Greenlizard0 PL & Championship Football Thread ** spoilers ** [1st - 3rd January 2022]

Raymond Lin said:
Arsenal played really well, better than City in fact but threw it away when Gabriel got himself sent off with the 2 yellow cards and the open goal miss in between.

You can analyse the inconsistency of VAR but the crucial thing for me is the red card, the self inflicted red card which basically gave the last 30min of the game to City, at the point when the game is 1-1 and still playing better than City. That red card caused the switch to be more defensive to hold on which they almost did but ultimately didn't.
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I agree but refs have to be consistent and frankly they arent. City seem to be getting penalties which on other days would be waved away. Today being a prime example.
 
fez said:
He wasn't heading down before Xhakas leg made contact. People seem to obsessed that it was the shirt pull that was given not the leg that Xhaka stuck out. The shirt pull was indeed when he was already on the way down but the initial contact was the main reason it was a penalty.
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Exactly. Pen every time.
 
The refs are all awful at the moment. Soft, inconsistent, insecure in their decision making. VAR is showing them all up when the VAR ref isn't doing something equally inconsistent themselves.

Riley needs replacing ASAP. He's a pox on English football and always has been.
 
Another game lost to poor referees and inconsistent VAR, I was all for VAR when it first came in but now I think its just a waste of time. How is one a penalty and one not? Crazy decisions.
 
Drukk said:
Another game lost to poor referees and inconsistent VAR, I was all for VAR when it first came in but now I think its just a waste of time. How is one a penalty and one not? Crazy decisions.
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It's not VAR that's the issue. It's how it's being used and by who and why. Half the time it's cos the VAR ref feels like he wants to get involved, like all the refs do and the other half he's busy covering his incompetent mate's arse. That's not what it's for. The blame for that is squarely on Mike Riley not on VAR.

There aren't anywhere near the amount of problems with it at international tournaments or in UEFA competitions where it's also far more effective.
 
The key issue is that while VAR can check things and see what a referee has maybe missed, it is still entirely subjective as another referee is reviewing the video.

They need to tone it down and use it for serious errors, and/or start sending the on field ref to the monitor more often. Perhaps some sort of smartphone style monitor on his wrist so he can check things more quickly, and more often.

Given the majority of VAR red card/penalty decisions are subjective, it hasn't really solved much in its current state. The debate about decisions is just as bad as it was years ago before VAR.

Offsides are one element that works quite well.
 
It does annoy me that players fall over at the slightest touch. The Silva one is probably a penalty due to the shirt pull, but there's no way that it had enough force to make him fall over like he did. What happened to the days of trying to stay on your feet. Don't get me started on the fake injuries too.
 
RobDogDog said:
It does annoy me that players fall over at the slightest touch. The Silva one is probably a penalty due to the shirt pull, but there's no way that it had enough force to make him fall over like he did. What happened to the days of trying to stay on your feet. Don't get me started on the fake injuries too.
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Its a penalty but as long as they are consistent then fine...but they arent. City have had some fortunate calls go their way recently.
 
Robbo said:
The key issue is that while VAR can check things and see what a referee has maybe missed, it is still entirely subjective as another referee is reviewing the video.
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Yeah, which leads the VAR ref to get involved when he doesn't need to and also gives him a chance to back his mate when really what they should be doing is trying to moderate the officiating in an attempt to make it more consistent.

Instead each decision is "analysed" in isolation and caveats used to either back a referees decision regardless of it's inherent quality or the VAR ref takes the decision themselves in another subjective way.

Harry Kane not being sent off vs Liverpool the other week is a classic example. You won't see a clearer red card, yet somehow the VAR ref contrived to give credence to the referees decision, then Dermot Gallagher comes out on the Monday basically saying the reason the VAR ref didn't overrule the ref is that Kane didn't break Robertson's leg. It's just nonsense. And it all comes back to Mike Riley. He was a **** ref for exactly that kind of ****. Completely inconsistent and needing narratives and "current climates".
 
BaZ87 said:
New year, same Arsenal.
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I called this weeks ago. Arsenal are playing well but I put that mainly down to no Europe and being able to prepare extra for these games. They have done excellent against the lower half of the league but I don't think they have taken any points against the other big 5 teams yet.

Tottenham will be the test for Arteta as Conte has got them playing really well of late. They might stand a chance against Liverpool as you have Afcon and Klopp will no doubt field kids anyway.
 
Eric Dier rugby tackled to the ground in the box. Anything given? Nope. City got the softest pen for a lot less against Leicester. Refs are awful.
 
omnomnom said:
Eric Dier rugby tackled to the ground in the box. Anything given? Nope. City got the softest pen for a lot less against Leicester. Refs are awful.
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Madisons penalty for his dive against Newcastle(that VAR looked at), TAA taking out the player first against Newcastle, lascelles shoulder barge at the other end in the same game, Edison’s wiping out the player against Newcastle. That’s just penalty’s in 3 of the last 4 of Newcastles games
 
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adam cool dude said:
I called this weeks ago. Arsenal are playing well but I put that mainly down to no Europe and being able to prepare extra for these games. They have done excellent against the lower half of the league but I don't think they have taken any points against the other big 5 teams yet.

Tottenham will be the test for Arteta as Conte has got them playing really well of late. They might stand a chance against Liverpool as you have Afcon and Klopp will no doubt field kids anyway.
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We beat Spurs at home, and I’m quite confident we can take points off Utd at home
 
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