Of course we would want things to break our way, but objectively I think Bednarek was very unlucky to be sent off. Made very little difference to the outcome but he clearly pulled out of the tackle and Martial cheated a penalty. That kind of thing leaves a sour taste to me, it was unnecessary given the state of the game.
It was bad enough when decisions like this were made without the recourse to analyse them from numerous angles and see that they're dives. The fact that the same errors are being made just as often with the technology means that there's something very wrong with our officials. Get Keith Hackett in to stop this ****ing nonsense... https://thesetpieces.com/interviews...e-is-low-some-ought-to-hang-up-their-whistle/
Yes, I'm sure having Son's heel offiside when he was facing away from the goal gave him a great advantage against Liverpool! (Not even mentioning that the system cannot technically be that accurate.)
Come back to me when all those things happen to ManU. You say the problem is with VAR. I think that's missing a more significant issue that nobody in power will talk about. The problem is that it doesn't matter what the rules happen to be, they are not applied consistently. All VAR is now doing is giving the officials an additional opportunity to favour clubs like ManU.
Kane seems to have no problems with VAR. Well said Harry https://www.skysports.com/watch/vid...30/kane-defends-himself-over-penalty-incident
Funny how we can criticise VAR when 19 out of 20 Premier League clubs benefit from it dicking over their opponents, but when anyone dares suggest that persecuted underclass that is Manchester United have benefitted from VAR making a complete bollocks out of a situation their fans come piling in shouting down any dissent It's almost as if they're proving what the issue is, yet they fail to realise it
The problem is formulating a rule that has the desired effect (whatever that is) and isn't too complicated. Perhaps you should only be deemed to have gained an advantage if you actually score a goal having been offside when the pass to you was made or when a shot was made that rebounds to you. I can't get excited about changes like requiring daylight. That will still lead to situations where only a toenail was overlapping that are too hard to call. Not sure why abolishing the offence altogether isn't the best solution.
Anyone who watches football knows that Man Utd have always had a lot of so called 50/50 decisions go in their favour, Former refs like Clattenburg have even admitted as much and we suffered at his hands more than most.
Of course there will still be close calls, but if you are offside by the metaphorical toe-nail in that scenario at least you will 'look offside' and you would have to be ahead of the last man for it to be given. As for abolishing the rule thats an interesting thing to trial and see how teams react - legalised goal hanging maybe less of an issue in the top flight but maybe an issue in grass roots football.
If offside were abolished (outside of Anfield and Old Trafford, where they're running a pilot scheme of abolishing it at selective times) the likely scenario would be the game would become much more defensive as managers would be wary of committing players forward, meaning the model for the game would be Burnley vs West Brom On the plus side we would be ahead of the curve as that is our strategy anyway, although we missed one obvious point about actually having players who can defend on the pitch...
There used to be a stated preference for the attacking player, where it was too close to call. Now that needs to be reinstated because these current rulings aren't accurate enough to be reliable and are turning the game into a nonsense. Officials also need to be reminded that it's a contact sport, what a foul looks like and that diving is a bookable offence. Although in the last couple of weeks I've seen a couple of yellow cards for diving, it would be good to see a whole load more. More than anything, officials who repeatedly make poor calls need to face real consequences. Currently, it's a total mess.
Any analysis of a foul or offside should also be seen in real time as any seen on slow motion looks like a scene from Platoon , if they cannot decide without 10 views in slow motion then the original decision should stand
I did think that the yellow card for diving had been more or less abandoned. After all, if there's no penalty for diving (pun not intended but kind of works), then what has anyone got to lose for doing so? I think even in those incredibly rare occasions when ManU do not get a penalty after an appeal, they certainly never get a yellow for diving.
That very young kid who Wolves signed for BIG money got one the other day for a ridiculous dive in the area (it was against WBA when they were 3-2 down). My age has blanked out who got the other one but I swear I'm not making it up.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55922560 More of this, please. Much more. So necessary. I admired Dean Smith standing his ground against Jonathan Moss' incompetence and now Hasenhutll is doing the same with Dean and Mason - the PGMOL's answer to Laurel and Hardy. The more clubs that openly call out the abysmal officials charged with making multi-million pound decisions week in week out, the better. Take the slap on the wrist, take the fine, even take the touchline ban if needs be. Until everyone gets in on it, nothing will change and the referee's cartel will continue looking after its own. I hope Arteta chimes in too about Craig Pawson - another absolute clown.
Trouble is, they all seem to be equally as bad. Shows that it is a difficult job, but I just don't get what Dean thought he saw on the monitor. All the replays I saw showed minor contact at most and an effort by the defender to get out of the way.
