11 Mar 2024 19:44:45
I think they should have a seasoned ex-international in the VAR room who won't bow down / kowtow to PGMOL. VAR works, but the people who carry it out are useless.

1.) 11 Mar 2024
11 Mar 2024 20:24:08
VAR is the people who carry it out, VAR literally means Video Assistant Referee. It's just people watching replays on a tv screen, of course it works, video replays have been around for decades.

2.) 11 Mar 2024
11 Mar 2024 20:28:00
there are seasoned ex-internationals on the telly saying that they didn't think it was a pen.

this ridiculous tin hat mentality needs to stop.

{Ed025's Note - im with you faith..

3.) 11 Mar 2024
11 Mar 2024 21:13:27
Seasoned internationals are even more biased than fans.

4.) 11 Mar 2024
11 Mar 2024 21:30:47
If anyone wants to know how VAR should be run efficiently, I propose you watch the AFCON. If you didn't watch it then, you missed an absolute masterclass of how VAR can work to perfection. Any "Clear and Obvious" rule is actually a thing cos whatever the ref missed, the VAR corrected efficiently. And when the replays were not difinitive znuff to overturn a decision, the on-pitch decision stood and not a peep from anyone.

The PL and the PGMOL along with their allies in the pundit world, are all gaslighting us and dumbing down the conversation by twisting actual footie rules in whatever direction required to protect the relentless bungling of these refs and get thru the media cycle and cos footie tribalism has destroyed the ability to have open and honest conversation about this topic, the PGMOL wins ALL the time. Just my take.

{Ed025's Note - i like the sound of that Oli, but i dont think i could sit through any more of them AFCON games mate, the standard is awful..

5.) 11 Mar 2024
11 Mar 2024 22:25:27
ED025, you've had plenty of practice sitting through them everton games. ?.

{Ed025's Note - Everton are awful to watch Jaw you are right, but i watched a good few AFCON games mate and the standard was truly shocking, all the teams seem to have a couple of really quality players but the rest of them are non-league standard for me, just my take of course..

6.) 12 Mar 2024
12 Mar 2024 06:27:42
So long as there is subjectivity these things will continue to happen. Offsides are sorted (unless they haven't been watching the game and forget what they are checking) so now they just need to sort the remaining decisions that get checked. It really isn't that hard.
If there is contact from a foot above the waist it's a foul, if there is contact that leads to a trip it's a foul, if you win the ball first in a normal tackle it's not a foul (forget this excessive force nonsense), if you go into a tackle studs up or two footed it's a red, if you accidentally stamp studs first on another player's leg anywhere above the ankle it's a red, if the last man denies a goal scoring opportunity it's a red, (forget this the other defender could have got back nonsense), if a defenders hand or arm touches the ball in the penalty area it's a pen, any foul in the penalty area results in a pen (forget Carra's "need a bit more in the penalty area nonsense) .

I know some of that is going backwards but it's all objective and people will know where they stand with no room for argument.

7.) 12 Mar 2024
12 Mar 2024 00:10:06
Suppose not use to seeing a few quality players in a team then…?.

{Ed025's Note - not for a while now MM..

8.) 12 Mar 2024
12 Mar 2024 07:19:20
ED025 only jestering ed, i think had Calvert-Lewin not totally fallen off a cliff you'd be a few places higher up the table.

{Ed025's Note - i just wish it was me doing the pushing Jaw mate.. :)

9.) 12 Mar 2024
12 Mar 2024 08:59:58
@Faith, You said that seasoned ex pros have said it was not a pen. So which seasoned ex pros. are those? Do you mean seasoned ex pros. like Shay Given who said that he didn't think it was a pen cos in his "expert" opinion, that would not have been a foul anywhere else on the pitch, something we all know is a total, bold faced lie? Or Carragher who lied saying that Doku got the ball whereas based on the rule itself, that does not matter?

Or do you mean seasoned ex pros like Ray Parlour (and many others) who said it was a stone wall pen based on the actual rule? You got Hargreaves saying it was a pen BUT the refs did not want the occasion to be "ruined" by such a decision which is rubbish. So you tell me which "ex pro" I should listen to? I'll wait.

Now here's a tip. NEVER use the opinion of ex pros. to form an opinion on an incident cos you can find those who agree with you and those who don't. Me? I use the rule and precedent cases to judge the situation on a case by case basis, something I have been doing on this topic. Oh, and the whole tinhat narrative needs to stop cos it means nothing when speaking actual facts. Peace!

{Ed025's Note - as Idena Menzel said..."let it go"..

10.) 12 Mar 2024
12 Mar 2024 09:02:46
Ed25, and how many AFCON's games (let alone AFCON tournaments) have you watched to form such an opinion cos my first AFCON was in 1988?

Also, don't act like the Euros are anything to write home about either cos the last great Euros I watched was in 2008 when Spain dominated it and before that, it was Euro 96 which is arguably the best Euros I've ever seen. The last Euros was dreadful as well, IMO.

{Ed025's Note - i watched about 5 Oli, i dont know what i was expecting but i thought the standard was very poor mate, maybe i picked the wrong games but it seemed to me that each side had a couple of good players but the rest of the team were like amateurs, maybe its lack of investment in the African game i dont know but it was a very hard watch, im not comparing it to the Euros im just commenting on my personal experience as a first time spectator..no insults intended..

11.) 12 Mar 2024
12 Mar 2024 09:35:49
Seasoned ex-pros are rife on TalkSport, well and truly seasoned. And garbage. Although Alan Brazil’s head is worth a watch, he is going to explode any minute now!

12.) 12 Mar 2024
12 Mar 2024 10:38:27
@StEtienneAmen, ex pro on Talksport Ray Parlour said it was a pen. Darren Bent, ex pro on Talksport said it wasn't cos Mac10 did not get kicked in the head and further more (and get this), he said that even tho the incident would have been a foul anywhere else on the pitch, he would not have given it due to the get this, the "context of the game and how it would affect the title race". This is what we're dealing with, people.

So I ask again, which seasoned ex pro are we supposed to listen to, according to some on here? Im still waiting.

13.) 12 Mar 2024
12 Mar 2024 10:43:43
Ed25, nice that you watch the AFCON however, saying it is bloody awful is wrong cos int'l comps. are not guaranteed to have very good standards overall cos it depends on a lot of things like the level of the teams, how each team arrives at the competition, level of officiating, star players missing/ present etc.

Now even tho, I have watched more than double the AFCON's you have watched, I can admit that not all of them were great comps. Far from it so we can agree on that. Either way, that was not my point. My point was that the AFCON made a complete idiot out of the PGMOL on how efficiently VAR was used in the last tournament this year. nI would ask them to go learn from the AFCON organisers BUT alas, I know they won't.

{Ed025's Note - our VAR is beyond help i think Oli, rip it up and start again i would say mate, i have never heard of some of these people who officiate at Stockley park and i just dont trust them, there have been too many examples of poor intervention, lack of understanding and baffling decisions to think otherwise, in itself i believe its a good idea and can work, but in its present state its not worth a wank..

14.) 12 Mar 2024
12 Mar 2024 11:58:11
Oli - I don’t know where you’re going with that rant about seasoned ex-pros. Th OP made the point about ex-internationals being in the VAR implying if there was an ex-pro in VAR then we’d have got the pen call go in our favour. I simply pointed out there are ex-internationals who have said it wasn’t a pen.

15.) 12 Mar 2024
12 Mar 2024 22:48:10
You can 100% guarantee that those same ex-internationals who claim it wasn't a penalty would have been screaming bloody murder if it was them getting kicked in the chest with no spot kick as an end result.
Next the numpties will be claiming that the foul on Darwin wasn't a penalty either.