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

Arsenal got a nice break at the weekend with Wolves missing so many players. Seems like they are getting that break again midweek with Chelsea missing a few key players too with Palmer, Gusto, Chilwell added to the doubt/injury list.

On Sky today they stated that for the third blatant penalty, the VAR assistant said that Young had touched the ball and that was why it wasn't a penalty. None of the replays showed that he had touched the ball, because, guess what, he hadn't. He had clipped Odoi, who had actually played the ball. Same as the one in the first half, where the player was fouled and the ball wasn't played. Forest got right royally shafted in what was the biggest game of the weekend. If they don't get the points back on Wednesday they might be back on X again.

The Champions League places look fairly set now. I reckon that it might only take 4 points from Villa's final 4 games for it to be secure. it would mean that Spurs would need 4 wins from their last 6 games to pass them out, and their fixtures are tricky playing the 3 teams going for the title.

Going deep into cups has a big affect on scheduling.

Crap player and an idiot too. Can't wait until we boot him out the door.

More games = less time between games…… Mind not exactly blown

Tis true….

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1820117/Liverpool-news-Darren-England-Tottenham-replay

VAR overall is a good thing.

The problem with it is refs have become eunuchs with VAR in place. There's been a good few decisions made by refs this season that were probably the right call in the circumstances (such as ball to hand situations) where their natural instincts probably had made the right call, but once VAR got involved over-ruled themselves and gave penalties for next to nothing.

If refs stuck to their guns more often, it mightn't be as bad.

And surely at this stage the ref could have an on arm monitor, or use the big screen, rather than having to go to the half way line each time. Takes up too much time.

100% disagree with VAR being a good thing. I think it's been awful for the sport and I'd bin it tomorrow if possible.

If you can automate anything objective, e.g. goal line technology, offsides etc then I'm for it. If you tell me you can extend goalline technology to everywhere on the pitch and can then accurately tell instantaneously where the ball has gone out of play (and even show where throw ins etc should be taken from as a result), or that they can tell which player touched the ball last to be sure of whether it's a corner or not, who's throw it is etc, then I'd be for that - not because I think it's particularly needed, but because if technology can do it accurately and instantly there's no need for officials to do it because it's an objective fact.

For anything that is subjective and down to opinion, this should be decided by the referee, that's it. They're not perfect but they're not assessing facts either it's judgement. Adding more referees into the decision making process doesnt make sense to me. The idea that the powers that be looked at the state of referees and said: "Hey do you know what would be good, if we got even more referees to weigh in on the same incidents" makes no sense to me and it hasn't worked. It wastes time, is inconsistently applied, and is terrible for fans. By knowing there's VAR in place, referees are more reluctant to make marginal calls on the pitch. Why? Because they have the safety blanket of knowing it's reviewed. But then what do the reviewers do? Defer to the on field decision because it's marginal. It's madness and should be stopped.

Go back to what we had before. No VAR. Automate offsides. Get on with it.

And you can actually celebrate goals again!

Will be a sad day when this man retires. Or the Tories get to him.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/picture/2024/apr/23/david-squires-on-fa-cup-meddling-replays-premier-league-clubs-var-nottingham-forest

I would assume that it was given on day 2 because it was not given on day 1, and the reaction to that decision. Which I could accept if that then became the new standard, but that is not what happens. We get stuck in a constant cycle instead of not given-given-not given-given.

Exactly. If the one rule was just applied consistently throughout, it would be a lot easier to accept the decisions.

People have short memories refs were ****/dumb/incompetent/ before VAR and VAR would fix it. Now refs are ****/incompetent/ corrupt with VAR. Fans will always find a way to feel they've been robbed. There's a regular poster here talking about a criminal case against refs if his team don't win the league due to refs. It's paranoid fans sucking the life out of it not conspiracy.