Aston Villa v Liverpool - Post-Match Thread

[London Villan]

Didnt lesta get a penalty for a shirt pull on Vardy?

[The Edge]

I'm genuinely surprised by how many on here were happy with the ref's decision to not give a penalty for the shirt pull on Pau. The very notion that it "wasn't sustained pulling of the shirt therefore no penalty" is ludicrous. What about other fouls are the ref's going to be given licence to judge the extent of a foul? "he did kick him but not hard enough to break his leg" or "he was offside but not enough offside" or "he did elbow him in the face but not hard enough to knock his teeth out or break his nose" It just feels wrong and it feels like another situation where they gave the referee leeway to not give a penalty to an away team in front of the mighty Kop where the amazing reds fans gather and share hilarious stories because they are all comedians and the salt of the earth.

[eamonn]

Thought Tierney was VAR?

That’s what they said on commentary.

Thought Tierney was VAR?

Really? He was always injured for Arsenal, good to see that he's still able to make a career in football.

[LeeB]

Thought Tierney was VAR?

That’s what they said on commentary.

Thought Tierney was VAR?

Really? He was always injured for Arsenal, good to see that he's still able to make a career in football.

He was injured, in both eyes.

[lovejoy]

I'm genuinely surprised by how many on here were happy with the ref's decision to not give a penalty for the shirt pull on Pau. The very notion that it "wasn't sustained pulling of the shirt therefore no penalty" is ludicrous. What about other fouls are the ref's going to be given licence to judge the extent of a foul? "he did kick him but not hard enough to break his leg" or "he was offside but not enough offside" or "he did elbow him in the face but not hard enough to knock his teeth out or break his nose" It just feels wrong and it feels like another situation where they gave the referee leeway to not give a penalty to an away team in front of the mighty Kop where the amazing reds fans gather and share hilarious stories because they are all comedians and the salt of the earth.

Indeed why give the refs latitude to not apply the law? The Vardy one was a shorter time period.

[VillaTim]

If they start giving pens for shirt pulling etc on corners / dead balls then we are in for 5-10 penalties per game which isn't really a direction i'd want to go down . In the Wolves game McGinn / Dawson were basically playing rugby at every corner and the Ref just let it all go

[VillaTim]

Former Liverpool star Michael Owen has admitted to being “astonished” by David Coote’s decision not to award Aston Villa a “blatant’ penalty in their 2-0 defeat to the Reds on Saturday.

“It’s a penalty, you can’t do that. There’s just a blatant pull, Pau Torres is there at the front post, gets dragged out of that area with a shirt pull".

[The Edge]

If they start giving pens for shirt pulling etc on corners / dead balls then we are in for 5-10 penalties per game which isn't really a direction i'd want to go down . In the Wolves game McGinn / Dawson were basically playing rugby at every corner and the Ref just let it all go

Just apply the rules properly and consistently and the players will learn. There wouldn't be 5/10 penalties because after the first one is given even thick as pig shit footballers would learn their lesson.

[FatSam]

I'm genuinely surprised by how many on here were happy with the ref's decision to not give a penalty for the shirt pull on Pau. The very notion that it "wasn't sustained pulling of the shirt therefore no penalty" is ludicrous. What about other fouls are the ref's going to be given licence to judge the extent of a foul? "he did kick him but not hard enough to break his leg" or "he was offside but not enough offside" or "he did elbow him in the face but not hard enough to knock his teeth out or break his nose" It just feels wrong and it feels like another situation where they gave the referee leeway to not give a penalty to an away team in front of the mighty Kop where the amazing reds fans gather and share hilarious stories because they are all comedians and the salt of the earth.

This is my main dissatisfaction with football at the moment - the fact that so many laws of the game are subjective and open to interpretation. When you add VAR into the mix, that’s just more people having an opinion on the same incident - more layers of subjectivity. If the law about shirt pulling was black and white then whether or not a penalty is given wouldn’t depend on someone’s interpretation of ‘sustained’. It’s the same with the ‘interfering with play’ issue in relation to offsides.

[VillaTim]

I'm genuinely surprised by how many on here were happy with the ref's decision to not give a penalty for the shirt pull on Pau. The very notion that it "wasn't sustained pulling of the shirt therefore no penalty" is ludicrous. What about other fouls are the ref's going to be given licence to judge the extent of a foul? "he did kick him but not hard enough to break his leg" or "he was offside but not enough offside" or "he did elbow him in the face but not hard enough to knock his teeth out or break his nose" It just feels wrong and it feels like another situation where they gave the referee leeway to not give a penalty to an away team in front of the mighty Kop where the amazing reds fans gather and share hilarious stories because they are all comedians and the salt of the earth.

This is my main dissatisfaction with football at the moment - the fact that so many laws of the game are subjective and open to interpretation. When you add VAR into the mix, that’s just more people having an opinion on the same incident - more layers of subjectivity. If the law about shirt pulling was black and white then whether or not a penalty is given wouldn’t depend on someone’s interpretation of ‘sustained’. It’s the same with the ‘interfering with play’ issue in relation to offsides.

All the above has been introduced so that results can be influenced more . Pretty obvious to me

[Gareth]

Former Liverpool star Michael Owen has admitted to being “astonished” by David Coote’s decision not to award Aston Villa a “blatant’ penalty in their 2-0 defeat to the Reds on Saturday.

“It’s a penalty, you can’t do that. There’s just a blatant pull, Pau Torres is there at the front post, gets dragged out of that area with a shirt pull".

Imagine Michael Owen actually being correct about something :-) how a huge shirt pull stopping a player getting to EXAXTLY where the ball went wasn’t a foul is dreadful…perhaps Coote thinks about Spaniards as he does Germans…

[garyellis]

PGMOL needs a complete clear out from top to bottom.
It may take years but the Premier League should be aiming for the elite in refereeing.

[andyh]

PGMOL needs a complete clear out from top to bottom.
It may take years but the Premier League should be aiming for the elite in refereeing.

Agreed.
Maybe import them all from Europe. On the whole the elite refs in Europe are just that.
Ours are all consumed with their own egos and wanting to be star of the show.

[amfy]

If they start giving pens for shirt pulling etc on corners / dead balls then we are in for 5-10 penalties per game which isn't really a direction i'd want to go down . In the Wolves game McGinn / Dawson were basically playing rugby at every corner and the Ref just let it all go

It wasn’t some 50/50 pushing and shoving as a corner was taken. It was a shirt pull that clearly prevented Torres from getting to the ball and enabled the defender to clear it. Absolutely a penalty.

[The Edge]

I thought I'd give the highlights one last look on sky. Go to match highlights and they deemed not to even show the Pau incident. So I go to Ref Watch again on Sky. They show the one angle of it that doesn't actually show the shirt pull properly. The presenter was adamant it was a pen cue the two scousers and the referee Dermott Mcdermottface shooting him down and laughing. I'm not going to watch it again as the blatant media bias is really starting to piss me off and I don't wana be one of those conspiracy types.