By Hughie Southon
There is one on field scenario which tells us that if a goalkeeper goes to ground and a player finds it impossible to avoid him whether a foul has been committed.
Just watch the reaction of the stopper’s team mates. If none of them are up in arms then you can bet your life there has been no wrongdoing.
Players know, refs and VAR really don’t on many occasions and this afternoon when Mendy decided to go to ground and give Jarrod Bowen no chance of avoiding him there was not a single complaint from any Chelsea player when a goal followed.
Mendy, meanwhile, went through the whloe range of theatricals and was in part ultimately responsible for the worst refereeing decision ever seen since VAR arrived.
This may sound over the top but personally I have never seen such a horrible decision in the game having watched Jarrod do everything in his power to get out of Mendy’s way.
He knew, the Hammers players knew and more importantly the Chelsea players knew there had been no offence.
Quite simply the keeper cheated, the referee was conned and we were genuinely robbed,
That’s a valid point, Hugh. But are refs looking for that?
VAR was brought in to improve the game and get all decisions 100% correct. Since then it’s been modified to clear and obvious mistakes by the ref. VAR then take a look and sometimes send it back to the ref and he has another look on the monitor. Can we blame the refs when they officiate at certain grounds of taking ‘homer’ decisions?
The problem is the refs on the pitch are no longer reffing the match they blow the whistle to start and finish the match after that any key decision they let var decide instead of saying know i am happy with my decision and dont need to take a look……Until Refs have the balls to do that decisions such as yesterday will keep happening…..Lord Oliver apparently yesterday i think gave a pen at Forest was told to go have a look at the monitor but stuck to his guns and said no to VAR…..that is how its meant to work but all supporters no up and down the country is as soon as the ref is told to look at the monitor he does what VAR tells him so in effect he is no longer in charge of making a decision when like Oliver yesterday he said nope i’m happy with my call and thats the point regardless of VAR refs should still stick to there instincts unless its a clear clear error.After this weekend it will be interesting to see if the refs now have a meeting and told to do exactly that as not one ex pro or commentator thought our goal should of been disallowed.
Concentrating solely on this incident Mendy has now set a precedent for all goalkeepers! Should a player now get close to a goalkeeper in attempting to score a goal,all they need to do now is feign an injury and VAR will do the rest. Sadly this form of cheating has become prevalent in our great game. Consider the number of “professional” fouls committed, the number of rollovers players do when fouled and then this thumping of the pitch trying to emphasis how badly they have been hurt. All these things are spoiling our great game.