By Hughie Southon
That David Moyes is not to be punished for his comments after referee Andy Madley made the worst decision since technology was introduced in football is absolutely spot on.
It has now been fully accepted that the decision was wrong wrong wrong and one wonders whether we may be coming to a point where retrospective action should be introduced or the game be replayed or even reverse the result. VAR was introduced to right these wrongs and is now causing some.
Even the Professional Game Match Officials’ Board took the rare step of “acknowledging” the specific controversies in a statement on Sunday, and accepted the Premier League’s request for an additional investigation.
It is significant that PGMOL has taken the extra step after Saturday’s action, with West Ham denied a late equaliser against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
PGMOL said in a statement: “PGMOL acknowledge the incidents to disallow the goals in the Chelsea v West Ham and Newcastle v Crystal Palace fixtures.
“We will fully co-operate and collaborate with the Premier League and their request to review these two particular incidents, using the outcome as part of the ongoing assessment of weekly performances and the development of our match officials going forward.”
With every point eventually possibly costing fortunes at both ends of the table there’s a case to be made surely.
In the meantime it has been revealed that Moyes will face no reaction or punishment for his entirely acceptable response following the ruling out of Maxwel Cornet’s goal.
He had said: “It’s a scandalous decision, absolutely rotten decision from one of your supposedly elite referees. It doesn’t say much about whoever sent him over on VAR, as well. But it’s an unbelievable decision that went against us.”
Such remarks don’t, we are told, reach the threshold for action against managers and given the response from across the game any punishment would have caused the authorities acute embarrassment anyway.
However, when a decision is seen as being entirely and utterly wrong the big question is: HOW CAN IT BE ALLOWED TO STAND.” The authorities need to address the situation.
VAR is here to stay, most thought it was a good idea, it’s not VAR it’s the bias faceless people employed to officiate over it they are answerable to no one. Disgraceful officiating over the weekend you could almost hear them talking saying don’t let West Ham have the goal!! This point will be expensive to us at the end of the season and we are talking millions. You only have to see the cost of finishing 7th and not 6th. Unfortunately we have to move on regarding this issue VAR will change the system and I’m of no doubt a similar event will occur again but against us and will cost us more points!
I’m glad you’ve opened this debate Hugh. I don’t think I would want to go as far as to punish Chelsea, but a point from that match would be appropriate.
The main issue i see with your point Hugh is this: What’s not to say that if the goal had been given at the time Chelsea wouldn’t have kicked off and scored within a matter of seconds, thus changing the result again? Only if the goal was disallowed with the last kick of the game could even the conversation of the awarding of a point be deemed fair on those other teams in the division, especially if we stayed up by one point thus sending another team down to the Championship.
I am sorry Hugh but I don’t think you have thought this through or are you playing devils advocat ? The moment you start manufacturing the results the whole point of playing goes out of the window . The only solution is to get Var sorted out . It is a farce at the moment . Bad refereeing compounded by the same bad referees reviewing the incident for up to 5 minutes and still getting it wrong . Firstly the referees must become accountable for their actions and have the same medias examination after the games and managers must be allowed the freedom of speech to question or criticise if they disagree . There are hundreds of top grade ex pros who could , should and would be far better qualified to make independent VAR decisions . Secondly the referees must become better trained and understand the game as it is actually played not as a rule book thinks it should be played . How can VAR justify disallowing a 25 yd goal when no one else is within 5 yds of the goals for offside ? ………. but adjusting scores NEVER EVER is the correct solution .
Perhaps the Premiere League clubs should stand together and refuse to play next weekend with VAR until it is sorted out . We need a forever answer not a man with a sharp pencil guessing what might happen in overtime !!
IMHO, retrospective action is not in keeping with the spirit of the game which should ONLY be managed by the referee and his officials on the pitch in real-time. I feel that retrospective action would become another bolt-on and the first of many, which is surely on the road to the demise of the game as we know it. It is a little bit like the woman who swallowed the fly…
The introduction of VAR has invited outside influences to affect what happens on the pitch and so it is proving that too many cooks spoil the broth.
IF dumping VAR in the bin is not an option, then it needs to have CLEAR boundaries that we as the supporters and the public understand.
Right now, VAR is cloaked in mystery, controversy and injustice.
I believe a retrospective result, a points adjustment after the date could be made, absolutely. If players can be given retrospective red cards then why not. If with after sight it’s blatantly obvious there has definitely been a miscarriage of justice then an appeal process should be set up with points adjusted, added or taken away as appropriate.
I think retrospectively changing results is a recipe for disaster. We’ve lived with bad decisions causing results long before VAR.
What is needed is to get VAR much better during the game and when there are bad decisions, proper punishments dished out after to officials.
Personally, I do think there should be some punishment handed out to Mendy, as his cheating was most probably for VAR getting involved.
I can’t see there being any retrospective action for Mendy’s simulation. Simulation, sadly, is so widespread in football and every team is guilty of it.
Why not put ex players in charge of VAR, they understand football more than the officials at the moment as can be seen from this weekends debacle.
There is nothing wrong with VAR its just the people that operate it. Virtually every other sport has introduced video technology without any problem and the players never query the decisions. Rugby Union is probably the closest comparison where the standard of refereeing if infinitely higher and they consult the video referee which can be heard by the crowd in the stadium. PGMOL is overprotective of its referees and VAR has even allowed Hollywood Mike Dean to stay in the spotlight. Football could also help by simplifying some of the rules – for example with offside if they need toi get the lines out then it should be considered level and onside.
Brilliant question Hugh which is validated just by the asking – no answer required! The question goes to the heart of the officials currently making incompetent decisions, with the unspoken suffix of ‘or what?’. Personally I don’t favour retrospective correction, for me the game is everything. It tells PGMOL to sort it out, more on the day accountability, stop shifting the line of the ‘rules’, and being miked up (like rugby) would I feel go a long way. All this secret squirrel stuff is making it worse!
What also annoys me about this sorry saga is that Tuchel said the decision was wrong and his goalie was in great pain still. This is a complete lie and he knows it. Probably following Putin rulebook on truth!