VAR ref Atwell said that it wasn't a red because it "didn't have the required force or intensity or clear contact ".
Agree. It should take a lot to overrule the on-field ref, like Pogba on Keita, or Virgil on De Gea boy. Oh, wait....
As long as there is no injury it will always be open to subjective interpretation. If Henderson had been injured there would have been a straight red from the referee without him even thinking about it. A reckless challenge which injured an opponent. No debate. No doubt. Just like the injury to our player by the Leeds defender. Automatic red. If Henderson had rolled around like a Real Madrid or Juventus player would, cresswell would have been sent off without a second hesitation. Because the question of intensity would not have arisen. All tackles leading to serious injury have been given reds. I can’t remember the odd exception.
The obvious one! mind you, in that one they said that foul was committed “after” an offence had been committed and therefore not during play. Incredible when you think about it!
Yes they said it happened when play had already stopped for offside. I'm pretty sure if a player thumped another player during a break in play he would be sent off. Edit: Just read the Law 12 which says that cards for fouls can only be given during play but cards for misconduct can be given at any time. The problem here is that with late flags and no flags, players aren't always aware that offside has occurred, with play carrying on until such time as it's made clear which in turn allows time for fouls to be committed which is exactly what happened. Personally I think they made up a story to cover up the sheer incompetence.
Devil’s advocate: Pickford didn’t punch or did any other misconduct. He carried out a serious limb threatening foul on VVD. A foul nevertheless. So strictly speaking and according to the letter (Not the spirit) of the law you’ve outlined above, the refs were right.
I edited the comment. Basically nobody knew about any offside, including the officials and so for the players play was in progress. The offside was made up by the VAR to cover their backside.
No,no, no, no, no, no nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo . I spent weeks on the Prem Board last year educating the unwashed on the laws of the game - let's not start here. For the record, that ****ing overrated weasel Oliver eventually admitted his mistake in January, three months after the event. He says they just got mixed up with the procedure - so basic that even as it happened Gary Neville was saying it wasn't right, and you can get sent off for serious foul play at any stage of the game, whether the ball is in play or not. Did Prickford commit violent conduct? No. Did T Rex Arms commit Serious Foul Play? Oh yes, and as said, Oliver never denied that. And that means you can get sent off whether or not your opponent is offside, they've carried the ball out of play, or they're running around the pitch with the ball under their arm. The PGMOL knew straight away. Some (most) of the thick ****s on the Prem board didn't. I did.
Before you ask the next question, Serious Foul Play, unlike violent conduct, cannot be retrospectively punished. It was dealt with on the pitch - wrongly, so that was that.
At the time I couldn’t believe that he wasn’t sent off. I was just going with JB’s interpretation of the law that was applied apparently.
There was a lot of guff from various posters and internet sages about the rules of the game afterwards (not saying that's you, JB). The next day I was in work and was speaking to a qualified, amateur ref (Man U supporter, as it happens), who knows Coote. Straight away, before I even opened my mouth, he said "Before you ask, yes you can and should get sent off for Serious Foul Play at any time, ball in play or not, and yes, that was as clear an example of Serious Foul Play as you're ever going to get. Yes, Oliver and Coote know that, and no, intent has nothing to do with Serious Foul Play - if there is intent it becomes violent conduct, and you can get sent off at any time for that too". That Coote and Oliver are still on the PGMOL list (and Oliver even made the Euros, FFS) is despicable. It wasn't just a basic mistake at their level - it was an utterly irredeemable display of incompetence. And I honestly say that regardless of who it involved, and what team he plays for.
Pickford has been the most influential individual in the fate of LFC last season. More influential than Klopp himself. At the time of the incident we were hot favourites to be champions again as City and Chelsea had poor starts. I wonder whether there has ever been another opposition player who singlehandedly changed the outlook of a team for the entire season. Lost the title, ended a 4 year unbeaten run at home and five (or was it 6 defeats) in a row at home. I can’t think of another example but there must have been other cases.
We have to split VAR into 2: 1) The actual technology used 2) The idiots who operate it There is no issue with the technology, it's all about the application.
Clear and obvious error: The pitch referee has to work out the intention of the players. The VAR has to work out the intention of the pitch referee.
