VAR

[astonvilla82]

I said it on the other games thread but the new rules and VAR are used as a smokescreen to mask the fact the officials are not improving in any way.  There is no need to change the rules every season, just keep it the same for 2/3 years and then take away the excuse.  At the moment PGMOL will be loving every conversation being about injury time, bookings, 30 second off field rules rather than the ability of the officials.

VAR does what they want it to do…it’s the humans using it that are completely at fault and the humans that define the rules it is used for that are also at fault.

The ‘clear and obvious’ cop out that they conveniently used last night either applies to everything or nothing and shouldn’t be used to excuse rank incompetence.

I also think the pundits and commentators are at fault, never do you hear them call out the toe nail offsides as being completely fraudulent, as is my biggest bugbear they have no tech that tells them with 100% accuracy the moment the ball is played to ensure they draw the lines on the right frame.  If you can’t prove one you have to have tolerance in the end result.

Agree with every word

[Bobby Boy]

All three officials responsible for not giving Wolves the pen yesterday not selected for next weekends games.

Should be unselected for at least a month to give them time to reflect on what the hell they were doing.

[The Edge]

The only conclusion I can draw from last night's decision not to give a penalty to Wolves is that it was the one that the officials on the pitch and at Stockley Park wanted to make, there being no objective evidence that could possibly justify it.

Absolutely correct but the the elephant in the room is the question: "why is that the decision that the match officials and Stockley Park wanted to make?" Are they biased? Are they corrupt? Are they incompetent? It boils down to one of the three. Because as certain as eggs is eggs if that incident was at the other end they would give that pen in a heartbeat with no need for Stockley Park to review. It seems we are no nearer to fair, unbiased and competent match officiating as we've ever been.

[LeeB]

As I've said before, all the technology has done is give them more tools with which to implement their biases.

[The Edge]

I said it on the other games thread but the new rules and VAR are used as a smokescreen to mask the fact the officials are not improving in any way.  There is no need to change the rules every season, just keep it the same for 2/3 years and then take away the excuse.  At the moment PGMOL will be loving every conversation being about injury time, bookings, 30 second off field rules rather than the ability of the officials.

VAR does what they want it to do…it’s the humans using it that are completely at fault and the humans that define the rules it is used for that are also at fault.

The ‘clear and obvious’ cop out that they conveniently used last night either applies to everything or nothing and shouldn’t be used to excuse rank incompetence.

I also think the pundits and commentators are at fault, never do you hear them call out the toe nail offsides as being completely fraudulent, as is my biggest bugbear they have no tech that tells them with 100% accuracy the moment the ball is played to ensure they draw the lines on the right frame.  If you can’t prove one you have to have tolerance in the end result.

Agree with every word

I also agree. One of my biggest problems with var has always been the offside by a nasal hair type decision. There was a great example of this last weekend in the Spurs/Brentford match. They know there's a problem with using the correct frame which was addressed at the last World Cup in Qatar. They used a very accurate computerised system which relied on sensors and top notch cameras. Our bunch of braindead numpties relied on trying to freeze the correct frame when Maddison took the free kick that Spurs scored from. We ended up with a blurred image of Maddison and after about an hour they applied those stupid lines from a really dodgy angle. It's pathetic it's totally unscientific and it's open to bias. What a bunch of cretins.

[GordonCowansisthegreatest]

All three officials responsible for not giving Wolves the pen yesterday not selected for next weekends games.

Should be unselected for at least a month to give them time to reflect on what the hell they were doing.

None of them should ever be allowed near a game again!

[London Villan]

Why have they been stood down? What's the reason? That hasn't been stated.

Is it:
Not good enough for the job?
To show PLMOG to be "doing" something?

Why did they all make the wrong decision?
Lack of knowledge of the rules?
Bias toward man u?

And more importantly, depending on the answers above, what will be done to stop it happening again?
Training?
Ban for the refs involved?

[artvandelay]

I disagree that video technology works well in other sports. In rugby union there can be ridiculously long waits for decisions on whether there was downward pressure, mitigating factors or indeed any other technicality of the law that the average fan doesn't understand being breached. In NFL there's similar agonising over whether a players foot is touching the paint. In GAA last year hawkeye was just completely wrong so they stopped using it.

It works particularly badly in football because it's a fluid game decided by relatively few moments of high importance.

[AV84]

I disagree that video technology works well in other sports. In rugby union there can be ridiculously long waits for decisions on whether there was downward pressure, mitigating factors or indeed any other technicality of the law that the average fan doesn't understand being breached. In NFL there's similar agonising over whether a players foot is touching the paint. In GAA last year hawkeye was just completely wrong so they stopped using it.

It works particularly badly in football because it's a fluid game decided by relatively few moments of high importance.

Rugby is a game naturally given to stopages. The technology works within the format of the game. Also, the fact the crowd in the stadium and at home can hear the discussions means they'll usually understand why a decision has been made, whether they're familiar with laws or not. The success rate of these decisions means that generally speaking the audience of a rugby match will trust the decision even if they're not up on the laws.

American sports are annoyingly given to stoppages, so again, the pause to get a decision right doesn't impact on the depressingly slow speed of a game.

You are correct though to say implementing it the same way in football would cause more problems and even if it resulted in 100% accuracy on every decision, people would still complain because a 90 minute game is now taking 2.5 hours to finish. So yeah, they can't just take what works in other sports and assume it will work in football. But the way they're not even trying to use the methods that work in other sports, even just the level of clarity in decision making, is still a hugely stupid way to go about it.

[Nev]

Fuck it off, it doesn't work.

[paul_e]

I disagree that video technology works well in other sports. In rugby union there can be ridiculously long waits for decisions on whether there was downward pressure, mitigating factors or indeed any other technicality of the law that the average fan doesn't understand being breached. In NFL there's similar agonising over whether a players foot is touching the paint. In GAA last year hawkeye was just completely wrong so they stopped using it.

It works particularly badly in football because it's a fluid game decided by relatively few moments of high importance.

Please don't take this the wrong way but I'd suggest that if you think video referrals don't work in rugby it's because you don't know the game. At the very highest level the pace and power is so extreme that the game relies on the breaks in play it provides.

That said I agree that the delays for things like checking for a foot in touch or grounding can feel a bit long but it's generally a conversation between the officials that you can hear (on comms at home or with a little radio thing in the ground) that helps the decisions normally turn out correct.

[dave shelley]

All three officials responsible for not giving Wolves the pen yesterday not selected for next weekends games.

Should be unselected for at least a month to give them time to reflect on what the hell they were doing.

When they'll be let loose to go and do exactly the same thing again.  They should incur a three month suspension on reduced pay, that'll learn 'em!  I know I'm being flippant but it does need to be seen that steps are being taken to make referee's responsible for outrageous and unfair decisions like as seen last night.  Next thing is, they'll taking the foot out of football.

[Clampy]

Yes, this whole dropping them for the following games is just a waste of time.

[London Villan]

It's just an act of them doing something - no explanation about why it happened or why it won't again.

[Goldenballs]

I really hate the level of abuse and disrespect the ref's get from players, but I can understand their frustration when they're elite players and the games being controlled by an utter cretin. I'm surprised O'Neil managed to keep his cool when getting booked and not end up getting a red.

A lot of focus on the divs in VAR but the ref was looking straight at it as well, what's his excuse.