Bournemouth v Aston Villa Pre-Match Thread

[Smithy]

You do wonder how many other weird and wonderful ways can be found to stop Villa winning matches from those, either a ref, a lino or VAR. It's no comfort a week later to see those in charge got it wrong once again...

I ask this. If we are playing the Europa League final and we concede a last minute goal that denies us and the ball had gone out of play in the build up what would you say? You don’t need to answer. We all know that we would never ever stop complaining about it.
I’d ditch VAR tomorrow (it has ruined the spectacle of football) but it was entirely correct on this occasion.

I don't think I've seen anyone saying the decision was incorrect, factually speaking.  I think everyone's (or at least most people's) complaint is that the information VAR had available to it didn't ALLOW them to be 100% certain. There was no definitive camera angle showing the ball 100% over the line.  Could they say it was probably out? Yes, of course. At the time on TV, in real time, I thought it had gone out.  But it wasn't given, so I waited for VAR to show a definitive angle proving it was out, and they didn't show that. 

Over the line, or not, isn't like a foul - it's not a subjective decision for the ref to make, or not, it's factual.  With offsides, we get lines drawn, with the goal line, we get goal-line technology, so for another definitive yes/no decision, I expect better evidence than a "it was probably out" shot.

Had the goal been given, and two days later that fan video gets released showing the ball was definitely out, there would be uproar about us getting away with one, and a discussion about the role of VAR in balls crossing the line, or not - which is how it should be.  But there is no discussion, because they got it right, despite it being impossible to be 100% certain it was out. For a factual decision, being 99% certain isn't enough.

Getting to the RIGHT decision, in the WRONG way, will only lead to further bad decisions.

(and of course, this completely ignores the phase of play argument and the fact that Bailey was defending when the ball went out, not attacking)

[paul_e]

You do wonder how many other weird and wonderful ways can be found to stop Villa winning matches from those, either a ref, a lino or VAR. It's no comfort a week later to see those in charge got it wrong once again...

I ask this. If we are playing the Europa League final and we concede a last minute goal that denies us and the ball had gone out of play in the build up what would you say? You don’t need to answer. We all know that we would never ever stop complaining about it.
I’d ditch VAR tomorrow (it has ruined the spectacle of football) but it was entirely correct on this occasion.

That really depends, did the ref see the ball on the line and wave paly on and was it by the oppositions corner flag?

Sure there'd be complaints, of course there would but trying to play the "don't be a hypocrite" card is a bit cheap and, as many have said, the argument is that 19 seconds is a fucking long time to go back and 4 1/2 minutes is a really fucking long time to decide that something is a 'clear and obvious' error where they're then so sure of their opinion that they didn't need the ref to review it.