Blackburn player got bit by a Preston player this weekend, right infront of the linesman. Showed the ref the bite, still nothing given. 

We might get annoyed with VAR and we might hate how its used, but its easy to forget the absolute howlers that used to go unpunished before it came in. 

It'll never be perfect.

You won't find a West Ham fan who isn't convinced they should have had a penalty.

And Chelsea fans will say it was never a penalty.

Let's face it , the ref is always 100% right if he gives a dodgy decision against our opponents.

And he's spot on if he gives it in our favour.

We need to believe every ref is against us, every ref is trying to help our rivals, there's a worldwide conspiracy against us. All that would go if we got perfection in decisions .

 

13 hours ago, Bluelion7 said:

This, this exactly. Referees in England are stars for some reason. I always hear about how “Webb is going to cover for them so it doesn’t look like they’re being called out.”

They are referees. The fact that everyone knows their names is problem number one. In America, being man NFL ref, for example, isn’t even really a full time job. By the people that do it, it is considered a privilege. You would NEVER have clue they supported a particular team. They get graded for performance after each game. Crews that have grades that fall below a certain level are Suspended, and then out if it continues.

The fact that teams like Chelsea can be openly targeted by certain officials, and that one one of the mildest Chelsea teams ever can set the all time season yellow card record, is insane.

I thought the referee for the West Ham game did a very good job of keeping things fair, protecting player safety, and letting the game flow. You know how I know he did a good job? Because I don’t remember his name name or even what he looked like.

VAR is just a tool. PGMOL running refs like a corrupt union is a MUCH bigger issue.

VAR is part of that problem. 

We fixate on the decisions. They have to be perfect. If they aren't perfect, we talk and talk and talk about it. 

Its stupid. 

Fofana did just about enough to not foul the West Ham player. He took a risk. It came off. On another day it doesn't.

99% of "incorrect" decisions come down to that balance. If you don't want "mistakes" then don't give them the opportunity to happen, don't take risks.

And now I have to sit and watch people pore over every angle of a foul for minutes to make that call. When I'd rather we just let the guy in the middle make it and we all move on. 

I posted this in the match thread, where perhaps it s more relevant here:

Mike Wedderburn on SSN. "Come back after the break as we go through a weekend of controversial refereeing decisions, including why West Ham were denied a penalty against Chelsea".

So Gibbs White being sent off for a supposed second booking, when winning the ball. Not the main talking point, no?

Nuno being sent off, along with Fabian Hurzeler in the same game in a bust up with refs. Not the main talking point, no?

Haaland throwing the ball at Gabriel's head ignored. Not the main talking point, no?

Doku kicking the ball away unpunished. Not the main talking point, no?

Trossard then sent off for kicking the ball away. Not the main talking point, no?

 

No, of course not, Fofana keeping a hand on Summerville whilst he ran in the box. Yeah, that's the most criminal piece of refereeing over the weekend isn't it.

2 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

It'll never be perfect.

You won't find a West Ham fan who isn't convinced they should have had a penalty.

And Chelsea fans will say it was never a penalty.

Let's face it , the ref is always 100% right if he gives a dodgy decision against our opponents.

And he's spot on if he gives it in our favour.

We need to believe every ref is against us, every ref is trying to help our rivals, there's a worldwide conspiracy against us. All that would go if we got perfection in decisions .

 

Personally I’d have been upset if we hadn’t been given that decision. We got away with that one, we take it and move on. Next week it may even itself up. 

26 minutes ago, charierre said:

Personally I’d have been upset if we hadn’t been given that decision. We got away with that one, we take it and move on. Next week it may even itself up. 

I agree. I'll take any decision that goes our way, even the ones that are wrong .

Football isn't perfect, from tactics , team selection, players making mistakes etc etc. refs decision are part of it too, especially with players diving, acting and cheating as part of the game too.

 

 

 

 

 

56 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

I posted this in the match thread, where perhaps it s more relevant here:

Mike Wedderburn on SSN. "Come back after the break as we go through a weekend of controversial refereeing decisions, including why West Ham were denied a penalty against Chelsea".

So Gibbs White being sent off for a supposed second booking, when winning the ball. Not the main talking point, no?

Nuno being sent off, along with Fabian Hurzeler in the same game in a bust up with refs. Not the main talking point, no?

Haaland throwing the ball at Gabriel's head ignored. Not the main talking point, no?

Doku kicking the ball away unpunished. Not the main talking point, no?

Trossard then sent off for kicking the ball away. Not the main talking point, no?

 

No, of course not, Fofana keeping a hand on Summerville whilst he ran in the box. Yeah, that's the most criminal piece of refereeing over the weekend isn't it.

 It makes up for the deliberate handball penalty we were denied a few years ago at their gaff.

7 hours ago, charierre said:

Personally I’d have been upset if we hadn’t been given that decision. We got away with that one, we take it and move on. Next week it may even itself up. 

This, it wasn't 100% pen. So sticking with on field decision was correct but it was more of a pen than not. 

We just got lucky with that one. Next. 

8 hours ago, bisright1 said:

VAR is part of that problem. 

We fixate on the decisions. They have to be perfect. If they aren't perfect, we talk and talk and talk about it. 

Its stupid. 

Fofana did just about enough to not foul the West Ham player. He took a risk. It came off. On another day it doesn't.

99% of "incorrect" decisions come down to that balance. If you don't want "mistakes" then don't give them the opportunity to happen, don't take risks.

And now I have to sit and watch people pore over every angle of a foul for minutes to make that call. When I'd rather we just let the guy in the middle make it and we all move on. 

VAR problem is how it is being used. The idea with VAR is to use them for 90/10 call but so many times it is used to make 50-50 decision which is not what we want. 

The funny part with VAR discussion is that most of the big discussion is irrelevant. Liverpool case was a simple mistake, a simple procedural fix, solve that. 

Newcastle goal vs arse was also ref/var decision, it is up to him, so not a big deal. 

But I saw united vs city a couple seasons ago when bruno scored 100% offside goal yet there wasn't big discussion. 

Edited September 24, 20241 yr by Bob stark

The more interesting talk about ref is arsenal corner routine. 

Ref need to decide what is allowed or not allowed for set pieces. If intentionally blocking gk is allowed then all team should do it. That give you massive advantage. 

VAR is rubbish.

VAR shouldn't be rubbish. 

We got lucky against west ham. Fofana grabbing their player should have been a foul - as the rules of the game do not allow for a defending player, to grab and hold on to an attacking player. 

There is no ambiguity here - it was not subjective. It was not grey. It was not 50/50. It was simply a bad decision by the ref, which was then followed by a bad decision by VAR. At the very least, the ref should be going to the screen to have a look.

Until refs, and VAR start getting these calls right - we should continue calling out how useless they are. I actually think we and the media don't go far enough. 

In this case - it benefited us. But so many times we get screwed - and it is unacceptable.

 

 

44 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

The more interesting talk about ref is arsenal corner routine. 

Ref need to decide what is allowed or not allowed for set pieces. If intentionally blocking gk is allowed then all team should do it. That give you massive advantage. 

That should have been a foul as well. Goalie was blocked intentionally, and had zero chance of getting to the ball because he was brought down by arsenal players. 

14 hours ago, Bob stark said:

VAR problem is how it is being used. The idea with VAR is to use them for 90/10 call but so many times it is used to make 50-50 decision which is not what we want. 

The funny part with VAR discussion is that most of the big discussion is irrelevant. Liverpool case was a simple mistake, a simple procedural fix, solve that. 

Newcastle goal vs arse was also ref/var decision, it is up to him, so not a big deal. 

But I saw united vs city a couple seasons ago when bruno scored 100% offside goal yet there wasn't big discussion. 

Was that when Rashford, who was offside, shielded the ball as it went on towards the goalscorer? Blatantly interfering with play while in an offside position?

EUFA has just announced, months later, that Taylor made a " monumental" mistake by not awarding a penalty to Germany for handball against Cucurella .

VAR operated by Stuart Atwell backed up Taylor's decision.

I don't recall it, but it goes on to say the positions of the arm made the "body bigger".

Again, it's subjective isn't it. It's the same as players going down. Was there enough contact or force ?

Basically it's guesswork.  I notice that MOTD are not showing offside lines, or making a big deal about it this season.

The Euros were the same, just got on with it. Doesn't the semi automated offside come in later this season ? 

 

13 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

That should have been a foul as well. Goalie was blocked intentionally, and had zero chance of getting to the ball because he was brought down by arsenal players. 

Remember when JT scored from a corner against Barca at the Bridge ?

We had a hold on the keeper, he wasn't going anywhere !

VAR would have 100% disallowed that goal, Ricky was all over the keeper.  I remember that game well as it was played on my birthday and at the time beating Barcelona was reason enough to celebrate, and boy I did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11 minutes ago, Scott said:

VAR would have 100% disallowed that goal, Ricky was all over the keeper.  I remember that game well as it was played on my birthday and at the time beating Barcelona was reason enough to celebrate, and boy I did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

😂it was a great night , we ended up in a restaurant near the ground ,on the beer.

Left it so late we had to get a cab back down to the south coast .

I think I must have blanked out what it cost us, but f**k it , no one cared that night about anything else after that game.

I've just watched the highlights again, what a game it was, superb.

And tonight we're back in Europe...but a million miles away from that night.

EDIT. What am I talking about ...next week Europa 

Tonight is Barrow ! FFS 

 

Come on you BLUES !

Edited September 24, 20241 yr by The Rising Sun
Info

10 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

😂it was a great night , we ended up in a restaurant near the ground ,on the beer.

Left it so late we had to get a cab back down to the south coast .

I think I must have blanked out what it cost us, but f**k it , no one cared that night about anything else after that game.

I've just watched the highlights again, what a game it was, superb.

And tonight we're back in Europe...but a million miles away from that night.

EDIT. What am I talking about ...next week Europa 

Tonight is Barrow ! FFS 

 

Come on you BLUES !

The atmosphere that night was brilliant. I was in the MHU that night and had a great view of JT's goal. I remember walking to the ground with a mate of mine and we sensed that the club was in for a special night and how right we were.

The next day I had a meeting with the account manager of one of our suppliers. At the start of the meeting I apologised to her for sounding hoarse due all the singing and shouting at last night's game.

16 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

Doesn't the semi automated offside come in later this season ? 

 

Yes.

Oh sh*t - just seen Michael Oliver is on VAR for our next game against brighton. Wonder what else he can throw at us?

 

I have the same opinion about Fofana pull

West Ham fan after game at Liverpool tonight.

" It should be called the Corrupt Cup..It's all fixed, Hammers should have had 3 or 4 penalties. The draw is fixed too. been going on for years, can't understand why the media aren't seeing the corruption." 

Nicky Hawkins from their fan TV said a few years ago after they played us, that the PL are against clubs like west ham, and the big money clubs like us get all the decisions in our favour.

Every fan is convinced it's the same for them.

 

 

 

10 hours ago, Bob stark said:

I have the same opinion about Fofana pull

It's ridiculous.

A wrong decision, a foul, a big event that could change the game.....but happy to get it wrong as it didn't cross some imaginary threshold.

 i am glad it benefited us - but many times it doesn't. It is pure madness

3 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

It's ridiculous.

A wrong decision, a foul, a big event that could change the game.....but happy to get it wrong as it didn't cross some imaginary threshold.

 i am glad it benefited us - but many times it doesn't. It is pure madness

I agree Jim but thresholds and boundaries assessing the extent of severity of incidents is a natural result when every single player is effectively a cheat looking to gain any advantage they can. So if we have a situation where a defender holds a player from outside the box and the attackers gets inside the box before pitching himself to the floor, the ref then has a number of decisions to make.

We've all seen many incidents where attackers get penalties for being wrestled to the ground, yet the attacker has got as much of a hold on the defenders shirt as the other way about.

I think we all know that was a penalty but with the way all players manipulate and embellish situations I can see why some of these things are hard for refs. 

5 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

It's ridiculous.

A wrong decision, a foul, a big event that could change the game.....but happy to get it wrong as it didn't cross some imaginary threshold.

 i am glad it benefited us - but many times it doesn't. It is pure madness

In that case Im more than happy with that though, leave it to the refs decision as it wasnt really a massive mistake.

This is how a lot more should be done, VAR get 2 seconds to review and if nothing major jumps out at them go with the refs decision. Rather than spend 3 minutes desperately hunting for a reason to give a decision.

Edited September 26, 20241 yr by dkw