Oh my word! What a weekend for VAR in the Premier League. Are the video assistant referees intentionally trying to sabotage VAR so that it gets scrapped? Probably not, but as every week goes by more and more supporters from more and more clubs are getting properly cheesed-off with puzzling VAR decisions. This weekend alone … [Read more…]
The Premier League has recently appointed a new Chief Executive, Richard Masters. One of his first challenges was to comment on the under-fire VAR system, and he said that it was not going to be scrapped, but needed to be made better. Based on the stat that 2/3 of fans are saying that the game … [Read more…]
A couple of years ago I commented on the fledgling VAR system and it is proving to be the game changer that I believed it would be at the time. Now, After several weeks use in the Premier League, I am pleased to report that it is working fairly well . After watching the women’s … [Read more…]
1. England win. A feeling of relief at the final whistle, but we were almost left feeling deflated. We totally deserved to win against a poor team who benefited from bad refereeing decisions on penalty area incidents. It allowed Tunisia to defend throughout the second half, in which I could have played in goal for … [Read more…]
Who is the best-ever footballer? This question is asked over and over again, and, quite rightly, will continue to be asked as long as our beautiful game is played. The answer is, of course, completely subjective. We all have our favourites. When I was a teenager I was captivated by the 1970 Brazilians, and I … [Read more…]
The start of the World Cup is now less than a week away, and I am beginning to get that buzz of anticipation. I am English, and proud of it, and I am just old enough to remember 1966 and that joyful feeling of being on top of the world. Little did I know that … [Read more…]
There have been a few surprises this season in the Championship. The upturn in fortunes at Wolves, and to a lesser extent at Cardiff, were not widely predicted, but the most astonishing of them has been at the opposite end of the table. I am referring, of course, to the demise of Sunderland. When they … [Read more…]
Earlier this season I praised a tactic used by Man City, which I had never seen before, in my post ‘Tales of the Unexpected’. On Saturday, it resulted in their second goal, against Everton. The MOTD pundits, Shearer and Murphy, were singing the praises of Leroy Sane whose link-up play in the build-up was excellent. … [Read more…]
The offside law has always been confusing to many football watchers, and over recent years there have been several subtle tweaks to the law to try to make to the game more exciting. These tweaks have generally been introduced to allow attackers to be given onside in situations where they may well have been given … [Read more…]
Only a few short weeks ago I published a post, ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’, in which I commented on the up-coming VAR technology. Very few people had heard of it back in November, but now I would find it hard to believe that any football fan worthy of the name, is totally unaware of … [Read more…]