Topic: The Push Square Football (Soccer) Thread

Aston Villa scored more goals in one game than Chelsea have managed all season.

@KAIRU And the Liverpool offside goal in the first half.... wasn't offside. PGMOL have issued a statement admitting that was a mistake. 🙄 The officials in this country are a disgrace and some the laws of the game are a joke.

@JohnnyShoulder The refereeing and officiating has been absolutely woeful lately. There’s no consistency either.

VAR’s causing more issues than it solves.

@KAIRU I don't think it is actually VAR that is the problem, it is the incompetent people using it. And this isn't just a one off occurrence either of late. It is making a mockery of what is supposed to be the best league in the world.

@JohnnyShoulder Normally Wolves that get shafted to be honest, their poor manager was getting apologies every week. Thankfully they weren’t shafted today!

@JohnnyShoulder The human element needs to be eliminated when it comes to VAR, in my opinion, otherwise decisions like that are going to keep occurring.

If the PL or whoever are intent on having humans in control of VAR, then the discussions between the VAR assistant and the on-field referee need to be broadcast to the public and the fans in the stadium.

@nessisonett I did think I had seen similar statements recently

@KAIRU It was a bit of an eye opener when one of the ex ref's said he did not bring the ref on that day to VAR because the game was already intense enough, and didn't want drop him in it.

@MatthewJP Leicester City have scored more Premier League goals this calendar year than Chelsea. And they are now in the Championship.

@JohnnyShoulder It really is a farce currently. Makes me wonder if we’ll see a mid-season rule change. I doubt it, but it can’t continue the way it’s going.

@KAIRU If only there was a way to make it more automated?.... 🤔

What's that you say? There is?! Oh but the Premier League decided not to bring it in for this season? Even though it was used in the World Cup...🙄

@JohnnyShoulder I read somewhere that the clubs voted on it, but maybe that was a load of faff.

I've been seeing that supposedly Liverpool are trying to get the game replayed and all this carry on. I doubt that'd happen because that opens up a whole can of worms and would make even more of a mess about the situation.

Something needs to be done about the crap refereeing and decision making though.

The whole VAR situation is a weird one.
Personally I think that we should keep that tech out of the game. Mistakes are just part of the game. It makes for great moments/drama & you can’t recreate that. Human error is part of the game.
Having said that, I’m in the minority & there is just too much money involved. The whole ref case in Spain doesn’t make it easier either.

Maybe football should adopt the NFL system. Ref has first say, the coaches can challenge & VAR can intervene. Would cut down on unnecessary cards for dissent as well.

@Fight_Teza_Fight Quite a few sports have challenges, cricket and tennis are big ones. I think the problem is maybe that football has less objectively right and wrong decisions other than offside?

@Fight_Teza_Fight The problem is that pretty much every rule in football, barring offside, is subjective. Offside is simple: you're either offside or you're onside. With things like the handball rule, as well as even when it comes to players receiving bookings, the subjectivity is what I think makes the decisions so inconsistent. One week there'll be a handball given by VAR, then the next week it'll be dismissed, even though they're incredibly similar incidents.

@nessisonett @KAIRU Yeah football has too many variables. At best you have guidelines & make a decision based on that- ‘following the law’ very rarely is the case. Couldn’t even tell you what a handball is nowadays.

LFC have said they’re going to escalate the situation so it’ll be interesting to see what comes from it.

@Fight_Teza_Fight Yeah, I feel like football's the only sport where the 'laws' of the game get interpreted differently every single week which, in turn, introduces the inconsistency.

I do believe that VAR can be changed mid-season which would see the semi-automatic system used at the World Cup be brought in — provided a minimum of fourteen teams vote in favour for it.

@Fight_Teza_Fight Public tarring and feathering of referees? I dunno what can really come of it at all. They obviously need to protect refs cause they do come in for a load of abuse but the refs also need to stop making incredibly blatant mistakes.

@nessisonett Supposedly the ref & the assistant where refereeing a match in SA less than 48 hours prior. That’s probably something they should be looking at.

The thing is that thois isn't a 'single' persons error - like the Referree not seeing an incident or mistakenly booking the 'wrong' player, this was a 'team' of officials - from the Linesman who incorrectly put their Flag up despite the fact that they are 'supposed' to wait and let play 'continue' - especially on tight decisions, to the VAR and Assistant VAR.

The fact that that a couple were in the UAE and you have teams like Man City owned by Saudi's, even if there is 'no' connection, it doesn't look good.

The point of VAR was to eradicate Human Error. Goal Line Technology is used to ensure the 'whole' ball crosses the line because too many were either missed or incorrectly given as Goals. Offside too is so Black & White in the rule book that again its hard to argue if a player is given 'offside' by an Armpit.

Yes there are some Subjective elements but again, if you have a 'team' of Officials, there is more chance of Consistency because you have a 'collective' discussion - all it takes is for someone to say well we did/didn't give that one and this is very similar. Therefore over time, it becomes far more Consistent - although the 'ref' on field will still make mistakes. I do think that they should communicate more with VAR, treat them the same as the 'on-field' referees as part of the same team. You'll see Linesmen attract the attention or tell the Ref they've missed something so why can't VAR officials too. VAR should and can tell the Ref they want him to 'wait' and/or need to go over to a monitor to take a second look at something the on field officials missed - inc Linesmen...