VAR

[Lanolin]

For me that’s the part of the issue, and why the water is muddied - why aren’t pulls given as penalties? They should be - I’m sick of screaming about holding and pulling on corners from all teams including us.

Context be damned, refs need to use their eyes and give what they see, and if they miss it that’s what VAR should be there for.

They should be (and nearly always are) given as fouls when committed outside the box, but something seems to go wrong when it happens inside the area - why?

I’ve just highlighted the bold above - the pen was given in real time, the ref called it right, but cited the wrong player. There was no need for VAR to get involved the way they did, and for not fully reviewing the entire footage screams of corruption.

Had he missed it, which I find hard to accept, then VAR would have reviewed all the footage and would have had to have given the penalty.

Im not getting into the semantics of how hard he was pulled and all that bollox - it’s a foul, it’s a pen, they need to give them more to stop this mitigation that some fans are willing to accept the corruption all to easily.

No I agree with the majority of that. I think you've misunderstood what I mean when I say context though, i'm not talking about context in the game, I'm talking about the context of them regularly not being given. Like I said, whether that or shouldn't be the case is a totally different argument, the context is that they aren't always given and ignoring that fact just frames the argument completely incorrectly. Again, I think it was a pen, but I am aware that the reality of the situation is shirt pulling isn't treated the same as lots of other offences are and so I don't think it would have been scandalous not to give it in real time. Put it this way, I've seen MUCH worse shirt pulls go unpunished this season.

 

[pfim]

do you think at any if the top 4 clubs

IE the big 4

it’s given?

I don't know, I really don't think there's a grand conspiracy. Just a bunch of people who lack consistency in applying the law, both fouls and the use of VAR.

The audacity of the dive, to me, has a lot to do with it. The man's 39 years old, if he doesn't know how to fall down by this point he'll learn soon enough.