General Premier League Thread 2023-24 Mod Note in op 27/6/23 And 21/05/24

I can't believe the officials have been reprimanded, bosses apologizing and people are still defending it.

Good oul tribalism

Why do I think a Terrible mistake was made?

I can only hope a lack of integrity or incompetence. I don't buy any concious bias.

IMO they were stood down because United got the benefit of the call.

There was zero talk of the officials at the Spurs - Brentford game being stood down. When the Wolves keeper punched the leeds player in the face and nothing was given the officials were not stood down.

People like to think United get all the calls, but we are as much treated as an example as we are given favourable calls. I'm certain United will not get a few penalty claims given to them over the next month, and probably a couple of soft penalties agaisnt them - because the Refs are afraid of being publicly shamed if they give a call to United, following the outragous attack on them we have seen - 2 days later and we have David James bleating on Sky Sports about it, but nothing about the Brentford non-call. We have Dermot Gallagher amazed it wasn't given, after saying the Wolves keeper pucnhing the leeds player would never be a penalty and there would be uproar and penalties every week if they were given.

But its United, so people froth and United will suffer for it

Likely the ref told the 4th official (or whomever) he saw Onana and the attacker come together after the ball was away, but didn't deem it a penalty.

The other official then confirms yes - the ball was away and Onana and the attacker collided - matching what the ref saw - so the ref didn't miss the incident. On the understanding it is supposed to be a high bar to overturn the ref decision, the official didn't intervene because the events matched what the ref saw. His (the refs) interpretation is questionable, but the VAR official didn't over-rule his interpretation of the event he clearly saw.

There's not really discussion.

There's a clear unanimous view, it is shared by the broader media for once and has even been shared by officialdom.

You are trying to backwards engineer a discussion. The fact someone made a mistake, and that the Var officials didn't have the integrity/courage/competence to correct it doesn't automatically mean the incident warrants further Poirot style investigation to see if it could be justified.

I think the two penalty issues need their own thread going by this convo

A disgraceful statement there from Man Utd, basically saying that they want to re-integrate Mason Greenwood into the squad, without using them words exactly, yet. The Athletic are reporting that "Manchester United chief exec Richard Arnold told senior staff two weeks ago the club were planning to bring back Mason Greenwood. He also intended to record a video explaining the decision."

The official club statement includes lines such as;

"we understand the strong opinions it has provoked based on the partial evidence in the public domain"

"alleged victim"

You can stick that pre-recorded PR video. I hope the player gets dogs abuse every time he steps onto a pitch wearing a jersey, be it Man Utd or not. We've all seen the videos and pictures, unfortunately. Been too many players that seem to get away with it, and even worse there is a culture that players don't care what they do as they know that their clubs will cover it up for them, along with money etc. They act like they have no conscience.

He should be booked by all fans every minute he's on the bench and steps on the field.

United have let themselves down here.

I cannot believe a) United would want to take him back, b) ETH would want to pick him, c) the United players would want to train or play with him.

Cannot for the life of me understand why United didn't do what Ulster Rugby did to Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding - they were found not guilty but the club terminated their contracts as they were bringing the club into disrepute. The evidence in Greenwood's case is even more damning.