29-11-2023, 19:04
I must have watched Fulham's winning penalty award fifteen times and I still can't decide if Wilson was already going down, saw the leg coming out and dived over it, or genuinely caught the defender's leg and went down. Certainly the Wolves defender didn't see Wilson coming so there was no intentionality. The only possible intentionality was on Wilson's part.
The ref said no penalty. Only under pressure from a last-minute crowd and being sent to look at the screen by an officious VAR wonk did he change his mind.
The less said about last night's Newcastle decision the better. It showed the suspended VAR man did not even know the rules and that even a referee who had been excellent all match could be pressured into making a random decision.
VAR is nonsense because it can never ever be used in the Manchester League or the Highland League. The rules have to be applicable to the whole game at all levels and it is never going to be possible to measure offside to the centimetre in a game between two pub sides however skilled they are as footballers. Money has stolen the game and changed its rules so that only top professionals and big money matter. The rules have to be capable of being implemented by an honest referee doing his best, not a robot, and Mikel Arteta needs to be supplied with a vat of mardy tablets. Handball and offside now don't make sense.
The ref said no penalty. Only under pressure from a last-minute crowd and being sent to look at the screen by an officious VAR wonk did he change his mind.
The less said about last night's Newcastle decision the better. It showed the suspended VAR man did not even know the rules and that even a referee who had been excellent all match could be pressured into making a random decision.
VAR is nonsense because it can never ever be used in the Manchester League or the Highland League. The rules have to be applicable to the whole game at all levels and it is never going to be possible to measure offside to the centimetre in a game between two pub sides however skilled they are as footballers. Money has stolen the game and changed its rules so that only top professionals and big money matter. The rules have to be capable of being implemented by an honest referee doing his best, not a robot, and Mikel Arteta needs to be supplied with a vat of mardy tablets. Handball and offside now don't make sense.