically, the Liverpool goal), but getting rid of it would not have got us any closer to the correct decisions in either game.

Third, a common complaint is about re-refereeing the game. The VAR team in the Newcastle/Arsenal match did not see anything conclusive to go against the on-field decision. That is surely demonstrating the precise point that the VAR team did not re-referee the action. Similarly, I was watching clips of Mark Goldbridge last night for the pure entertainment after the United game. As the modern day Alan Partridge, I sometimes find him broadly entertaining as a replacement for Arsenal TV (which was so much more fun when Arsenal were mediocre, a lot less fun to watch now that they are generally a good team). Yesterday, he blamed VAR for a corner that led to the Copehagen equaliser because they do not have the technology to show the ball was out of play. That makes little sense as, again, VAR had absolutely nothing to do with that call and the call was left to the on-field team.

Fourth, the media really needs to take much of the blame for issues like the Bournemouth equaliser last year against and the Liverpool goal against Spurs. Pundits and journalists are still constantly moaning about delays and time taken to make decisions. I remember Alan Shearer and Danny Murphy once spend longer moaning about a VAR decision than the VAR team had actually taken to make the actual decision. Guess what- when there’s stadium of tens of thousands of people, and potentially millions watching worldwide, where you will be mercilously hounded for any slight error, you will want to make sure you get something right, particularly when (once play resumes) there is no correcting any error you might make. Its all very well criticising with the benefit of hindsight and not under that pressure, but if we want to avoid errors like those in the future, then maybe a bit of patience and basic human empathy would not go amiss.

Fifth, there is now more silliness about the Rashford red card against Copenhagen. I think Rashford is genuinely one of the good people in football, and it is simply wrong that he will likely now receive horrendous abuse online from supposed ‘supporters’. Unfortunately, this is still a red- and it has been for a long time. Does Football 365 not have some responsibility when it publishes statements such as this in the mailbox; ‘Tonight Rashford is sent off for trying to shield the ball, and his foot landing on the defender behind him. No intention, nobody was seriously hurt, Rashford was only looking at the ball, straight red. First time I have ever seen that.’ The simple answer is that you must have a short memory or not have really looked at your football history; Ronaldinho was red carded for exactly the same thing in the 2002 World Cup Quarter Final against England. That was spotted by the on-field referee (and was actually a much less dangerous tackle as his studs merely scraped Mills’ leg rather than pushing with force against the leg). The red was not overturned afterwards and I did not see much furore by any of the English press or supporters at the time. Intention is not relevant to recklesness- that is the very definition of recklesness- which is the appropriate standard to ensure the safety of players.

Sixth, there is now much nonsense about rules not being made by people who ‘understand’ the game or haven’t played the game. Has anyone bothered to actually see the constitution of IFAB- not a single rule is made without the input and consultation of former players- they are present at every stage of the process. I can certainly say that I am much more content with that system rather than the rules being made by some blowhard former player sitting in a studio.

I am not sure if this will be too long to publish (feel free to cut it down!) There are issues (I would prefer if VAR did step in more, and if they took longer to make important decisions, including yellow cards leading to red cards- I just want more consistency, which is an issue about clarifying rules and their application rather than a VAR issue), but if we are going to improve these issues we need be clear and consistent about what they are before we are going to ever make things better.
Davey S

 

Ref justice
A perspective that needs to come into the VAR argument, is the referees interpretations. I listened to a ref on CBS on YouTube explain the decisions, and why they are justified. She said “due to the current interpretations of the rules..”. So these decisions aren’t being made from a football perspective, but rather from an interpretation of the written laws. Does an verbatim reading, and application of laws end well? Asking for a Sudanese apple thief who’s about to lose their hand.

Seeing it from this perspective, so many of their glaring decisions make more sense. It also highlights how wrong the set up is, and how one singular group within the game has even more enormous power. This does not end well. It is akin to United giving Ed Woodward – the accountant – free range over the entire club, from transfers to managerial appointments. His obvious lack of football knowledge and understanding led to, in part, the ruining of a club.

Football as a whole is now doing this with VAR, giving referees an intoxicating amount of control over games and results. You can prepare, work hard, train well, perform well and still end up losing all due to a “subjective” call, or because a slight wasn’t deemed “clear and obvious” on the day.

Ryan, Bermuda made some great points about how you just don’t know how decisions will play out anymore, and this is destroying trust and satisfaction amongst many fans. When you think about it, does giving the least football qualified people on the field, the most power to influence the game? All due not to football, but to words written by executives who may also never have been professional players?

It’s a bit like the US Supreme Court deciding to interpret the abortion laws as they wished, and then forcing that interpretation on the masses, regardless of popularity, precedent, health and safety or even basic common sense. Ref’s are applying the laws like this. There’s very little nuance or football intelligence in their decisions, and until there is, the VAR debates, and errors, will roll on.
Calvino (Can’t beat waking up to read Spurs and LFC fans talk about delusion and meltdowns 😉 )

 

VAR fixes
While watching the utterly hilarious train wreck of a game in Denmark on Wednesday night, my West Ham supporting friend and I think we may have come up with an ‘answer’ to / for VAR (or at least a helpful option)

VAR is always running, as per cricket / tennis but basically never gets involved at all (am sure there will be a tweak or 2) but essentially it just sits there recording..

2 challenges a half for each team are the ‘only’ times that VAR is then referenced..

These challenges have to be issued to the Ref, by the Captain. within 15 – 30 seconds of he incident in question.
VAR checks the issue and shows the ref the incident so he can decide if the challenge is correct or not.
Or VAR just makes the call regardless of the ref.
If it (like the ball over the line in the Newcastle game) is inconclusive, then stays refs decision. as per cricket

Correct challenge i.e the ref missed that or called it wrong, the teams keeps their challenge and still has 2

Incorrect you obviously lose that challenge.

Inconclusive / coulda gone either way / you dont lose your challenge.

So, lets say ‘player A’ goes down likes hes been elbowed.. holds his face, rolls around.. ref gives nothing.. waves play on

Player A has a choice, Scream at his captain (not the ref..) for a VAR challenge, or….. well it wasnt really an elbow and they will show that on review if I challenge it, get up and crack on..

So, 1 He is arguing with his captain, no more hounding the ref..

2 its unlikely players will spend so much time rolling around as they can just challenge if they were really hurt.

The ref gets to actually ref the game his way and VAR has no say at all, until asked specifically.

However.. IF there are, say, 3 challenges in the first half that are all errors from the ref and they all get upheld.. then the Ref is swapped out for the 4th official, so the ref has some jeopardy too. (maybe he could get 2 challenges or requests, where he really isnt sure and he can request a VAR..)

The the Ref and the players and not VAR are held accountable for their own actions
Players are being told by their own team / captains / managers to get the fuck up and stop diving / feigning injury

Managers cant whine at refs like Jurgen and Arteta.. you didnt like it.. you should have challenged it.. What you’d used both your challenges up because Fernandes wasted them both on demanding freekicks on the half way line for what turns out to be fair tackles…. then speak to him about his attitude..

Puts some of the emphasis back onto players managers and refs, takes away VAR needing to constantly check every single thing and delays games for 10-20mins.

Its not bulletproof of course but it does seem (in my head) to have some definite positives.?

Less VAR
More responsibility on players and refs
Surely a good thing?

Fans are moaning about too much var, let the refs ref, etc etc

I see no downside..

Any questions at the back? – Coz if anyone can see downsides its the mailbox!
Al – LFC – Seems sensible ish to us.. I will wait and see why its just a terrible idea

 

…VAR is a big pile of shit, we all agree. Some days it’s gives you a goal, others it taketh away.

Here’s my way of getting round it all: if you lost and youre blaming VAR, your team HAS NOT DONE ENOUGH TO WIN THE MATCH.

Simple, clear, effective.

Trust me, I support Everton. After that man city handball last season I decided to get over it.

There is no conspiracy, there is no bias. If you have lost then you haven’t done enough to win.

I’ve worked in tech for 20 odd years and yes, it fucks most things up. However, those who choose to design their systems well, including transformation and rollout, are the ones who succeed.

Using tech to hold an outdated set of rules to account was always doomed to fail.

Let’s just have a laugh about it and lament the loss of super shit houses like Ramos, Pepe and Robertson, mmmmm, salty

Fat Man

 

…Why don’t VAR incorrect decisions get the easy ride that pre-VAR incorrect decisions used to get?

“Don’t worry, it all balances out by the end of the season”.

The human mistakes were far greater, glaring, and unjust than any of the forensic VAR mistakes (apart from that one, obviously).

Regards,
Colin.

 

…It seems I can’t log on to any football related news without being bombarded by VAR content.

My experience with sport as entertainment is that the powers that be will always favour whatever keeps their sport in the news ahead of all other sports, even if those things are objectively bad. I am sure the summer transfer window is primarily to keep football in the news over the summer sports much more than it is for any integrity in the game.

VAR feels the same.

The publicity is horrific and on a balance I would say people largely hate it, but what are we the customers going to do, watch some other sport/version of football that is VAR free? Of course not! We’re worse and weaker than a captive audience and the powers know it, so they will continue to serve us whatever keeps us frothing and clicking the most. Ka-ching!

So a couple of utterly pointless VAR ideas because any mailbox contribution is now obliged to include VAR these days.

First, can we have two mailboxes? One with VAR and one without? I would like to see what football is like in a world where Big Brother has stopped watching.

And second, because everyone has to have an idea on how to fix VAR, is an idea on how to fix VAR, and that’s to use it during the match and after it During the match, VAR is only but always used for penalty decisions. If the ref thinks something has happened in the box, they can trot to the monitor to re-watch the play from all the angles and make a call. That’s it for in play.

VAR is never again to be used for offsides, no foul play, no scrolling around in footage for 5 minutes trying to find anything in the build up play. Nothing! Just penalty decisions. This will give the refs control back, reduce the idiotic time added on due to VAR rather than actual footballing reasons.

But… post match VAR is used to review the entire match to mete out any necessary punishments, and to provide full and complete feedback to the refs on crappy offsides and all the clear and obvious errors the current approach still doesn’t get right.

Using the Spurs Chelsea game as an example: Udogie would still be sent off in the game, as would Romero for whatever madness he was hell bent on producing anyway. Then retrospectively Udogie’s first yellow would be upgraded to a straight red and a 3 game ban, and I am sure a few other yellows were warranted for some challenges, particularly a couple of late ones on Vicario.

Anyway, there’s VAR sorted out for a Friday.
Dr Oyvind, Earth.

 

F365’s Garth Crooks
Really important F365 keep the Arsenal click machine whirring, hence Dave shoehorning Havertz into a RF position just to get two Arsenal players in the Worst XI.

He doesn’t play there Dave. So why include him? Have there really been no other RW signings?

Or is it just to get back onto your real axe to grind; a VAR discussion that takes a purposeful strawman position?

I wonder who we’ve seen that from before…
Tom, Walthamstow

Toon thoughts
I thought I’d missed my chance to chime in on the Newcastle/Arsenal match controversy but it came up again in Thursday morning’s mailbox, so here I go

On Bruno G, I think he was very lucky to get away with the arm barge on the head, it was unprompted and for me right on the edge of yellow and red, as he didn’t use his elbow. If the ref had sent him off I’d have thought silly Bruno, not stupid ref, but he got away with it. The thing for me here is that potential red card behaviour is reviewed, as we all know, but having reviewed it, I think they should be allowed to issue a yellow. I don’t think we should review all potential yellow card behaviour, as they’d never keep up with the game, but once an incident is reviewed you should be able to punish as appropriate. Bruno then did at least 2 other yellow card worthy offenses, finally being booked for the third, which in my opinion was the least dodgy of the three, but better late than never I guess. People who say that it should have been a second yellow and so he should be off are missing the point that either Howe would have hooked him if he’d been booked earlier, or he would have reined himself in for fear of a second yellow. For a period in the game though he had absolutely lost his head. He has a tendency to play on the edge, part of what makes him such a good competitor, but I feel his card is marked now with refs and he won’t get away with that again.

On the Havertz challenge, I thought it was a red at first, but on replay he caught the player with his trailing leg, so a yellow is about right for me. The Newcastle players should have all backed away after Gordon got the yellow for protesting. I think handing out 3 cards to us when Arsenal got one feels unbalanced, but senior players should know better than to keep protesting once the cards start being waved around. For me though the biggest thing about the Havertz challenge was how it woke up crowd and players. Arsenal were turning the screw on us just before that and we were retreating into our shells. He had absolutely no need to lunge in there, but he did and it was the catalyst for all the chaos that followed. So if you want to blame anyone for the loss, it rests squarely with Havertz.

Obviously its easy to be magnanimous when your team wins, but losing the plot over unfavourable VAR decisions is only going to give you an ulcer, so maybe try and be more zen about it all.

Disappointed, of course, with the Dortmund result, but we’re not out yet, assuming we will be soon, its been fun so far. If we have to go out in the fist round at least we’ve mixed it with some genuinely great teams and haven’t looked entirely out of place. Dortmund at home could have gone either way, they were better on their patch (but Joe was so close to equalizing), Milan was our worst performance I thought, and we’ll always have Paris. European football is hard and Howe and the players will need to adjust, but most teams find it tough in their first season.
Derek from Dundalk
PS please stop linking us with Mourinho. I know Howe won’t last forever, but there’s no reason to think if we become CL regulars and the mega stars start to show up that he won’t be able to handle them. He will be a lot more experienced by then and will have a bigger reputation. Remember how everyone told us he wouldn’t be able to organize a defense?

 

…“Although Joelinton does have his hands on Gabriel, there isn’t enough to award a foul as Gabriel had made an action to play the ball before any contact.”

Once someone makes an action to play the ball – how do you judge any subsequent contact from an opponent as “enough” to make an assessment that said contact did not affect their ability to make the intended action successfully? Even if you think contact was exaggerated – how would you even assess that? Are those not discussions worth considering before coming to such a vague ruling?

Couldn’t any contact at that point be enough to prevent a successful play on the ball? What exactly is the standard for “enough” – does that have guidelines in the rulebook? Or does it just have to ultimately be decided by the hilariously and appropriately elongated abbreviation of PLIKMIP?

Also, shouldn’t it matter that Joelinton (apologies to whoever cared so much that I obviously had Bruno G in my head for everything a Newcastle player did wrong) clearly moved his arms like that due to a reaction of seeing Gabriel trying to make his intended play on the ball? How is any contact allowed when not honestly playing the ball in any regard? He wasn’t even using his feet to do anything other than jump just to end up trying to push someone – is that how the game is to be played? How is this any less unnatural and, thus, not organic to the game than what Saliba did when a ball that was headed less than a yard away and accidentally hit his arm when making a legitimate arm movement to contest a ball with his head?

The issue is not that VAR is looking at too much. The issue is the larger refereeing bodies associated with the highest level of professional football in the home of the sport don’t have clear guidelines – even the ones they do btw they still can’t follow – in order to successfully enact this stuff.

American sports may be odd to those across the pond in general but one thing we have down absolutely PAT is video review. It’s been mentioned many times in the mailbox. This cannot be overstated – all the lack of clarity into how to actually 1. ref the game 2. apply video review does not exist in any of what are similarly complicated edge cases in American sports.

The problem is not at all VAR itself but everyone associated with implementing refereeing standards in what seems to afflict just the Premier League compared to not just American sports but other European football leagues.
MAW, LA Gooner