Corrupt officiating

[maverick180]

"A point that seems to of been missed Antonio’s goal could not be seen from any angle whether it definitely came off his stomach or his arm, therefore should never have been disallowed However VAR made the decision to straight up disallow it Souceks goal definitely could be seen to strike his arm, that was the one that was the correct decision However, VAR called over the ref this time to make the decision Does nobody else find that highly suspicious? For me that is what someone would do who’s already made a bent decision and not trying to further put themself in the spotlight"

[ATHammer]

"I believe it is incompetence. A number of decisions have gone against us recently. Whilst he was probably wrong I have some regard for the ref in the Freiburg game who when summoned to VAR stuck to his decision, presumably on the basis of ""I am running this game."" Fair play, it is what he is there for. There are common sense fixes as VAR is here to stay. Firstly, the hand ball law - change this back to intentional use of hand or arm below the shoulder by an outfield player with none of the other bollocks. Both goals on Sunday would have stood on that basis, Emerson may not have been so lucky when pointing the direction of travel and the ball hitting his hand. Secondly VAR reviews - A time limit of two minutes. Anything that is ""clear and obvious"" will be picked up in that timescale. If the VAR decision does not come through in that time then the on field decision stands. May be controversial but I prefer to discuss a game rather than video analysis. VAR reviews should be limited to real time speed only. Nothing happens in slow motion so why analyse decisions that way? You certainly cannot determine intent from slow motion so real time review from various camera angles should be the only reasonable assessment criteria. Having a hair of a left bollock offside is plainly ridiculous but that is the level to which they are sinking. There is nothing wrong with the technology but it is in the hands of the incompetent, therefore, the amount of damage that can be done to the on field entertainment should be limited. The clue is in the title ""Video Assistant Referee"". At the moment it is not an assistant, it is driving and second guessing decisions using slow motion and 3d line imposition to take decisions away from the referee based on a computer generated assessment. This is fundamentally wrong. The ref for the Villa Game was poor and that is a legitimate area of pub debate, the VAR decisions were plainly some remotely located fuckwit let lose in a toy store of technology justifying their existence within the laws of the game by analysing events up his arse for 5 minute plus, trying desperately to find something to change. I do not think the officials are corrupt, they are incompetent and, with Howard Webb at the helm, unlikely to improve. The Premier League and FA need to work on limiting the damage that can be done by insisting on improvement methods for officials and restricting the use of VAR to assistance only. ."

[Surfinglizard]

"I don’t think there’s corruption. What I think exists is - misinterpretation of the “clear and obvious” rule re VAR meaning all possible effort is being taken to find the “truth” in an incident as opposed to validating QUICKLY if something clear and obvious had been missed. Antonios goal should have stood, there wasn’t a clear and obvious error by the Ref although it WAS handball."

[ludo21]

Willtell - the commentator then had the nerve to credit Moyes with his successful integration of the youngsters when he brought Earthy on.... unlikely to see him again for 12 months.

[Willtell]

"It's always been the same for clubs like West Ham and we aren't unique when it comes to playing the Liverpools and Man Utds of this world. West Ham is only just starting to be seen as a big club but has a long way to go to rival the top clubs reputations. All the ""Be careful what you wish for..."" shit is pundits still seeing us as Harry Redknap's version of WHU. Listening to the commentary against Freidburg the commentator said ""Harry Redknapp had a winner at Cheltenham today so I hope WH haven't used up all their luck! Unbelievable but true then he added West Ham and their accolytes but then co-commentator Robbie Savage had the nerve to pronounce that ""I think David Moyes has done a good job at WH..."" FMOB who does he think he is! I think Robbie Savage is a clich?© ridden, know nothing, wanker that TNT should have more sense than to employ just to talk absolute shit..."

[arsene york-hunt]

If that were Liverpool or Man Utd The result would have been 4 - 1 https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/12875910/victor-lindelof-should-west-ham-have-been-given-pen-after-handball-by-manchester-united-defender

[Far Cough]

"CS, unless it's one of the top six teams."

[,]

"We’ve been robbed of six points this year with a disallowed winner at SheffU, penalty etc against Burnley and yesterday’s pair both disallowed. Not that I’m biased."

[Council Scum]

"VAR is putting me off enjoying football more than anything else. It's gone for helping with an obvious mistake, to, looking for any reason possible not to award a goal."

[ludo21]

Giovanni Infantino recently said that the suspense of VAR adds to the adrenaline rush of watching the game... deluded prick.

[ludo21]

Giovanni Infantino recently said that the suspense of VAR adds to the adrenaline rush of watching the game... deluded prick.

[maverick180]

Blimey I wouldn’t be I’d be shocked but I’d be happy I get what you’re saying though Kind of like talksport who deliberately go out of their way to wind people up as they’d have no phone in debates without doing it

[Bungo]

"maverick180 1:48 Mon Mar 18 Call me cynical, but I get the feeling that the endless debate is quietly encouraged as a part of the 'whole' entertainment package that is football. Pundits on TV or the ra\dio and all the endless discussion and debate down the pub are a massive part of football. If VAR was perfect and we didn't have all this discussion, most of us would be distraught!"

[maverick180]

"The whole thing needs to be scrapped For me, I feel there’s more talking points now from VAR before it even began There’d be incorrect decisions from goals that were offside and sending offs But now it seems to be everybody is playing volleyball all of a sudden and everything is handball, or it isn’t when it blatantly is It was brought in to get rid of wrong decisions But now we have even more No football fan wants it So why’s it still here with no signs of ever getting rid?"

[goose]

"What i don’t understand are the different handball rules depending on where it happens and whether it’s an attacking player or a defender. If the ball hits a defenders arm in a similar fashion to both our ‘goals’, it’s not a penalty. So how can it be an offence in one direction but not the other? Handball law is a mess."

[zico]

"Either corruption or incompetence it's not working, the consistency isn't there and the rules themselves are creating a problem. A camera placed like they do from behind penalty takers would have probably shown if the ball had hit Soucek's hand an awful lot quicker than 7 minutes. The rules need to be changed certainly of both offside and handball."

[ludo21]

I was listening to the audio commentary on Live Scores. The commentator was a Manc who was more interested in the Man U v Liverpool game but he persuaded himself that the Soucek goal would be given on the grounds that it wasn't an obvious handball and it wasn't a clear and obvious mistake. Whole thing is a joke.

[maverick180]

"North Bank What is it that leads you to believe that Not trying to have an argument by the way, just wanna know why people believe it’s incompetency rather than corruption There’s been officials in other countries that have done it, there’s been players in this country that have done it, there’s been managers in this country that have been involved in deals to benefit themselves Why is it that people seem to think officials would be the only people involved in the game over here that haven’t done anything deliberately untoward?"

[Northern Sold]

I think if it was reversed and Villa had scored that goal we'd all be spitting on here and rightly so... it clearly hit Tom's arm before going in... annoying as it looked like the Bubbles scuffed effort was already going in... I don't have a problem with that being chalked off... it hit his arm... it diverted the ball into the net... surely that pretty simple to see... well it was when the ref went over to chalk it off.... the Antonio goal was a different kettle of fish

[North Bank]

"They're not corrupt, just fucking incompetent, that Australian cսnt has form with us"

[,]

What is the criteria when there is not a clear indication of an infringement. Is it taken that any doubt means the conceding side gets the benefit?

[Sir Alf]

"The ball may have brushed or hit Soucek's arm. Thats not really the rule though is it? The time it took VAR to decide totally contradicts the rule which states it has to be a 'clear and obvious' error by the ref. In other words, it may have been an error giving the goal but was by virtue of the fact it took 6 or 7 mins to decide, not a clear or obvious one? VAR camera angles ( more cameras ) could help but the real problem with VAR is the same problem before VAR... the officials interpreting them. How many refs have played the game at a reasonable level? Quite a few don't understand the game but also the UEFA rules that guide them must be written by blokes who ain't played the game either. All the refs do now is go with the decision that best 'covers their arse'"

[maverick180]

"A few years back I watched a documentary on the subject Bruce Grobelaar explained how it worked for him He would be asked in certain matches to try and allow the other team to win If he agreed to take part but couldn’t affect the result he would be paid a set amount If however he could make ‘a mistake’ that led to the other team winning he would be paid a huge amount more He didn’t think he’d get caught so it was a win win situation for him With officials being able to influence a game much more than a single player can, I just don’t see why people think that it’s not possible that at least one official in this country isn’t doing something similar Especially when they have the luxury of knowing that no matter how wrong the decision they make is, it’ll never be deemed as anything more than a mistake Also take into account that officials earn a lot less than players so there’s some incentive for doing it straight away"

[Bungo]

"There still don't seem to be enough cameras being used offering clear, close up shots for this to be regarded as accuturate in any way. In American football the camera shots always seem to be far clear than here, making the decisions made (usually) less debatable. I would be interested to know if there is a plan to increase the number/quality of VAR cameras used, so there is less and less doubt as time moves on. Anyone know?"

[only1billybonds]

Fai enough. I guess it's all down to how corruption is defined.

[maverick180]

"Personally I do believe there’s match fixing going on but obviously don’t know that for a fact but I’ve seen plenty of evidence, which just gets brushed off as incompetence Last season I was watching Liverpool vs spurs, in the opening minute Luis Diaz was chasing down a ball and kicked it off a spurs defender out for a corner, this happened right in front of the linesman, the replay showed him looking straight at it and Diaz played the ball against the defenders chest, there’s no way it could’ve been missed, but the linesman signalled for a goal kick, with bets being placed on the amount of corners in certain periods of the game, it doesn’t have to be the actual result that someone is striving to fix Also, Mike Dean admitted that whilst on VAR he let an incorrect decision go as the ref was his mate, that wasn’t money orientated but I’d argue that’s still a form of corruption"