Nah I disagree. The quality of refereeing is so poor now that we need to embrace technology. The goal line technology works and the automated offsides also seem to be working well. I think the PGMOL want VAR to fail because they can see the technology replacing them in the future. The problem with VAR is not the technology, it’s the idiots that administer it.
2 Likes
The application of technology is poor as fuck as refereeing
1 Like
Correct.
Technology has not made it any better outside of the objective decisions. I did not say remove technology from the game, only VAR. VAR has yesterday turned a correct decision from the Ref into a wrong one.
Rather than paying officials to fuck up even more from a room in Stockley, put the money to training and bringing in qualified refs from abroad.
3 Likes
Dermot doing analysis of decisions over the weekend. On Saka pen, he waffles and hides behind: “The interesting thing is, people say they want ex-players as VAR and four pundits that were covering the game with me on Saturday - all ex-England internationals with 122 caps between them - and the vote was 2-2.”
Well Dermot, if that is the case, then it cannot be clear and obvious, so why the fuck was the ref called over to the monitor!? They cannot just come out and say “we fucked up! this is what we will implement to try improve in the future!”…corrupt establishment.
3 Likes
Liverpool getting stung again and then the ref allowing United to play on when their own player is down with a head injury - this leads to a corner and Maguire’s goal.
Bloody lovely.
The head injury rule is starting to unravel. The amount of players going down clutching their heads is on the rise. So when an actual head injury happens, like yesterday, referees are playing on for a few seconds to see whether the player;
A) Rolls around, shouting for a free kick or
B) Lies there clearly in a bad way.
What’s your take as a former ref on just allowing the physios on without the need for the game to stop?
I think (but also could be in my imagination), when it is a serious injury, players nearby tend to show instant concern
1 Like
I honestly don’t see the problem with playing on until that phase of play has ended if it’s a counter attack, so long as the play isn’t in the vicinity of the injured player.
I’m no doctor but it’s hard to imagine a scenario where the medicos attending a player 10-15 seconds later makes a difference.
If players stopped feigning injury, it’d make it a lot easier for referees to know when to stop play or not.
Yup. It’s a tough one because it’s so easy to use plausible deniability and regulating it is difficult without risking looking like injuries are not being taken seriously.
Josh King shouldn’t be coming back on within 30 seconds like he did against us if his ‘injury’ is serious enough to stop the game while we are on the counter.
I wonder how a green card system might look in football. They are currently using it in the Super League (rugby league):
2 Likes
My take is, if someone more qualified than me to spot a life-threatening injury runs on the pitch to administer urgent first aid, I’m perfectly comfortable with and grateful for such an intervention. If, like with the Man Utd goal, it’s not interfering with play then that’s even better, if Liverpool had defended the attack and that was me in the middle, I would have stopped play. I’d like to think that’s what Hooper was doing too.
Quite how we allow that in terms of the rules of the game without it being abused is the big problem. Maybe the answer in the EPL is to ensure that the league has an independent doctor/physio stood with the 4th official to over-ride the on-field officials in such situations. The EPL can afford that. But further down the leagues, it’s a little harder to rule on. Though lower league players are less likely to fake a serious injury, in my experience.
1 Like
It’s fine as it is.
Refs will get it wrong occasionally. Most of the time it’s handled well.
I feel like it would’ve been unfair to United to stop play considering it was a Liverpool player that injured his own teammate. It would have stopped a counterattack opportunity and would incentivize players to continue going down holding their head when there’s a dangerous attack on.
2 Likes
Same here, we’re talking 10 seconds. If the play is going nowhere it’s fine to blow-up. I tend to remember something a fireman said to me back in the day about serious injuries in train crashes, it’s the ones who aren’t screaming or moving that you need to go to first as they’re most likely to have life-threatening injuries. It’s the same when a footballer goes down. It was that scenario I was thinking of when saying I’d have no problem with the medical staff running on while play continues.
A referee should be paying enough attention to make the right call though, so it probably doesn’t need a rule change.
Does the rule give the ref discretion? I thought it’s a hard and fast, head = stop.
Believe it or not the rules don’t say, it really is at his/her decision.
However the referee’s first job is to ensure the safety of the players, so you’d hope that is first and foremost in their minds.
I think we should allow the side ref (or the 4th) to rush on the field to notify the chief ref in case he did not notice the incident.
Lol this would be fucking insane.
1 Like
nothing more important than protecting player(s) that has head injury.
already has 23 people on the field, people may not even recognize there is an extra man out there.
1 Like