We should have signed someone like Ings, who West Ham put on for under 20 minutes today. Or Joao Felix, who got sent off in his first match due to being chucked straight into a league he'd never played a game in before. Or Casemiro, who didn't get a start for Man United for five games, despite coming fresh from the reigning CL winners. Should infact have signed one of those readily available, affordable good value players who flood the January market, who are Premier League ready off the bat, got double figure scoring records, are not wanted by any other club - and infact are desperate to come to the PL's bottom club. How SR can't see that is beyond me too.
Sorry mate, being told we had an xG of 0.67 goes in the same category as VAR and that ****ing drone. ie the bin.
and yet would have likely won or at least drawn but for a shocking VAR decision that will get completely washed over because don’t worry it only happened to Southampton.
My problem is that VAR has gone from turning around clear obvious errors to picking up every single foul that isn’t possible to see in real time. Fine in a slow sport, ie cricket or golf, but not football. It was a foul because he stood on his ankle and pushed. People in the VAR room had no choice but to rule it out. (That’s not me advocating VAR, I think it’s terrible). Forgive my ignorance but was the ref obliged to view and follow VAR instruction?
True, that goal should have stood. And Jones should get credit for ensuring we are always in the game, but we still seem unable to get on the front foot and try and win games (City aside). I was hoping the January window would give Jones the tools to work towards that, but so far it doesnt look great.
Obliged to view. Doesn’t have to follow but I only know of one single incidence of not following, so it’s almost a given, as soon as he’s called over, it’s gone.
That plus the drone incident ruined the game yesterday. First game I’ve managed to get to in a while and I regretted it. Much better watching at home. There is just no thought for match day fans at all.
I agree, but we do have to ask ourselves (all fans) whether we would feel the same if it been a Villa/opponent's goal disallowed for the exact same thing. That's where VAR arguments fall down for me - when VAR is in a team's favour, that team's supporter's don't mind it. There will certainly be no Villa fans complaining about it. It's the inconsistency and confusing element of it that I don't like - ie. the same thing might happen next week in a game and VAR doesn't touch it.
I can't speak for others but that's absolutely not the case for me - I've slagged off decisions in our favour on here many times. VAR is awful no matter who it favours in the exact moment. The fact is that it's made (for many many people) the game far less enjoyable.
Yep 100%. I’d much rather go back to having refereeing cock ups instead of VAR. Currently we still get massive cock ups, but it spoils every goal.
The inconsistency goes back to almost the very start of the PL using VAR, when after just three months (ish) the PL succumbed to media pressure and massively lowered the bar for intervention. The more scope you give for the VAR official to get involved, the more scope you give for inconsistency. The bar wasn't ridiculously high in those first three months, despite what every pundit was saying. It was exactly where it should have been. VAR barely got involved at all - which is exactly how I think it should be - because there were barely any absolute howlers. Yesterday was a foul in my view, and once the referee saw it on the monitor I'm not surprised he gave it (a soft foul is still a foul) - but never in a million years was the original decision a howler. VAR simply should not be used for that sort of thing. The things I'm hearing about how Howard Webb wants to come in and overhaul VAR has given me hope that the bar will be put back up to where it should be.
Agree 100% The other issue with VAR is that refs are bottling-out of making decisions, knowing they’re sort of covered. I was definitely pro to start with. Totally against now but regardless, it ain’t going away. Big shame imo.
Not sure we should be using the ref/VAR as an excuse or something to be annoyed at. Yes it was wrong but the match was still in our hands. Mara’s stupid foul for the free kick. The defending of that free kick for their goal. The constant changing of formations and tactics. The lack of chances or attacking threat. That is all down to Jones and the players. The tactics and results are simply not good enough and haven’t been for years now. Our entire squad, while also not talented enough for this league, has a losers mentality, and that’s something that’s been a problem for years now too. No leaders. Spineless. and when we do show a bit of backbone, it’s only ever temporary for a half, if that. If you can’t win a game, don’t lose it. This is why we’ll go down, not because of this result in isolation, but because it highlighted everything we’re bad at - scoring, defending, passing, creating.
