Refs & VAR 2020/2021 Discussion

cyberman

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That was for the prem game yesterday
But what I mean is the lines arent used, its just for visual representation for the viewer if I remember correctly. Its why drawing lines across the tv criticism never made sense because the lines themselves arent important.
 

Foxbatt

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The WBA decision is utterly more ridiculous than the decision against us. why the feck did the linesman raise his flag if he is not sure? Let VAR decide it. As another OP said, the wind is going to blow a shirt mms offside and the goal to be ruled out? The FIFA should be sued for scamming millions of people.
 

Dookingham United

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VAR is the worst thing that happened to football.

Prior to VAR, some decisions went against you, some went in your favor, at the end of the day it evens itself out.

With VAR it is basically the same thing, nothing is conclusive or certain and like before VAR, everything depends on the daftness level of the ref.

VAR is shit. All it did was giving the refs more unnecessary power and increasing the shitshow level tenfold.
I agree completely. I think it is actually ruining our game all the way from the domestic league right through the European competitions. My biggest problem is that players used to try and game the system and dived, but you were dependent on a ref seeing that minimal contact, so a player had to decide if there was enough to fool someone standing 5 meters away in a split second, so they actually chose to stay on their feet from time to time. But now they are coached to go down with every bootlace that brushes against their shin-pad as a super slow motion picture shows fiber transfer between each players shorts!
(VAR is like my reply. Slow, hard to sit through, needless and could have been done way better.)
 

Robbo's Shoulder

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Whatever happened to clear and obvious?
Was never a fan of the introduction of var but could see the benefits on clear and obvious decisions. The way var has been implemented in this country (along with all the cheating and play acting) has sucked all the enjoyment out of the Premier league for me.
 

NinjaZombie

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I've had a lot of thought about the state of VAR these few days. I've also been bingeing on old highlights of 90s Prem, incidentally. Good times.

I supported having VAR before it was implemented for a major reason: I wanted diving and playacting to be punished. If the refs can see what we see on televisions, then surely cheats can be punished?

Instead, with the Son incident, what we've seen is the complete opposite.

feck off VAR.
 

georgipep

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The problems have nothing to do with VAR as tech and theory, and everything to do with refs interpretation of the rules. All can improve with proper training and increased quality control. However, the stance from FA and PGMOL that refs cannot be criticised or commented does not help. They do not want transparency and improvement. They want immunity and that is what's blocking progress here.
 

Pink Moon

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He saw Rashford get an arm to the chin 5 minutes before and waved it away
I can guarantee the ref never saw it or he would've gave it. And the reason VAR never intervened was because it was outside the box. Stupid as it may be but that's why.

How come so many neutral people disagree with you. Don’t be such a blinkered idiot. He’s barely touched him and he’s gone down like he’s been shot. Can you hand on heart say that’s what you enjoy watching, or that’s how the sport should play. I’d expect better from any football fan out there that thinks that should be a foul. Maybe people just haven’t played the game themselves.
Because people have and are entitled to have opinions? Crazy, right? No, I don't enjoy watching it, Son 100% exaggerated the contact. The difference is I don't take that into account when deciding whether or not I think it was a foul because it's irrelevant as to whether or not the action from McTominay was indeed a foul. Are you denying he hit him in the face? Talk about being blinkered. I won't call you an idiot, though, cause unlike some, I accept that you're entitled to an opposing view without being insulted for it.

You're having a mare this evening. The mask is slipping too much.

Log off.
What mask? Pointing out how hypocritical some people are being?

A mare = pointing out that Son was indeed hit in the face by a stray arm and that when referees sees this they do tend to give fouls. Pointing out way worse VAR decisions in the past that have gone your way in the face of people saying this incident was the straw that broke the camel's back for their enjoyment and continued watching of football. Who knew that's what constituted as a mare?

:lol:

Let's consult some more neutral folk than you... like actual fecking Spurs fans on the Fighting Cock:
Okay? Now post the Spurs fans that think it was a foul. Now post non Spurs fans that think it was a foul. Go on, do it.

Yeh, I was furious tbh but not because I didn't think it was necessarily a foul, its the inconsistency. We saw 2 very similar incidents prior to it that were not deemed fouls. Pogba on [Spurs player] and the one on Rashford.
The problem with the Rashford one was that it was just outside the box. Had it been a foot further up the pitch then VAR would definitely have intervened. Forearm smash someone outside a painted line? Nothing. Forearm smash someone inside a painted line? Take action. Such a stupid rule.

You're in about as an extreme minority as a person can be in a football discussion. Pretty much every pundit, ex player, even rival fans are in agreement on it. To call it a 'blatant standard foul' is such a strange stance to take.
Why is "strange" to claim it standard? When referees see someone throw their arm back to block off an opposing player and it smacks them in the face they tend to give free kicks. It's so standard in fact that two different referees both watched it happen and came to the same conclusion that it was indeed a foul...

Son's doing his best to foul McTominay, the only reason the incident occurred was because Son initiated the action by attempting to foul McTominay. It was a crazy decision because it's completely devoid of logic. If 99% of the world is saying it's a bad call then maybe it's a bad call?
All irrelevant. Doesn't matter why McTominay threw his arm back. Fact is he did and it made contact with an opposing player's face. Foul. Two different referees watched it and came to the same conclusion.
 

AltiUn

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I can guarantee the ref never saw it or he would've gave it. And the reason VAR never intervened was because it was outside the box. Stupid as it may be but that's why.



Because people have and are entitled to have opinions? Crazy, right? No, I don't enjoy watching it, Son 100% exaggerated the contact. The difference is I don't take that into account when deciding whether or not I think it was a foul because it's irrelevant as to whether or not the action from McTominay was indeed a foul. Are you denying he hit him in the face? Talk about being blinkered. I won't call you an idiot, though, cause unlike some, I accept that you're entitled to an opposing view without being insulted for it.



What mask? Pointing out how hypocritical some people are being?

A mare = pointing out that Son was indeed hit in the face by a stray arm and that when referees sees this they do tend to give fouls. Pointing out way worse VAR decisions in the past that have gone your way in the face of people saying this incident was the straw that broke the camel's back for their enjoyment and continued watching of football. Who knew that's what constituted as a mare?



Okay? Now post the Spurs fans that think it was a foul. Now post non Spurs fans that think it was a foul. Go on, do it.



The problem with the Rashford one was that it was just outside the box. Had it been a foot further up the pitch then VAR would definitely have intervened. Forearm smash someone outside a painted line? Nothing. Forearm smash someone inside a painted line? Take action. Such a stupid rule.



Why is "strange" to claim it standard? When referees see someone throw their arm back to block off an opposing player and it smacks them in the face they tend to give free kicks. It's so standard in fact that two different referees both watched it happen and came to the same conclusion that it was indeed a foul...



All irrelevant. Doesn't matter why McTominay threw his arm back. Fact is he did and it made contact with an opposing player's face. Foul. Two different referees watched it and came to the same conclusion.
It's not irrelevant though, you just don't like it because it counters your point. Take your blinkers off and view it with some objectivity, if that's possible for a poster like you.
 

TheReligion

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I can guarantee the ref never saw it or he would've gave it. And the reason VAR never intervened was because it was outside the box. Stupid as it may be but that's why.



Because people have and are entitled to have opinions? Crazy, right? No, I don't enjoy watching it, Son 100% exaggerated the contact. The difference is I don't take that into account when deciding whether or not I think it was a foul because it's irrelevant as to whether or not the action from McTominay was indeed a foul. Are you denying he hit him in the face? Talk about being blinkered. I won't call you an idiot, though, cause unlike some, I accept that you're entitled to an opposing view without being insulted for it.



What mask? Pointing out how hypocritical some people are being?

A mare = pointing out that Son was indeed hit in the face by a stray arm and that when referees sees this they do tend to give fouls. Pointing out way worse VAR decisions in the past that have gone your way in the face of people saying this incident was the straw that broke the camel's back for their enjoyment and continued watching of football. Who knew that's what constituted as a mare?



Okay? Now post the Spurs fans that think it was a foul. Now post non Spurs fans that think it was a foul. Go on, do it.



The problem with the Rashford one was that it was just outside the box. Had it been a foot further up the pitch then VAR would definitely have intervened. Forearm smash someone outside a painted line? Nothing. Forearm smash someone inside a painted line? Take action. Such a stupid rule.



Why is "strange" to claim it standard? When referees see someone throw their arm back to block off an opposing player and it smacks them in the face they tend to give free kicks. It's so standard in fact that two different referees both watched it happen and came to the same conclusion that it was indeed a foul...



All irrelevant. Doesn't matter why McTominay threw his arm back. Fact is he did and it made contact with an opposing player's face. Foul. Two different referees watched it and came to the same conclusion.
I will correct you.

No arm hit Son. It was a finger (tip).
 

Pink Moon

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It's not irrelevant though, you just don't like it because it counters your point. Take your blinkers off and view it with some objectivity, if that's possible for a poster like you.
It is irrelevant. It doesn't matter why McTominay threw his arm back.

I will correct you.

No arm hit Son. It was a finger (tip).
I'll correct you as well. It wasn't a fingertip.
 

AltiUn

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It is irrelevant. It doesn't matter why McTominay threw his arm back.



I'll correct you as well. It wasn't a fingertip.
It is irrelevant because Son committed a foul first which takes precedence.
 

Pink Moon

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His fingers by the looks of it.

Either way it wasn't his arm as you suggested.
Yeah, it's his fingers that you can clearly see beyond Son's face...

I don't think it really matters what area it was that hit him. That's classic deflection. It's clearly a foul and it's hilarious you can look at that image and still argue against it.
 

Zlatan 7

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Yeah, it's his fingers that you can clearly see beyond Son's face...

I don't think it really matters what area it was that hit him. That's classic deflection. It's clearly a foul and it's hilarious you can look at that image and still argue against it.
That picture doesn’t show any contact, I think the side of his hand (little finger) is still a mm or two from contact, may just have minutely flicked his face before removing his arm, the picture doesn’t show which direction his arm is moving, basically your picture is not proving any point for you
 

TheReligion

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Yeah, it's his fingers that you can clearly see beyond Son's face...

I don't think it really matters what area it was that hit him. That's classic deflection. It's clearly a foul and it's hilarious you can look at that image and still argue against it.
I prefer correct and accurate information. One could suggest you were deliberately being misleading suggesting he had been struck by an arm. Sounds much more sensational doesn't it?

The Sun would be proud.
 

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That picture doesn’t show any contact, I think the side of his hand (little finger) is still a mm or two from contact, may just have minutely flicked his face before removing his arm, the picture doesn’t show which direction his arm is moving, basically your picture is not proving any point for you
Okay.

We're kinda nearing 'no contact at all' territory now which is alarming.
 

Pink Moon

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I prefer correct and accurate information. One could suggest you were deliberately being misleading suggesting he had been struck by an arm. Sounds much more sensational doesn't it?

The Sun would be proud.
Not really. I misspoke. I'm getting quoted in another thread where I described it as a "slap" which would be much more accurate. It happens.
 

TheReligion

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That picture doesn’t show any contact, I think the side of his hand (little finger) is still a mm or two from contact, may just have minutely flicked his face before removing his arm, the picture doesn’t show which direction his arm is moving, basically your picture is not proving any point for you
Exactly. Although it does prove my point that Son wasn't struck by Mctominays arm as @Pink Moon stated.
 

limerickcitykid

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Toronto FC robbed of a clear onside goal in the Concacaf Champions League.

Thankfully no big bad VAR to correct the decision. Would have ruined my emotions of having a goal wrongly called offside. Phew glad we got that.
 

UweBein

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That picture doesn’t show any contact, I think the side of his hand (little finger) is still a mm or two from contact, may just have minutely flicked his face before removing his arm, the picture doesn’t show which direction his arm is moving, basically your picture is not proving any point for you
:lol: Nice one.

What do you guys say about City's penalty against Dortmund? I mean I was against Dortmund, so I got no issues with them losing, but why did VAR did not overturn turn this clear mistake. You got to ask yourself what are the video referees actually doing during the game.
 

Mb194dc

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:lol: Nice one.

What do you guys say about City's penalty against Dortmund? I mean I was against Dortmund, so I got no issues with them losing, but why did VAR did not overturn turn this clear mistake. You got to ask yourself what are the video referees actually doing during the game.
Think it was a mistake by VAR. They considered Can's arm to be in an unnatural position, hence handball, so they didn't ask the referee to review it.... They ignore the fact that his arm could pretty much only be in that position because he was stooping down to head the ball, from that header the ball deflected on to the top of his arm.

Had he blocked the ball with his arm in this position without heading it, for me it would then quite clearly be a penalty.

It's the fact he plays the ball in a natural way, I don't see how anyone could expect his arms to be somewhere else here when he heads the ball like that?


Maybe the referees have guidance about such a situation. ?

For me it's quite obviously a mistake.
 

adexkola

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:lol: Nice one.

What do you guys say about City's penalty against Dortmund? I mean I was against Dortmund, so I got no issues with them losing, but why did VAR did not overturn turn this clear mistake. You got to ask yourself what are the video referees actually doing during the game.
Can's hand was in an unnatural position. If his arm was by his side and the ball ricochets on it then fair enough.
 

Mb194dc

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You can see the confusion by looking at this Rojo VAR review from the 2018 world cup which wasn't given as a penalty:


Rojo jumping for the ball which can't do with his hands by his sides, heads ball on to his own arm , they considered his arms to be in a natural position so no penalty.
 

UncleBob

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Can's hand was in an unnatural position. If his arm was by his side and the ball ricochets on it then fair enough.
Arm/hand position in relation to players body movement, so it's hardly an unnatural position. His arm movement is a result of his body movement, it's not a result of him trying to make himself bigger. It's poor judgement, imo.

Overall, decisions have been surprisingly shit given the tools the refs have available. Like the absolutely mental decision to blow for a free kick against Bellingham when the ball was about to roll into the open net against Manchester City last week. It's just complete shambles, if he thinks it's a freekick then let the ball roll in, signal for a freekick and tell VAR what you think happened and it should be sorted out with the goal being allowed. Removing the option for VAR to intervene in situations like that is so fecking stupid....
 

sullydnl

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Think it was a mistake by VAR. They considered Can's arm to be in an unnatural position, hence handball, so they didn't ask the referee to review it.... They ignore the fact that his arm could pretty much only be in that position because he was stooping down to head the ball, from that header the ball deflected on to the top of his arm.

Had he blocked the ball with his arm in this position without heading it, for me it would then quite clearly be a penalty.

It's the fact he plays the ball in a natural way, I don't see how anyone could expect his arms to be somewhere else here when he heads the ball like that?


Maybe the referees have guidance about such a situation. ?

For me it's quite obviously a mistake.
That's not really the way "unnatural position" works.

We've seen plenty of instances where the player's arm is in a position that we might consider natural for their movement but is deemed to be in an unnatural position because it is making their body bigger beyond the silhouette of the body.

If you stick your arm out and away from the body in the way Can does, whether it feels like a natural part of your movement of not, it's likely to be deemed that you're making your body unnaturally bigger.

Also worth bearing in mind the referee had already given the penalty, so VAR had to decide whether he made a mistake. There's no way you could call that a mistake on the ref's part as it's entirely in line with how handballs are judged. Other refs might have come to a different conclusion (because it's subjective) but this ref's decision wasn't actively wrong.

It doesn't help that the handball law is a mess, mind.
 
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UweBein

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Can's hand was in an unnatural position. If his arm was by his side and the ball ricochets on it then fair enough.
No.... the rule is that because he heads it and it hits his arm after that, it's not a penalty. Nothing to do with an unnatural position or not.
 

UweBein

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That's not really the way "unnatural position" works.

We've seen plenty of instances where the player's arm is in a position that we might consider natural for their movement but is deemed to be in an unnatural position because it is making their body bigger beyond the silhouette of the body.

If you stick your hand out in the way Can does, whether it feels like a natural part of your movement of not, it's likely to be deemed that you're making your body unnaturally bigger.

Also worth bearing in mind the referee had already given the penalty, so VAR had to decide whether he made a mistake. There's no way you could call that a mistake on the ref's part as it's entirely in line with how handballs are judged. Other refs might have come to a different conclusion (because it's subjective) but this ref's decision wasn't actively wrong.

It doesn't help that the handball law is a mess, mind.
It's not, there is a specific rule for headers and subsequent arm contact - it's never a penalty.
"There will be no penalty if: the ball touches a player's hand/arm immediately from their own head/body/foot or the head/body/foot of another player."
 

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Just came here to say: the game's gone.

I still play footy most days with my mates down at the park and I have to say we routinely find the professional VAR rules to be more and more disconnected from the games we play in the park without use of technology. Handball, we're pretty strict on as we give every little touch of the hand and arm as a handball, but the physical battles I'm more and more baffled by. Why are the refs so damn intent on taking any kind of contact out of the sport? Who made the decision that every brush of the hand in the face was a foul? Who decided that every contact regardless of force or pressure "should" be a foul and the player "should" go down to emphasize that?

Its' all the referees. Why are referees this protected species that must never ever be questioned? They're the least important part in a game of football. You don't play in the playground with the refs do you? That ensures the rules remain balanced as both teams are negotiating them in the game while playing. I think that negotiation is what keeps the rules grounded and sensible and we need to bring an element of that negotiation to the professional game ASAP. We have to have some sort of feedback mechanism where the referees are answerable to the ordinary fans, just like players and managers are.

Someone please explain to me why we shouldn't or cannot have, say, a referees' press conference after every game where the referee has to justify their decisions.

Also, and this is the first and the easiest thing to do, we should absolutely be able to hear the communications between the referee and VAR on the live broadcast.

Until and unless this problem of the Referee Supremacy is dealt with, the game is definitely gone, if not yet then imminently.

PS: An additional nugget of thought I had - if your rules need a referee to enforce, the rules are shit. That's hyperbole of course but I think there is a kernel of truth in there.
 
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sullydnl

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It's not, there is a specific rule for headers and subsequent arm contact - it's never a penalty.
"There will be no penalty if: the ball touches a player's hand/arm immediately from their own head/body/foot or the head/body/foot of another player."
Nope, it is.

Here's the rules:



Key line there is "Except for the above offences". Everything above that overrides everything below.

In this instance we're looking at the "touches the ball with their hand/arm when:" section above that line, which lays out that it's an offence if the player touches the ball with his hand/arm when they're making the body unnaturally bigger.

You'll also note it says it wouldn't be an offence if he had deliberately played the ball only for it to hit his hand/arm, but that only applies to when his hand/arm is above shoulder height. In this case the ref would have judged it to be at the player's waist, so the hand making the body unnaturally bigger is what matters.
 
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roonster09

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:lol: Nice one.

What do you guys say about City's penalty against Dortmund? I mean I was against Dortmund, so I got no issues with them losing, but why did VAR did not overturn turn this clear mistake. You got to ask yourself what are the video referees actually doing during the game.
Dortmund were robbed in this tie. Bellingham's goal was ruled out for no reason at all, ref couldn't wait to blow the whistle when he could have waited for VAR to check (like every other ref does) and then bs call for penalty. Can headed the ball first, it shouldn't be penalty.
 

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Dortmund were robbed in this tie. Bellingham's goal was ruled out for no reason at all, ref couldn't wait to blow the whistle when he could have waited for VAR to check (like every other ref does) and then bs call for penalty. Can headed the ball first, it shouldn't be penalty.
Pretty much.

For me that Rojo call is how defensive handball is meant to work if ball deflects on to the arm from a natural play of the ball, Dale Johnson has good thread on it. Principle of handball:


Worth noting IFAB haven't actually changed the law recently, they've tried to clarify it by putting referee guidelines in the laws. They've obviously failed to make it clearer. Next season will be back to the referee judgement more.
 

UweBein

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Nope, it is.

Here's the rules:



Key line there is "Except for the above offences". Everything above that overrides everything below.

In this instance we're looking at the "touches the ball with their hand/arm when:" section above that line, which lays out that it's an offence if the player touches the ball with his hand/arm when they're making the body unnaturally bigger.

You'll also note it says it wouldn't be an offence if he had deliberately played the ball only for it to hit his hand/arm, but that only applies to when his hand/arm is above shoulder height. In this case the ref would have judged it to be at the player's waist, so the hand making the body unnaturally bigger is what matters.
Your quote seems to focus on offensive actions. Can was in defence though.
 

UweBein

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So I can raise my hands above my head and it's not a hand ball as long as it touches my head first?
As far as I understand it, it's an offence in attack but not in defence.
 

Mb194dc

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As far as I understand it, it's an offence in attack but not in defence.
It's subjective, it depends if your arm is considered to be in a natural position or not when the ball hits it after hitting your head (or foot).

So as an extreme example if you star jump to block a shot and ball deflects off your foot or head to your arm a penality will be given. You've made your body bigger to block the ball in an unnatural way.