Before VAR was introduced a gentleman said to me words to the effect "What will we talk about down the Public House when VAR eradicates all controversy ?" I kindly asserted that there would still be controversy due to subjective decisions that will be made as part of the VAR process.VAR was not going to be a panacea.

In bygone days there was animus directed towards the referee, now of course the referee AND VAR are subjected to fustigation !

Edited by Willo (10 Oct 2022 5.29pm)

Some stats on almost everything referee based, some numbers have been crunched - others plain to see. Quite revealing in some cases; some strange anomalies too. Spurs mainly.

[Link]

Red and Blue Army!

In terms of the first incident, it was not conclusive that the ball touched the hand, the VAR studied the coverage for over 2 minutes and could not conclude with any certainty that contact was made,accordingly he could not inform the referee that an offence had been committed.

Apropos the Antonio incident, he clearly handled the ball but a goal did not result directly from the contact as Fulham players got involved with the goalkeeper saving the shot and there was a defender who also played the ball so it was viewed as a 'Reset' and a second phase.

Edited by Willo (10 Oct 2022 6.18pm)

I do find this rule quite staggeringly ridiculous. The next 'phase', whatever that means, cannot happen without the one preceding it... where there was a foul... which needs to be given when there's time allocated to review. Just doesn't make any logical sense to me.

In light of this however, I would like to see Guaita run down the pitch to the last man, ball in hands, throw it as hard as possible at an opposition player, perhaps even the goalie, then have 3 or 4 of our players following him, collect the ball as it bounces of said defender, and score. I'm sure if we did this last minute we could sacrifice a red card and have one player manhandle the referee so he cannot see or blow his whistle. It would then be a 'second' phase upon review of play as the ball was last played by a defender who failed to control it. RHUBARB!

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!

I personally think we should have a VAR screen a bit like 'Catchphrase' where you pick 5 players, like a penalty shootout, to answer General Knowledge questions. Each correct answer provides the chance to press a button to stop on a square to reveal the picture to the referee.

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!

I'm afraid you're wrong on that one Willo if I recall MoTD correctly!

The ball was seen spinning down after changing direction ever so slightly from the contact where it had no spin at all beforehand. It's either witchcraft or contact.

For what it's worth, I didn't consider Scamacca to have 'controlled' the ball using his hand and think the touch was of little consequence.

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!