The same person who saw a push ( which led to a foul and penalty) one day, did not see it as such on the morrow. Herein lies the problem.
You are right, often there are decisions made which are a matter of opinion and this is where the problem with referees begins. One of the basics is in the name football. The only player allowed to use arms and hands is the goalkeeper (apart from throw ins) If you use your hand and arm deliberately then it is simply a foul. Surely there is no doubt about that. The problem I think are the instructions given to refs by the FA. let the game flow and while that is a good idea from the spectacle point of view if it is at the expense of the rules then pro footballers will quickly take advantage of it, as they have done. The rules should be applied all the time not bent for the benefit of the excitement. Sadly, that's the route we have gone down in the PL and that means inconsistent decisions. Not corruption, I hope, just simply poor decisions by the FA and then by the refs. The FA should take most of the blame because their decisions are not made in the heat of a game as the referee's decisions are. VAR should be helping to iron out the mistakes, but it won't if the first priority is to back up his mate on the field. It's impossible to get all decisions right but incidents like TAA on Sessegnon makes VAR a waste of time and simply an interference in the game.
Any rule that can be applied subjectively will be equally subject to bias (unconscious or otherwise) and inconsistency. Similar argument for whether the defender is trying to play the ball in working out whether it's a pen. It may be claimed that a rule that can be applied in absolute terms is occasionally unfair, but personally I'd accept that if it was consistent. I can also extend the same argument to VAR in general. I thought it would be a method of reducing bias in favour of certain teams, because it gives a second chance to reassess something that the ref, perhaps under pressure in the home stadium, has got wrong, and done from a place which is remote and perhaps immune from that. Yet all they've done is rotated the refs on and off the field and there's no incentive for them to effectively call each other on the wrong decisions (except ironically to give extra decisions in favour of certain teams!) VAR should be independent. Should use a different set of officials and perhaps ex players too, maybe import some foreign refs or create a set of VAR expertise. The PL certainly has the money for it, but clearly not the will.
If Harry Kane was through on goal on Sunday and van Dijk tried to knock him off balance by leaning into him or putting an arm across him, as defenders tend to do, would it be within the rules for Kane to hold him off by using his arms (forcibly push him away, for example)? And if Kane did so successfuly and went on to score, would you expect the ref to allow the goal? My answer to each question would be yes. So Kane would be entitled to use his arms or hands to stop van Dijk fouling him and the ref should allow an advantage and not stop the game by immediately calling a foul against van Dijk - because the defending team would then more likely gain an advantage, especially if it simply resulting in a free kick, which they can put bodies behind to defend.. There are many of these kinds of situations in games. They require officials to use their common sense and discretion and not to interpret laws rigidly because otherwise games would just descend into teams exchanging a series of free kicks for fouls. Or it would become like basketball because contact would be outlawed.
A foul (or two) in frustration but Bailey comes over the back of him first, which is a clear foul. Martinez got to the ball first and stood his ground, thereby holding Bailey off. Bailey then comes over the back of Martinez, who continues to stand firm, but then does use his arms to knock him away, which could amount to violent conduct. I think the ref looked at first foul by Bailey and stopped there!
If you are correct then the Laws need a complete rewrite because neither of the things you mentioned van Dijk doing are fouls under the current Laws and there is definitely no leeway to commit an offense to stop an opponent committing one. My view on enforcing the Laws is that an unambiguous set of Laws strictly enforced would lead to fewer free kicks as players wouldn't do what TAA did on Sunday if they knew it would be a penalty. I agree that there will always be judgements for the ref to make however well the Laws are written.
Your point has encouraged me to check out the current rules and this is what I found 'A direct free kick is awarded if a player commits any of the following offences against an opponent in a manner considered by the referee to be careless, reckless or using excessive force:' So, you are right because of the words 'in a manner considered by the referee'. The rules clearly give the referee the power to decide in a subjective way whether an offence has been committed. Which when I think about it was how it used to be before tv analysed refereeing decisions. The reality is that the referees word is final, so protesting is futile. You make a good point Luke and although I am not sure I like it I can't see a way around it without creating the basketball situation you describe.
The word 'careless' being in there is really weird though. It is defined later on but it doesn't really help. A deliberate small kick or push isn't 'careless' so presumably isn't a foul!
VAR is being used stupidly and inconsistently. The ref's initial decision should be irrelevant. The technology should be used to find the correct one. They shouldn't watch the same thing twice and come to two different conclusions.
The officials aren't being told to let the game flow, they're being told to manage the event. It's not about the sport, it's about entertainment and viewers. Or money, in my opinion. This is why you often see modern refs letting everything go for a while, then going mental. They're hoping that they won't have to actually do anything and interfere with the spectacle. When this inevitably doesn't work, because it's stupid, they have to try and regain control.
Man Utd beat us and nobody had any complaints about the officials, for once. They thoroughly outplayed us and the score could've been a lot worse. Your lot get the rub of the green constantly and still had a meltdown when you lost to Arsenal. Klopp should've been banned for this match for screeching incoherently at the officials. please log in to view this image
More salty tears, And what would you do with Conte going into the Liverpool technical area and slapping the ball out of peps hands? Lifetime ban? Assault charge?
Well done, only taken you a couple of days to come up with that amazing riposte having been outplayed for most of the match.
