No such rule exists. The only rule is a referee cannot officiate on a game that involves the team that he/she supports.
Okay, so if the title race goes down to the last day, it will be okay to put an Arsenal fan in charge of the Man City game?
Common sense would apply in that case and that wouldn't happen. In this case, both teams were involved in the relegation fight, not just Forest so I really don't see a big issue with appointing a Luton fan as VAR. I watched the game yesterday and only one I think should have met the clear and obvious threshold for VAR to intervene and that was the second "foul" by Young.
Regardless, it's certainly not the most likely explanation. There's absolutely no proof at all he was biased. Forest have been on the end of worse decisions than what I saw yesterday and they didn't accuse anyone of bias then.
It wouldn't happen if it involved the big 6, but the smaller teams don't really matter. Everton are down the bottom, but they have a easier run in, plus they are the better team. I'd have preferred them to win, if I was a Luton fan.
My Everton mates think it was fixed. Mainly because they would be such a huge loss to the league that the PL can’t afford for them to go down so rigged it in their favour
The most likely explanation is that referees are ****ing useless as we see virtually every week The fact that they are so incompetent it looks like they are fixing games is really staggering
2 issues: 1) Forest are absolutely right that there was a conflict of interest if the ref supports a relegation rival 2) The bar for penalties and decisions is completely different depending on the teams involved. Liverpool, arsenal, city, United and Chelsea would have been given all 3 of those penalties that Forest were denied. 100%
Well, given Doku kicked a Liverpool player in the chest at Anfield and got away with it I really don't see that at all.
I’ve seen the 3 incidents. 1st Incident - such a close one, if given on the field I don’t think it would be over turned. Player made an absolute meal out of it though 2nd incident - I generally don’t think it was an intentional hand ball and I felt his arm was in a natural position. But what is natural and unnatural? Ball over head, turning and your arms will come out to balance you. I don’t think it’s a pen, but I’ve seen some terrible hand ball calls this year so what do I know. 3rd incident - stonewall pen. Ref claimed he’d won the ball. I suppose he was correct in one way as he did clean the player out from behind to then win the ball
That's my view. Only one of the incidents (the 3rd one) was a clear and obvious error in my book and VAR should have intervened in that one.
I agree with you 100%. However all three could have been given or refused and it would depend upon a). The team involved. b). The Referee in charge. c). The VAR involvement, sadly the rule book doesn't get a look in.
I agree with this. City/Liverpool/United get all 3 though. Imagine if the first one was on Salah. Would be a penalty aaalllll day
Funny was on a call with a work colleague in the US (Who happens to be a huge Arsenal fan). He is convinced that VAR is definitely for the big 6. He watched the cup semi yesterday and said if that was a Utd last min winner, there is no way the line would have been drawn on his toe, probably on the laces and would have been onside. If a US person who loves the Premier League thinks like this, I think they need to rethink VAR,
Interesting watching the Palace game yesterday. A West Ham player got wiped out ( clear yellow) but ref played advantage. The game then didn't get stopped again until a palace player was also wiped out (clear yellow) a good 2 mins later. The ref gave neither player a yellow to "balance" things out. This always winds me up, and its not " good or fair refereeing". If its a yellow card offence, I couldn't give a **** if its in the 1st or 90th minute, and who did what to who, just show the yellow card.
Well, good news is the line drawing is going as they're bringing in semi-automated offside technology. Which, by the way, referees have wanted for ages. It's been the clubs voting against it that has prevented it being introduced in the PL. The marginal offsides will still remain, but people can longer blame the official drawing the line. And it will be much quicker.
