Rant time!

I am annoyed, nay angry, nay absolutely livid at the VAR decided outcome of the West Ham v Arsenal game yesterday. Whatever anyone's opinion of the accuracy of the end descision, it is poor/weak refereeing that has caused it.

I accept that the WHU striker fouled the goalkeeper (albeit that Arsenal have done the same thing in other matches to win 1-0 and got away with it), and that being the case have no issue with the goal itself being disallowed. What I have a real problem with is the multiple fouls committed by Arsenal players before the foul on the goalkeeper. Trossard was not looking at, or even in the direction of, the ball as it came into play, he was intent solely on getting both arms around Pable (the WHU striker) and shepherding him away from his position, ultimately as it turned out into his own goalkeeper. The angle was never shown in the VAR review at the time but the camera behind the goal shown on Match of the Day in the evening highlighted it perfectly.

This wrestling at all corners, by all teams, is a blight on the game. If referees had been strong enough or good ebough they would give all of these as penalties and stop the whole thing withing 3 or 4 games. If they had done from the start of the season then (what I see as) the proper descision would have been made yesterday, that being a penalty to West Ham. Indeed VAR did give a penalty for exactly what Trossard did yesterday against Spurs earlier in the season (manhandling a player while looking away from the ball).

If this had happened in, say, October I'd probably be slightly less annoyed, but this poor officiating has effectively rubber stamped my own personal Championship double this season (albeit from different directions).

Rant over.

18 hours ago, DoofersDad said:

There's an interesting development on this with a report by the English Premier League's "Key Match Incidents" panel. They were looking at an incident when Everton were denied a penalty against Man City when Bernardo Silva was holding Rohl at a corner. All 5 members of the panel agreed it should have been a penalty. They said "there is a clear, sustained holding offence which continues as the corner is taken and the ball comes into play".

Applying that unanimous opinion to the controversial incident at the end of the West Ham v Arsenal game, the referee should have blown for a penalty about 5 times before the ball came anywhere near the keeper.

Hopefully the panel's opinion can result in some clear guidance to referees not to tolerate all this sumo style wrestling that has become so commonplace in the modern game.

I would like to see, what I call a 'purple card' system, introduced into the EPL. If during a corner kick or free kick, a player grapples/holds a another in the penalty box, the ref stops the kick and sends a player off the pitch (behind the goal line) until after the kick is taken. He keeps doing that every time it happens. The offending player has to wait 30sec after the restart of play. Someone 'purple carded' twice, gets a yellow card

I suspect this might result in several players off the pitch in early season matches for some kicks.

I read that refs are going to talk to clubs in the summer about all the holding. To be honest all it needs is them to say "we're going to referee to the laws and not let you all cheat anymore".

While I get your purple card idea, I don't think its needed. Just be strict in pre season games and they'll all get used to it by the time the season proper starts.