In my recent article posted on the Mag a week and a half ago (These claims that the Saudi Arabia PIF have lost interest in Newcastle United are wide of the mark). I challenged what I described as some popular myths that were “doing the rounds” at that time.
I think Saturday evening’s game at Villa Park actually busted one or two more.
First and foremost is the idea that we don’t need VAR. Long delays without communication, inconsistencies and sometimes mystifying conclusions have eroded confidence in the system.
The Aston Villa match proved conclusively that we DO need VAR.
Fortunately, we won the game anyway but with a very obvious offside, an even more obvious handball in the penalty area, a leg breaking tackle and a good shout for a penalty against Lewis Hall all being either ignored or downgraded by incompetent officials (the legally acceptable description!), it should be very clear to all and sundry that VAR is vital to the game.
I don’t agree with Shearer’s idea that VAR has made the officials complacent. They still have to use their eyes, look at things 25/30 yards away (or less) and help each other out. I thought Kavannagh was pretty poor throughout the match but he was badly let down by his assistants. How can a qualified referee, standing in line for a free-kick not see what tens of thousands in the stadium and hundreds of thousands at home clearly saw? Two players a good yard offside, one of whom scored!
The handball in the box was probably even more blatant and the assault on Jacob Murphy (the first one) was right in front of the far side “line-o”. These things were so clear and obvious that even Danny Murphy called them.
My personal opinion is that VAR, like refereeing in general, suffers due to the incompetence of the officials. When you consider the billions swishing around in the football trough, why are games controlled by blokes who are paid but are essentially amateurs with little or no background in the sport at a professional level? Sometimes they don’t even seem to know the basic laws of the game (just ask Keith Stroud to explain about encroachment if you bump into him).
They seem poorly trained and are never called to account for their errors. A mumbled apology on Monday evening by the PGMOL “Supremo”, Howard Webb, is as much use as a one legged man at a backside-kicking party. Rather like his organisation. Secretive, blundering and answerable to no one.
All match officials need to be:
a) full time professionals
b) well trained and regularly tested
c) miked up during the game
d) available for scrutiny by the media after games
e) subject to well defined consequences for mistakes due to incompetence
f) banned for life if convicted of cheating
As for VAR, I have always felt that its main problem, over and above the incompetence of officials, is a lack of communication. If you’ve paid your fifty quid for a ticket to watch the match you know a lot less than the folks at home ie nothing.
Rugby used the TMO system extensively. You can hear the discussion between the officials (who all clearly know the laws of the game inside out). No secrets. Everyone in the stadium and at home is involved in the process and can understand how the final decision was arrived at. There are reasons that I can think of as to why it doesn’t happen like that in football.
First of all, the FA, Premier League, UEFA and FIFA are not confident that the officials know their stuff well enough. They might come over as amateurish and incompetent. They may not be able to make the players behave as well as the rugby players do. Did I say “might” twice there? Secondly, those same bodies and the PGMOL want to be in control at all times, therefore they need their secrets.
The second “myth” that I want to question is one expressed by some people that Will Osula could be the answer to our centre forward problem. I’ve always felt – along with many other people – that Will is more of a right side forward who does best playing wide and cutting in rather than trying to lead the line.
He’s a willing worker and he did his best to put himself about and be a nuisance to the opposition. However, although he didn’t enjoy much service, when he did get involved he imitated what Tony Malabar rightly described in his “instant reaction” piece after the match as a “headless chicken”. I’d hoped he might relax and come out of that guise in time but, sadly, not.
I suspect that part of our summer transfer activity will involve the sale of Will to a club in Europe where, hopefully, he’ll find his level and do OK. He’ll leave with a cup winner’s medal and the best wishes, I’m sure, of the Geordie Nation.
The third myth, of course, is that we can’t win without Bruno. Although we did manage to defeat the mighty Tranmere Rovers (some fans refer to US as cloggers!) without him, we didn’t manage to beat a Premier League team minus our talisman until Saturday. No disrespect to anyone who “perpetuated” that particular myth because it was definitely a factor. However, it has now been officially busted.
Finally, back to VAR. Not a myth exactly but many people have mentioned the 5cm tolerance on offside which factored in allowing Wirtz’ goal for Liverpool but not ours versus Spurs. This tolerance does exist in England and was introduced at the start of the 2020/21 season to address technological inaccuracies. When the semi-automated offside system was introduced, the European clubs abandoned the 5cm tolerance, but England retained it.
It wasn’t any help in the case of Joe Willock’s but did allow Wirtz’ goal to stand simply because of the frames used to determine when the ball was played. VAR are offered three frames and, in Joe’s case, apparently, chose the first one and the TV broadcasters chose a different frame. It was still incredibly tight but not within the 5cm tolerance in his case. Again, apparently. Or should that be “allegedly”?
So the 5cm mythical beast does, in fact, exist but like many referees and their assistants over the years, was of no help whatsoever to Newcastle United. “C’est normal” as they say over here!