Day 14 EPL, VAR Quiz:
Southampton v mancs:
Incident: Penalty claim by Southampton
Decision: No action taken.
VAR Review? Decision Overturned. Penalty given.
City v Bournemouth:
Incident: Penalty claim by Bournemouth.
Decision: No action taken.
VAR Review? Decision Overturned. Penalty given.
Despite the pundits waxing lyrical about City, the Bournemouth penalty claim was a clearcut call, if we could use the technology that every other major European league now takes for granted. And if they scored it, we could have seen a very different result.
But we can't, and the penalty call in the Southampton game, could well have been the difference between someone keeping his job or getting sacked. That's the human cost when avoidable errors are condoned and tolerated.
But they won't be in the European Cup from February. After years of outrage incompetence and injustice, the home game v Napoli is our final European Cup game where the on field referee has just one opportunity to get a big call right. So if you fall over in the box for no reason, or engineer "contact" in the box, or try to swap shirts at set pieces, you won't benefit anymore. And if you were miles offside when the ball was played, then you can stop celebrating, because your goal will not stand. A camera cannot be conned.
We've come a long way in less than 10 years, from the FIFA President ruling all forms of technology aids out of our sport, to it becoming standard practice at the very highest levels of the game, bringing Fair Play to those who play it, and Justice to those who pay good money out to watch it. VAR is coming to a stadium near you.
In the meantime however, there are 24 more weeks in the EPL where we have to live with incompetence. So...
TBC...
Logged