08 Jan 2023 22:59:58
I will post a ratings and review report later on but sadly feel compelled to first post a comment on the 2 "offside " decisions we were on the wrong end of in the Liverpool game that have been the subject of numerous highly impassioned posts on social media.

Sadly despite hating both decisions and feeling that we were indeed incredibly unlucky the reality is I don't think we have a leg to stand on for either decision.

The second one is easier to get to grips with.
The linesman believes that Nunes is offside when the ball is played back out to him i.e. he hasn't moved away from the goal line where he took the corner fast enough to get back onside.

Regardless of our opinion, without camera angles that show conclusively one way or another, {and yes I accept it is totally unacceptable that the VAR system is unable to give a definitive view given how it gives decisions allegedly accurate to a few cms on objects whose relative positions change by more than few cms in a fraction, (hundredths ) of a second surely requiring much more than a single TV camera!} we have no choice but to accept that decision.

You also have to believe that he, the linesman, has made an honest, (correct or incorrect ), decision. The alternative is to believe the Linesman/ref/VAR/the whole game is bent and if we believe that what is the point in anyone playing.

The Salah goal also appears to be a correct decision based up on a less than perfectly drafted/interpreted rule. Clearly there has to be a rule that allows players to be in front of defenders i.e. it is ok to take a corner where you are on the goal line - ahead of all defenders and this not be an offence. Also it surely must be ok to be in front of defenders when intercepting a back pass etc etc.
Where the rule becomes "difficult" to apply/interpret is for example when a player mistimes his run onto a through ball and is clearly offside but a defender then plays the ball - as Gomes does. It is then deemed, after the "play" by the defender, to be a new phase and the previous offside is "eliminated". In this case Salah is not offside in the new phase because he has merely "intercepted the back pass" from Gomes.

Sadly it is just a terrible error by Gomes, failing to correctly clear the ball.

What perhaps makes it difficult though is naturally sometimes - as acknowledged by Danny Murrphy - the interpreation is inconsistent. Linesman/refs will have already given the offside because, like Salah's, it is so obvious before the defender makes it a 2nd phase or perhaps the defenders contact with the ball is not deemed a deliberate "play" - it merely flicked off him - and thus offside is still given.

However in this case the ref/linesman decided neither of these were the case. Probably correctly although somewhat at odds with the decision of the linesman in the second goal who flings up his flag for an obvious offside that appears to be far less obvious than Salah's, ( pre "play" by Gomes)

Maybe the rule could be made clearer if changed from "deliberate" to "controlled". If Gomes had chested it down and turned and passed to Salah fair enough. However the fairness of offside being "eliminated" by a "deliberate but miscontrolled/unintended "play"- as in the Gomes case - to clear the ball is surely more debateable.

Whilst as I say it is hard to argue that this decsion wasn't correct according to the rules morally it surely can't be correct that Salah has gained such a massive advantage by running offside?

1.) 09 Jan 2023
09 Jan 2023 06:43:42
A good read as usual however the linesman is walking back to the halfway line and the referee signals for him to raise his flag.I’m sure you’d agree that if the 2 situations were reversed ie salahs goal was scored by Jimenez it would have been given as offside and the toti goal was scored by a liverpool player it would have stood.Var is there to protect the Judas 6 the fa don’t want clubs like wolves in cup finals or leicesters winning the league.

2.) 09 Jan 2023
09 Jan 2023 10:43:26
I believe the game is bent and I agree with Bigste64.

3.) 09 Jan 2023
09 Jan 2023 11:02:06
Bigste -Firstly tks for you comment. Secondly I am not so naive as to fail to recognise that football is now a multi billion pound business financed (and thus controlled) by Sky. It is therefore totally understandable that the entire game these days is structured to give Sky the product they want. For example the changes to European qualification and the make up of the tournaments ensuring that their teams are always in pole position to qualify and (via finance and profile) reinforce their dominant position. Whilst the changes to substitute numbers massively benefits the big 6 etc etc etc.
I also fear that Refs are under massive pressure to "cooperate" but would also comment that the game is faster than ever and "cheating" by players, simulation, team fouling etc etc is also now far far more prevalent making their job even harder.
However it would appear that standards of reffing are at an all time low and VAR has to put it mildly not been the tool of improvement we all hoped for, in fact i'm not certain that it hasn't made thngs worse in some circumstances.
But as shown by the FA cup draw - eliminating at least 2 of the Sky sides in the early rounds - the game is certainly not totally fixed.
I choose to believe that most if not all of the refs/linesman under v difficult circumstances are not corrupt but sadly in many cases merely weak or incompetent.
Otherwise the game really has no future and I can't see why I would want to be engaged with it.
I do however totally understand your and many others frustration as clearly there are serious issues re the influence of Sky and (their) money on the game that sadly no one appears willing to address or even admit exists.

4.) 09 Jan 2023
09 Jan 2023 11:55:03
future. The Salah goal the summing up by Danny Murphy I thought was fine that it's a poor law and needs sorting. They get given/not given. I'm sure if Toti was sure Salah was off he'd have ducked and no problem but top strikers are never that far out, they live on the edge after all. We were unlucky but had Toti been an inch taller!
Titi's "goal". I don't know who's is responsible for making sure the VAR system works but whoever it is I hope that today they are being ripped a new one! This is a multi million pound business and this is or should be a state of the art system that is tested for accuracy. Much like Wimbledon for Tennis, though here they know when it's not working properly and tell everyone before any cockups make them look stupid! But we are talking FA here, hard hats on boys, farcical asses. They'll huff and puff then it will go quiet then forget all about it until the next farce!