Match Officials Mic'd Up (Show where reffing decisions are explained)
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
Sounds dull as dishwater. I miss the days when you didn't have to watch refs defending their pals on TV. If Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor move into the studio after retirement I might have to stop watching the sport altogether.
They should just make a You've Been Framed style show featuring all the refereeing and VAR mistakes from the weekend and stick it on after Match of the Day. Feels more appropriate given the level these guys operate at.
They should just make a You've Been Framed style show featuring all the refereeing and VAR mistakes from the weekend and stick it on after Match of the Day. Feels more appropriate given the level these guys operate at.
He’s actually presenting it.
We should mic up Anthony Taylor 24/7 just to be certain. Or throw him into a burning building.
I don’t get this explanation me. I thought the VAR thoughts on Onana was fine and Webb disagrees. At the end of the day it’s his opinion.
Ref got the VVD red spot on.
Every VAR call should be explained and there should be transparency around the decisions, else it can be just as corrupt as the system it replaced.
if this is a first step then its fine by me.
if this is a first step then its fine by me.
Just glossed over the Garnacho offside didn’t even mention Hojlund foul 
Just watched this. Seriously if this is representative of how VAR decisions are made it’s no wonder the state of refereeing is so poor. Most of the discussions are matters of opinion. So you’re simple replacing one opinion with another - or three. VAR should be used to establish matters of fact - otherwise you’re just adding more confusion without the context of actually being the referee of the game. The whole set up is a joke and Howard Webb should be replaced by someone more competent.
Listening to the Havertz one the whole thing is a bit of a farce really.
Taylor is even asking VAR ‘is there contact?’ Immediately after the decision. That suggests he had no idea and gave the decision without certainty. Basically he guessed then clearly told everyone don’t worry if I’m wrong they’ll overturn it.
To top it off you then hear the whining voice of Jarred Gillett telling Taylor to go to the screen and explaining there’s no contact. Begs the question why send him to the screen and why dress it up as anything other than the VAR making the decision?
The whole process is ridiculous.
Taylor is even asking VAR ‘is there contact?’ Immediately after the decision. That suggests he had no idea and gave the decision without certainty. Basically he guessed then clearly told everyone don’t worry if I’m wrong they’ll overturn it.
To top it off you then hear the whining voice of Jarred Gillett telling Taylor to go to the screen and explaining there’s no contact. Begs the question why send him to the screen and why dress it up as anything other than the VAR making the decision?
The whole process is ridiculous.
It is but I imagine it's a situation where the on field ref has to pretend because they don't want all the stoppages in play that would follow if they were more honest, and ergo hesitant, about their decisions.
Maybe the next step for VAR is them accepting the red can't possibly see everything effectively from their vantage point and being open about needing cameras to determine things.
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Yeah it does highlight how bad the decision was from Taylor when he's asking about contact, but in real time it looked like a definite pen.
Overall, I think the viewing experience would be much better if we could hear that in-game.
Surely though you don’t give something you aren’t sure of? If you get it wrong VAR will step in anyway.
I just don’t understand why Taylor gives a penalty when he admittedly isn’t sure if there’s contact.
Absolutely agree it should be fully transparent but they don’t want that really. They’d sooner hear it, triage it then release the decisions they want us to hear.
No that’s how it should be.
How it actually is, thanks to the guise of “clear and obvious error”, is that you give the decision you want to give and unless it’s completely inexcusable VAR will go with your on field decision.
Yeah it makes no sense. They should always err on the side of caution and use VAR to determine these big decisions as a first priority. I assume they're reluctant because they don't want the refs to seem weak or something.
Which is obviously how this was always going to work, to anyone who ever watched an episode of Match of the Day. The notion that watching slo mo replays of an incident would always uncover the one, “true” version of events made zero sense when we see controversial opinions discussed every fecking weekend without any consensus from the pundits in the studio, no matter how many replays they watch. Look at the Hojlund penalty thread. People in there have watched the replays dozens of times and discussed every nuance over the last 48 hours and still can’t agree if it’s a penalty or not. And that’s without any of the time pressure the match officials are under, or the ridiculous situation where they hurriedly watch a few replays on an outdoor television.
Replacing Howard Webb won’t make any difference. The system was obviously doomed from the very start.
This is worryingly what it feels like yes
When listening to the audio all I’m left thinking is how weak Taylor sounds throughout to be honest.
I wonder did they go through the Ake goal? I'm imagining the VAR guys CTRL + F'ing the rulebook, eventually giving up and allowing the goal.
I’ve previously suggested that there should be audio from the VAR room (or whatever the feck it is) so fans know exactly what the process is when coming to a decision. Same like cricket and DRS.
I remember when Mike Riley was mic’d up and Tony Adams ran past him and called him a “cheat!” 
There’s two other things that stand out for me.
The VAR official calls Taylor “Tayles”. Far too familiar. They’re supposed to be professionals.
When VAR confirm the decision is to go to the monitor, Taylor looks deflated in a “great cheers for showing me up lads” sort of way.
Why is there such shame amongst these referees for getting decisions wrong on the field? It’s a 200mph game these days, accept the technology and make sure every decision is correct with a bit of humility.
The VAR official calls Taylor “Tayles”. Far too familiar. They’re supposed to be professionals.
When VAR confirm the decision is to go to the monitor, Taylor looks deflated in a “great cheers for showing me up lads” sort of way.
Why is there such shame amongst these referees for getting decisions wrong on the field? It’s a 200mph game these days, accept the technology and make sure every decision is correct with a bit of humility.
I’m fairly sure in the very first interview between Webb, Neville and Carragher that Neville asked this same question. Webb told him that at the moment they were not allowed to play live feed of the audio during the games.
I can’t remember the name of the international governing body who makes the rules but Webb was saying at the moment the Premier League has no choice.
Edit: It’s the international board at FIFA that doesn’t allow it.
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They are full of their own self importance.
You only have to listen to Mike Dean trying to justify himself on Soccer Saturday the other week. Arrogant, pompous and lacking any self awareness.
My thoughts would be the whole culture needs to change behind the scenes as it’s an old boys club living in the past.
With the Rugby World Cup starting on Friday, I swear everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) need to have a look at how mic'd refs over there work to insure full transparency both to the crowd and to the television viewers out there.
To put it mildly for PGMOL and the others across FIFA: Watch and fecking learn.
To put it mildly for PGMOL and the others across FIFA: Watch and fecking learn.
It's a weak process. Step 1 should be to check for offside. Step 2 determine if there is adverse contact. Step 3 assess who initiated contact. Step 4 determine if it is a penalty and card, simulation and card or a non fault coming together.
This absolutely.
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where is the VAR footage of Romero alleged handball incident and Højlund being *hacked* down? PGMOL is simply choosing the footage which would be less controversial or favored to them to be revealed.
Actually makes sense.
No, as a former ref, I think the handling of
The situation makes very good sense.
Any idea that a ref should be 100% certain to make a call is wrong and devoidof realism. For an intelligent ref, there will always be areas of doubt. You must judge on what you see, but you still know your perception is fallible.
In the situation, there is three possible sources of contact - Casemiro, Bissaka and Havertz himself. What we see is that there is actual contact, and that WBissaka sticks his foot out, but the contact is a tenth of a second after he sticks his foot out, when it is now upright. If there is contact when Bissaka sticks his foot out, it’s a clear pen, but video shows there isn’t. Then, in a tenth of a second, Havertz’ foot drifts to the left ever so slightly at this point. That’s a contact, but not a penalty, in my opinion.
I thought it was a penalty at first watch, possibly a soft one, couldn’t be sure. I can almost guarantee that from the referees position, you and me both would have awarded the penalty.
It is obvious that the ref must watch it himself. VAR deems it definitely not a pen, but that diesn’t mean it could not be viewed otherwise, and the ref was there, and should have the final call. He has double the info: Live experience plus video footage.
In this case, the ref makes an understandable call, VAR has a better angle, tje decition in the end ends up the most correct one. It’s VAR how it’s supposed to work, and I hate VAR.
On the formality side, it exposes the weakness in the fact that close colleagues are supposed to control for each others. Even if they try to do an honest job, it is a suspect set up.
As for the body language interpretation and psychoanalysis/mind reading, I’m not convinced of your credentials
You don’t need credentials to read body language it’s just a human intuition. Watch the video and tell me you don’t come to the same conclusion.On the formality side, it exposes the weakness in the fact that close colleagues are supposed to control for each others. Even if they try to do an honest job, it is a suspect set up.
As for the body language interpretation and psychoanalysis/mind reading, I’m not convinced of your credentials
As Taylor is going over to have a look at the screen he says "Speak to me what I'm going to see when I get to the screen please". Erm why? The footage is there, so use your eyes and have the courage of your own convictions.
Just let the TV viewers hear the VAR decision as it happens - works perfectly in rugby and cricket
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This one shows it's not corruption like a lot of people claim
It's just ineptness.
I do find it weird how from the few incidents we've seen, the ref is talking to a player on field and at the same time the var is giving an explanation to the on field ref and they talk over each other.
I kinda don't blame Oliver for this one because he's reliant on his linesman and then var. But don't know if he makes the same decision if he sees it on monitor (assuming they don't do it for that type of decision anyway)
That was a shocking decision you can literally see the goal keeper stutter as he thought the ball was about to hit Akanji then dive to the ground as he jumped out of the way.
How can you be that stupid? Its that bloody obvious.
What doesnt help is the chaos of everyone shouting over each other and certainly adds to the pressure to rush out a decision, any decision it seems.