It Could Get A Bit Messi In Here - The Football Thread.

Joe Mac said:
Yeah I’m not sure I agree. To me it’s referees without a feel for the game making decisions of moments rather than events.

For example last week the centre half clears the ball and his follow through means his studs catch a charging player of the leg. You an I know that you can’t clear a ball the length of the pitch without a follow through and that if you slide to block it’s your risk and you’re responsible for the contact. The VAR referee only focused on the studs hitting the charging players leg which is a nonsense. Had they focused on the clearance and the slide and then the contact it’s not even a free kick.

Tonight big defender takes a bad touch. Vardy sees this charges. Big defender gets his toe to it and pokes it back to keeper. Vardy arrived a fraction late and goes over the leg. Again the focus is only on Vardy going over the leg. That’s a risk you take if you close down. Once the defender gets there first and doesn’t go through him how is it even a foul.

What I’m seeing watching games isn’t just bad directives and odd VAR calls but also a standard of referee that doesn’t seem to be able to judge the flow of a football match. I’ve never seen refereeing of as poor a standard as over the last season. I’m not letting them hide behind directives, even if some of them have been odd.
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To me, what's most disturbing is the fact that the VAR ref is siding with the on field refs decision in these cases. These were blatant errors which VAR is supposed to be there for to overturn.
 
Englishbob said:
To me, what's most disturbing is the fact that the VAR ref is siding with the on field refs decision in these cases. These were blatant errors which VAR is supposed to be there for to overturn.
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Again I think the referees don’t understand the game, they just swallow a rule book. They look at microcosms and when you see the retired ones on tele they are using language that’s almost legalese when describing incidents. There doesn’t appear to be a feel for what fans see or players seem understand.

The incident in the West Ham game last weekend was the VAR refs call but when he plays the replay to the on field ref on the little screen only the point of the contact from various angles is shown, it should have been a longer clip of the whole incident. I’m still absolutely flabbergasted that they sent a player off for kicking the ball!

Where I let the refs off is how insane offside has got or the mad handball interpretations. That’s clearly directives.

It’s got to a stage now where VAR just has to go and they need to replace Mike Reilly as the head of refereeing.
 
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mdmost said:
The Glazers yesterday- “ah give it a week. Those United fans will move onto something else and we’ll be in the clear”.
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The fact that Ed Woodward resigned was probably fuel to the fire for fan protests. The fact that that happened makes fans think they have the power for change (they do). If Woodward was going to leave his post at the end of the season he should have stayed on until the end of the season.
 
mdmost said:
Well, no match today I guess. I mean, that's one way to get the owners to hear you.
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Its brilliant. Maximum disruption and the potential to hit them in the pockets. The only way the Glazers will listen is if they get hit in the pocket. Otherwise they’ll just hide out in Florida and keep sticking the card in the MUFC ATM. It’s a pity Florida is so far away, I’d be all for hitting their NFL Tampa side hard as hell with protests and disruption too.
 
Seems the match will go on today but delayed for a while as the teams are still at their hotels. Probably a better idea to just reschedule it. If you have an amped up crowd with little police support, it's a recipe for disaster.
 
Keane is playing a blinder here on tv.

Sly and the other pundits are trying to turn the blame back on the fans and he’s having absolutely none of it! The fans have had enough, they need applauding and I find it hard to criticise them.

Souness is a disgrace. Speculating without any evidence and generally being an angry old man.
 
Joe Mac said:
Keane is playing a blinder here on tv.

Sly and the other pundits are trying to turn the blame back on the fans and he’s having absolutely none of it! The fans have had enough, they need applauding and I find it hard to criticise them.

Souness is a disgrace. Speculating without any evidence and being an angry old man.
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Everyone and their uncle making this same joke on Twitter but it’s funny nonetheless

 
Game postponed. RIP FPL teams around the globe.
My rival in the work mini league has had a mare this week. Rudiger, Azpi, Holding, Bruno, Jota, Shaw, Salah all on 0.

Still, not as bad as this team:

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tvham said:
So VAR is good for telling you that someone is offside by a finger nail but not when someone has their face stomped on. Got it.
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The offside review for VAR really needs to be changed. Personally I think it should be where your feet are. If your feet are behind the defender it shouldn’t matter where your armpit is. By the nature of most plays the attacker will be leaning forward into the run.

I would have it like NFL catches where the receiver’s body can be out of the field but the if the feet are down inbounds then it’s a catch.
 
Skacel said:
The offside review for VAR really needs to be changed. Personally I think it should be where your feet are. If your feet are behind the defender it shouldn’t matter where your armpit is. By the nature of most plays the attacker will be leaning forward into the run.

I would have it like NFL catches where the receiver’s body can be out of the field but the if the feet are down inbounds then it’s a catch.
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When it was by the eye before the VAR there used to be a rule of thumb for Linesmen that they had to see clear daylight before they could be sure it was an offside. Why not make that the rule properly, the advantage should be with the attacker anyway.
 
Joe Mac said:
When it was by the eye before the VAR there used to be a rule of thumb for Linesmen that they had to see clear daylight before they could be sure it was an offside. Why not make that the rule properly, the advantage should be with the attacker anyway.
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Agree with this completely- always err on the side of the attacker.
 
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