Four bad decisions in one game is tough to swallow, even by this season’s ludicrous standards.
I feel most aggrieved about the penalty given against Semedo after the replay showed a clear touch of the ball and with it, a clear and obvious error. That is a clanger.
The Gomes penalty is straddling the line but having not been given on the pitch, it was incredible that the VAR intervened having failed to do so for the first penalty.
Should Tim Ream have been given a second yellow for bringing down Hwang for the one decision we did get? Possibly.
Should Vinicius have been given a straight red for head butting Kilman? Definitely.
Even one of these calls going our way probably prevents this contest from ending in defeat so despite another iffy second half showing I struggle to be too critical of the players’ efforts.
Wolves aren’t brilliant and they aren’t awful so these types of games are always going to come down to small moments and you simply can’t keep your head above water up against such a sustained assault from the officials.
Gary O’Neil spoke well afterwards and his ‘what’s the point?’ demeanour is the measured response that was needed. We can kick and scream all we want, but nothing is going to change in the short term.
On the non-contentious parts of the game, I felt their first goal was too soft and they got in far too easily down that left side all evening.
Bellegarde did superbly for the equaliser and continues to look a brilliant find.
Santi Bueno did alright, but there were one or two uncomfortable moments and I struggle to see him keeping Dawson out of the side.
With both Lemina and Gomes suspended for the trip to Arsenal, the task becomes significantly harder.
It’s a big ask going to the Emirates and hoping for a change of fortune, but after all we’ve endured with just over a third of the season gone, it’s already overdue.
Simple. Just walk off the pitch. Go to the monitor? Don’t go to the monitor? Either way we get screwed over. I am SICK OF IT. SICK OF IT. We should be up in the top 7 or 8 now but always on the wrong end of shitty decisions. There is an agenda. Corruption. Simple. If a club hasn’t had a decision all season bet your life they get one or two v Wolves. Prepare for a fuckin Arsenal player going down like he has been shot and a pen Saturday. Fuckin sick of it.
Amen to that COD, it’s rotten to the core.
I told you !! I told you all after the MAN U game that there is something fundamentally wrong with Stockley Park.
When we were robbed by a terrible penalty decision in the next shot show after that I asked you all why you weren’t more angry about it.
Now here we are 13 games in, 4 of which ruined by Stockley Park. This last having as many terrible decisions an the other 12 games put together. How much more are you willing to put up with?
Surely now, we must take action as fans. Our season has already been destroyed. We have nothing to lose. Time to kick up a fuss. Time to protest at the ground. Time to send letters to the club, the PL, to PGMOL. Time so camp outside Stockley Park. Time to send fake wads of cash to Howard Webb.
Time to take up arms (not literally obviously) !! Be creative and make a fxcking noise !!
Agree Cheese. No trains going all the way back to Dorset last night, so got in at 2am. Still very angry. I’m sick of the Premier league and the stop start way VAR has stolen the game. The showing of yellow cards, Like confetti starts to take its toll and like Thomas says, makes our trip on Saturday a bit more of a challenge.
I did feel we were a tad slow and too much passing backwards last night. I felt Flum were there for the taking, If we had been a bit more direct at times. Overall it was a shit ground, shit home support and shit transport system.
Can you tell I’m not happy?
KTF
https://x.com/SkySportsPL/status/1729272192095944934?t=tR_v9J8e9v6uBBkiGyi8fw&s=09
Footnote.
Not sure the link will play, but this morning, just listened to Gary’ post match interview. What a thoroughly professional man we have as our coach. Wouldn’t it be good if his comments were heard and something actually happens, that a grown-up conversation is had.
I won’t hold my breath.
KTF
PS still unhappy
“Wolves manager Gary O’Neil has revealed referee Michael Sailsbury admitted one of the controversial penalty decisions that went against his side at Fulham were incorrect.”
It doesnt help us mate
Thanks Thomas.
I share your – and, I guess, many other Wolves fans’ – sense of injustice. Some more poor decisions from match officials. This is costing the club points – and money, when it comes to the final league tables.
A draw would have been a fair result and I think both sides would have taken it.
The only fair result is when one teams beats another by fair means.
It doesn’t matter if you give away 95% possession and score a deflection on the break. That’s a fair and deserved result.
Referring by slide rule and what’s become a committee might arguably be more accurate but it’s not sport.
Shooting from the hip!
If we feel as if we are constantly being hard done to we would be right. It’s been happening ever since we were promoted in 2018. Tonight an absolute disgrace.
But let’s also just spare a thought for Everton, potentially relegated by an arbitrary “governing” body for “misspending their own money” – sorry FFP. Meanwhile MCFC and Chelsea are using obfuscation to bury their alleged misdemeanours in the sands of time.
The EPL is becoming a farce played out in the Stockley Park bunker and potentially the law courts rather than on the field.
This is all really beginning to stink of corruption – end of story.
Maybe WWFC stationary cupboard doesn’t stock big enough brown paper envelopes.
Independent enquiry needed into this scandal NOW.
Footnotes.
On the pitch if it really matters any more.
Max Kilman needs to work on his distribution.
And sadly tonight reinforced the decision to let Raul depart. My view – Raul take a well earned retirement and look after yourself and your family. You will always be a Molineux legend .
Already cost us 9 pointa. Everton 10. Just us indirectly.
Spot on PJB — particularly your comments ref Raul A once truly great striker is but a shadow of his former self. Now is surely the time for him to retire gracefully.
PJB. Everton’s situation is entirely different. They knew the rules and chose not to abide by them.
Should we be relegated at the end of the season after being forced to sell £100m of players and being able to spend next to nothing because we abided by the rules which Everton flouted and they stayed up above us on goal difference, would you still be so magnanimous?
Take your point Prawny and it’s valid.
I’m not particularly bothered about Everton either way, but to me it’s about a point of principle re-FFP..
No1 – it’s designed to protect the cartel which now includes Newcastle.
No2 – in the real world rather than the delusional world of the EPL FFP would constitute an illegal restraint of trade. If clubs go into administration then points deduction understandable, but for refusing to accept restrictions as to how they finance their own affairs is to me unacceptable and in contravention of operating a competitive playing field. It’s all about maintaining the status quo and I think we have seen enough ourselves, certainly in the Nuno era and again this season, to know what lengths “the elite” (self appointed) clubs will go to to preserve their stranglehold on the Premier League.
Oh for the days of the old First Division.
Oh sorry Skymeisters I mean those prehistoric days predating THE PREMIER LEAGUE which apparently have no place in English football history and we never actually won 3 league titles.
But this post may just represent the views of an old timer who remembers when professional football was sport and not a circus more akin to Formula 1 Scaleextric overrun with the verbose pundits, would be dolly bird(?) commentators , summarizers and even “expert” referees. It’s a self generated feeding frenzy of parasites who “grace” our TV screens round the clock spouting self opinionated tripe.
Our Molineux anthem by Mary Hopkin “Those Were the Days” couldn’t be more appropriate than it is tonight.
Nostalgia rant over.
So
Come on you 21st century Wolves we’re hanging on in there a lot better than some and we and our like must beat the megacheats running this farce otherwise football as we know it is dead to all but a select few clubs around the world.
I disagree with you only slightly PJB.
The original intentions of FFP were good ones – to stop unscrupulous owners from risking the future of a club by investing everything they could muster and then some more into a roll of the dice for success. Both Portsmouth and Leeds almost disappeared because of this and without FFP others may have followed.
The big problem with this is obviously the bigger the business the higher the turnover.
I don’t think anyone ever imagined a situation where clubs would be owned by wealth funds or even countries.
The answer to this conundrum?
F#€k knows!
Again Prawny agreed,
It’s a classic case of “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”. In this scenario the good intentions have been hijacked by bandits.
Yes, hit the ground in the penalty area against Wolves and we’ll spend five minutes and make sure you get a penalty somehow, choosing our angles carefully.
How is this being allowed to continue?
I’m devastated, infuriated and totally aware that nothing will really be done as we’re not one of the big teams.
I felt that the poor decisions affected our play with the “here we go again” feeling. The frustration the guys must feel cannot be denied or overstated; it must be on a par with we fans. They deserve, as we do, better officiating. I’m not blaming the ref in this case but the VAR officials are taking the piss with their calls on the ref to look at their selected and partial angles.
The ref said the first decision was wrong and he should have been asked to look at the various angles of view.
But what’s the point nothing will change. Incompetence or maybe corruption continues to mar our season.
The Arsenal game will be very difficult but who knows what the outcome will be with our plucky lads. COYW!!!
There`s nothing to say about VAR which hasn`t been said before. The whole thing has generated into a complete and utter farce. The magnitude of incompetence is difficult to even imagine. Just how these fools appointed?
I`ve always been reluctant to suggest a conspiracy, but I don`t believe in coincidences either. To me this process has the feeling of being rotten to the core.
When will anyone step up to get this thing right so that it`s a level playing field for all clubs, or alternatively accept that the problems are insoluble and get rid of it altogether? As things stand there is a grave danger that our national sport will be forever ruined.
VAR aside, tonight`s game showed again just how important Craig Dawson is to us. Early on we could have been dead and and buried due to basic defensive failings.
If there is one positive that O’Neil can take from all this, it’s that he has now well and truly got the fans onside, if there was any doubt. We’ve seen in the last two games at Molineux what a bit of siege mentality can do for the atmosphere. We are all with him in feeling anger at yet more decisions going against us. I thought he spoke well in the post match interview (not sure I would’ve been so mild mannered!)
Regarding the game, I thought we did OK. Could, perhaps should, have been infront at half-time and, were it not for more laughable incompetence from the officials, we get a result tonight.
There’s more than one way of giving teams a ten point deduction, the corrupt powers at premier headquarters must be pig sick we avoided relegation last year and are doubling their efforts this year
Stuffed yet again… by the men in black, not Fulham.
Watching Wolves play is bad for my health, just waiting for the inevitable bad decisions that will send my blood pressure soaring.
The amount of wasted time spent poring over VAR situations is just ridiculous and the longer it goes on, you just know what the outcome’s going to be.
Our vendetta with the men in black is never going to go away is it?
Pantomime season comes earlier every year doesn’t it?
Ours started with the first game against Manchester United and is still in full swing.
There have been countless examples but that was the MOST incompetent collective display of refereeing and VARing that I have witnessed.
Some were more incomprehensible than others but most worrying of them all for me was the head butt against Max Kilman.
By the laws of the game, a sending off offence.
His measured reaction to it, and VAR’s pathetic non action after it, has just ensured that every other player who has an opponent’s head come within a mile of theirs is going to go down like a felled ox and roll about until the red card is waved at the miscreant.
After much thought I have decided that it isn’t corruption, or bias towards the top six clubs – we’ve been on the wrong side of decisions against top six, mid table and bottom three sides.
No, it’s just a mixture of cowardice, incompetence and…. of course the most important of all…
…Wolves must have been VERY bad in a previous existence.
On a brighter note, I’m looking forward to rewatching some old films this Christmas.
I hope they’ll be showing one of my favourites, Groundhog Day.
On second thoughts, maybe not.
We all watch that most weeks don’t we?
I said it before, as FIFA is historically corrupt to the core, so are the PL officials! Perhaps the PL need to remove referees from the VAR decision making and replace them with ex-football players. Most of the pundits agree on the correct decisions from what they see, but VAR officials somehow see something else!
Everton have been deducted 10 points, and so have we, except our deductions have come from corrupt VAR officials!
Totally disgusted!
I have said before on this site that the same referees officiating at games should not be on VAR. They should use foreign refs and ex players at Stockley Park. Birds of a feather flock together and should be kept apart. I support the overall concept of VAR but the operation has become a shambles and a joke.
One could argue .. tenuously in many of our injustices, that the VAR decisions are subjective ..
What isn’t Subjective though are the rules of the game … and how, on this planet can referees not understand them properly.?
Touching the ball first in a challenge like Semedo’s is NEVER to be deemed a penalty.
And finally, there seems to be scope for degrees of head butting… LAUGH ? … it just makes me cry …
Michael Salisbury should be sacked .. and Stuart Attwell similarly…
I mean .. what’s the point …
As for the football.. I thought we played quite cautiously and in Bueno case, very nervously.
Fulham were rocking at 2-2 but we somehow managed to let the pressure ease and let them off the hook.
On a Raul footnote .. yes mate … let go gracefully.. you’ve been a great servant to the game, even in Fulham’s set up you’re a lone forward … without much support… at least you don’t go around head butting every defender in sight …
Last nights Officials should shamed …
Absolutely disgraceful decisions last night. And as for the headbutt; most players would have clutched their head and gone to ground without a thought. Danny, because he shows good morals didn’t.
And as for GON, he’s correct about what kids are going to wrongfully learn about headbutting on the field of play.
I did mean Max. Brain wasn’t engaged.
https://arseblog.com/2023/11/officials-rob-wolves-again/
Interesting thoughts from an Arsenal fan.
I had a great view of the match last night, courtesy of a generous client, right behind the dugout with Gary in my sights. I must say that he kept calm in spite of the brazenly contentious decisions.
In my view the current VAR mess can be laid out in a numbered chart of bias:
1. ‘Bigger’ team bias
2. Home team bias
3. Reluctance of VAR to overrule referee when he has blown for a penalty
4. VAR intervention when referee has not blown for a penalty
5. Reluctance of referee to contradict VAR when he is sent to the monitor
6. Players anticipating contact in order to go down in the box, knowing that slo-mo replays will look damning
Points 2 to 6 last night in my bias list were clearly on display. There is no doubt that teams are actively working to take advantage of bias in the VAR system. The bias will be in favour of firstly the bigger team, and then the home team, if teams are of about equal standing. There is definitely massive intimidation in the whole atmosphere of matches to favour the bigger or home team.
I should probably add point 7 to my list above, which is:
7. Stuff Wolves.
Lee Mason must have a few mates in the referee-VAR brotherhood. Why I say this is that Nuno once said that he never wanted Lee Mason to referee a Wolves match again. Enough said. No smoke without fire.
VAR has clearly been unable to improve sufficiently on the pre-VAR decision-making era. The whole cushy-cosy old-boys set up at VAR HQ is more like a country club from descriptions I have read. It’s jobs for the boys, and scratch my back I’ll scratch yours.
Dances You are spot on with your diagnosis of Wolves dilemma
Nuno was spot on with his opinion of that particular ref and even more proof followed later on of his inadequacy
Refs are a law unto themselves and this business of not talking about their mistakes is ridiculous especially VAR representation when they take all the time in the world to supposedly get it right and then balls it up hiding the mistakes in some barrister written jargon that suits their case in hand and then is supposedly forgotten about
I’m not going to list all the misdemeanours that Wolves have been found to be not guilty on but one very simple one that springs to mind was the absurd sending off of Mario Lemina for being the third player to approach the referee to challenge his decision. Now several games have been played since that day and I cannot think of a single case where anyone has had the same reaction and yet not a game has passed that a player has received the same response as Lemina had. It’s happening every game
A previous blogger wrote of foreign refs looking after our games and our refs looking after the foreign matches which I think is definitely worth a try but also do away with refs in VAR and give the jobs to ex footballers who would be able to see things like deliberate dives a lot better
Come on F A do something don’t let the referees association bully you anymore Do the job your all paid very nicely to do and sort this mess you have helped to create out
I’m loathe to scream ‘conspiracy’ because a decision goes against us. I fully realise I wear my gold-tinted specs proudly atop my nose. But I’m not blind. Or stupid. In fact, the ever mounting stack of evidence all points one way and it doesn’t look good for us.
Over the last three seasons, we have been consistently done over by officialdom. Other clubs have bad decisions go against them but none come close to the frequency we have to endure. And it seems to be getting worse.
Why us? Our ownership links to China perhaps. It’s difficult to see any logic behind what is becoming more obvious week by week . But it is working. I’m losing interest in the beautiful game. I don’t want to give up and let the bastards win but they hold all the cards and I’m dangling at the end of my tether.
I pray the situation will soon change, but hold little hope.
I was told by my father that you should never blame the referees performance for losing, or failing, to win a game. This was, of course pre-VAR. I think he would change his mind on this now! Btw, how can the referee’s excuse be that it was a ‘soft’ headbutt on Maximilian? Finally, is Dawson back for the next game?
I told you !! I told you all after the MAN U game that there is something fundamentally wrong with Stockley Park.
When we were robbed by a terrible penalty decision in the next shot show after that I asked you all why you weren’t more angry about it.
Now here we are 13 games in, 4 of which ruined by Stockley Park. This last having as many terrible decisions an the other 12 games put together. How much more are you willing to put up with?
Surely now, we must take action as fans. Our season has already been destroyed. We have nothing to lose. Time to kick up a fuss. Time to protest at the ground. Time to send letters to the club, the PL, to PGMOL. Time so camp outside Stockley Park. Time to send fake wads of cash to Howard Webb.
Time to take up arms (not literally obviously) !! Be creative and make a fxcking noise !!
What I did mean to add, regarding the evil men in black, was…
Wait til til they start using AI in VAR, then we are truly and royally f***ed.
LOL- but would AI have a detrimental affect on decisions?
If, and a very big if, the parameters are reasonable then all teams would be dealt with by the same criteria. Consistency is what we are looking for to stop this clear anti Wolves bias.
What is annoying me most is the opposition seemingly making any contact by our defenders in the box appear to be a foul- and we aren’t helping ourselves in this respect. It’s blatant cheating and they are getting away with it.
I’m going to try and take a leaf out of Mr O’Neil’s rather commendable self control and not rant.
There are a number of points which need addressing.
1. If the best VAR can do is come up with a subjective decision by committee then is it better than a decision by the one official actually on the pitch? Would we not be better just having perimeter technology and leave the subjective stuff to the ref.
2. Is it in the best interest of the football to judge decisions by slide rule? Does it benefit the game to measure a players toe to decide if he’s on or offside? Does it actually benefit the sport?
3. Would not be a better use of VAR be to look at missed actions of cheating (like blatant head butts) after the game and then sanction as appropriate. Surely this would be better than ruling by the acting skills of the offended player?
3. If there is a conspiracy is it this. With the power of broadcasting within football, is it just a coincidence that the average VAR stoppage is just long enough to run a TV commercial
Any bets on which betting company will be the sponsor of the first VAR ad break?
And I’ve just thought of a point 4.
What is a foul and why?
If it’s any type of contact then say so and we know to avoid it.
As it stands you can be reasonably robust anywhere on the pitch except inside the box where even the most marginal of glances is a penalty.
I’ve always assumed, wrongly it appears that for foul play to occur an intentional advantage has to be sought or there is danger to one of the opponents.
Taking the Gomes penalty or the Hwang incident against Newcastle, in both instances the opponent was the player attacking from a blind sided position and at pace. It is not humanly possible for either Hwang or. Gomes to be aware of the incoming player. Ok, play the video frame by frame to disprove this but football isn’t played in slow motion.
Last Tuesday a friend messaged me who the officials were for last night. My immediate message back was “We’re stuffed” and we were.
There’s no point in me commenting on last night’s decisions as everyone else has covered it all. Perhaps just worth a reminder that Salisbury was the ref for the home game against Leeds last September. He missed the clear and obvious shirt pull on Traore in the build up to Leeds’ last goal. Didn’t change his mind after seeing it on the screen and gave a red card (that was overturned) to Nunes when he was on the bench for an imagined infringement. We say we want consistency from referees – unfortunately we get it.
Last season, not September.
Var is atrocious that’s a given and GON patience is that of a saint.
I don’t believe in conspiracies, Var is shit it’s shit for everyone part of the reason wolves get so many bad calls is we’re giving the officials more calls to make. Why when facing a side that has one of the worst attacking records in the league why are we sitting so deep? There was a stat shown at the start that tells you all you need to know wolves are 20th for opposition players caught offside this season. We defend deep, and get caught out in the full back positions. You can argue it gives our flair players more space to run into on the break but it also means we are under pressure in our box more often increasing the chances for contentious calls. Frankly we have made Luton, fulham and sheffield United look like great football teams because we sat back and didn’t try to win the ball back until it was advanced in our half.
Goldbridge Yu tube ‘var disgrace’ sums it all up perfectly.
We should all be wolves today
We can all moan about VAR on here until we are blue in the face and it will not make any difference whatsoever. Even if fans start to turn away from the game in the UK as long as the “product” remains saleable globally, all our collective harrumph will do is illicit more platitudes about learning from mistakes, trying to improve it etc. The only thing that will make PL and PGMOL sit up and do anything is a shock to the system for example, fans protesting by peacefully entering the field of play en masse leading to the delay/abandonment of fixtures. If the games can’t be played they have no product to transmit around the world. Fans are used by the PL to orchestrate many campaigns on their behalf e.g Rainbow, Prostrate Cancer, BLM etc, perhaps it’s about time the tables were turned to dismantle the slick marketing machine that has made the PL so successful. Some might think this is an overreaction and inappropriate but if the voice of fans ever counted for anything, VAR would have been abandon a long time ago as the negative feedback is massive and deafening and yet still nothing changes. Sadly, no one listens to the fans and so to build on GON’s observation, perhaps it’s not just time to make some noise, perhaps it’s time for fans to take some direct action to wrestle back ownership of the game we all love but is being destroyed before our eyes?
A VERY dangerous precedent to set mate.
Fans entering the field of play is something that was fortunately stamped out years ago.
It could well end up with heavy fines for the club or having to play in front of an empty stadium.
The trouble is, there are responsible fans who think a one off peaceful protest can solve a problem and there are irresponsible fans who will see it as an opportunity to run on the field every time something happens that they don’t approve of.
A whole new can of worms which I wouldn’t want to see opened.
I can see the dangers and you articulate them clearly. I guess my point was being made in hopefully more than just Wolves protesting against VAR. Interestingly, mass protest didn’t stop MUFC fans causing the abandonment of a game in the last few years to get the Glazers into dialogue which led to the club being put up for sale. I don’t recollect any sanctions being imposed in that instance? I agree such an action of mass protest is fraught with risk but at what point does enough become enough around the results of football games being deliberately manipulated by forces external to the playing arena?
VAR.
Rapidiy becoming one of the most hated acronyms of the 21st century.
IJS
It’s just shit. As previously pointed out, comparing how VAR is applied in football to the Video review system in Rugby is akin to comparing a Reliant Robin to a Rolls Royce.
I’ve little to add to another spot on post tbh.
My reaction to the penalty awarded against Semedo after seeing he clearly made contact with the ball was WTF.
Then seeing Gomes on the wrong side of another dodgy decision I just thought WTAF.
How Vinicius managed to get away with a yellow for his butt of Kilman – YAF kidding me. A yellow for violent conduct is not in the rules. Making it up as they’re going along.
Reams – a clear cut foul and penalty but no card ICF believe my eyes.
Honestly, YCF make it up.
We played ok. A draw was the least we deserved.
We will be ok this season. In GON we’ve got a very good young coach.
But we could have been great this season.
FVAR
UTW??
ICAM Muttleigh.
This post doesn’t directly relate to WWFC in the present but imo is a threat to the fabric
our beloved game sooner rather than later.
Think the Premier League as a governing body may have created a s***storm which it won’t be able to handle as it’s already running out of control. Anyone looked to see who actually sits on the PL “Executive Committee” or whatever it calls itself. Jokers.
MCFC and Chelsea currently being scrutinised for historical offences still “under investigation”.
Wolves already tried and convicted for minor infringements and sanctioned AT THE TIME.
Everton already docked 10 points THIS SEASON for alleged historical FFP transgressions I believe committed in the same timeline as MCFC/Chelsea possibly with more to come. Absolutely no consistency whatsoever,
In the background Leics. City, Leeds and Burnley (probably just for starters) lining up to sue Everton, the PL and anyone else they think may be in their sights for now historical relegations due to Everton’s survival which is now apparently “illegal”. Possible outcome Everton relegated and into Administration. Meanwhile Everton also inevitably and understandably lining up their own legal appeal.
How many more cases to come?
Looks as if the 2024-2025 season may be played out in the law courts rather than on the pitch.
Perfect breeding ground for a European Super League to spring up who knows where. Anyone remember Kerry Packer tearing the cricket world to pieces? It couldn’t happen in football could it?
Andy Burnham is spot on saying it is an abuse of process, it’s a given that the ten point penalty will be reduced on appeal, possibly to six which i think was the original request before they decided to make an example out of Everton to ward off an independent regulator. They simply cannot change the rules mid process.
Which will leave us only 6 points above the drop zone and not so comfortable making the injustices we have suffered even more infuriating.
I would welcome a Euro Super League, it would eliminate the need for corruption to fulfill the TV viewing figures/advertising revenue. We’d be rid of the problem and we would get football back minus the glitz and glamour of the PL which is crumbs from the kings table as far as the rest of of us are concerned. We’d be free of the bullshit we have to put up with atm. A leveller playing field and a more competetive league.
Fair post PJB
See Martin Samuel’s article in the London Times on Saturday
Sorry can’t forward but it’s headed
“Premier League turns lawyers and accountants into its stars”
Meantime my perfect prediction of 2-2 is scuppered by … can’t find the right words
GON needs to be careful he doesn’t become the rallying point for everyone distrusting everything all at once
Keep focus on the team and make sure Gunners are sweating next we
NUFC might think VAR sucks as well now but it sure handed them enough points at our expense since the Jimenez assault in March and then the Hwang penalty more recently.
But in fact they have no case.
Exhibit A – Gomes at Luton.
If that was a pen then tonight was a pen. End of, surely.
I remember from some years ago a news item which said that the president of one US bank had issued an instruction that staff who had taken to drinking vodka martinis at lunchtime in the belief that it would not affect their breath should revert to gin. He said that he would rather customers thought his staff drunk than stupid.
We surely are at the point where there’s a similar question as to whether the operators of VAR are incompetent or corrupt. While it’s understandable how we’ve got to this position, it does seem to me to be an unjustifiable oversimplification that is unfair to all affected – officials, players, mangers, clubs, fans.
The main issue for me is that matches are no longer controlled solely by the laws of the game. To be clear, I’m not looking back through rose-tinted spectacles at a time when everything was wonderful. I’ve been supporting Wolves since 1954 and witnessed dreadful errors by officials long before VAR – and the technology which made it even possible – was even thought of. Officials are human, genuine errors will be made and, because they are statistically random, there’s a good chance that they will actually level out over a longer period. The system did allow for errors to be corrected – David Woodfield was sent off for putting Mike Summerbee onto the empty seats at the front of the North Street Stand. He went unpunished when MS appeared for him and said that it had been a fair tackle.
Having seen both the Fulham match itself and a good part of its aftermath the issue has become very clear for me, and lies in the idea of the “Clear and obvious error”. A layer of uncertainty has been laid over the laws of the game. The views of Dermot Gallagher on the Fulham match showed this very clearly. He agreed with some of the decisions but not others. We have to remove from VAR both this difference of opinion and the dreadful protracted radio discussions which can show three different views – Ref, VAR and Assistant VAR and lead to soul-destroying and joyless delays.
Technology works well for factual matters – did the ball actually cross the line for a goal, was the player offside, did player A headbutt player B (i.e. not did he hit him hard enough!!!) – and for things the ref didn’t see – off the ball fouls say. All opinion except that of the onfield ref should be removed. Replays – preferably not in slomo – should be available to him if he wants them (and surely for their own protection they would want them). This should be on a mobile device he could keep in his pocket – the resolution would be ample – if it takes four minutes of studying hi-res slomo video to come to a decision then the decision if worthless- just a matter of opinion.
Scrupulously removing the opinions of others and leaving it to the man onfield would put us back to where we were – in the hands of someone as fallible (and incorruptible) as the rest of us. To complete the loop, he should be charged with giving a post-match interview – like the managers – when he might, quite rightly, have some explaining to do. Their standing would increase tremendously if they were to admit to honest mistakes – too many, of course, might lead to their ability being questioned -demonstrably rightly.
Interesting how many fans of other teams, particularly the big 6, have come out in support of GON’s claims of injustice.
I am convinced that all decent fans are appalled at the poor decision-making processes we are currently encountering. Not only the atrocious outcomes but also the painful mood-killing, secretive laborious process. And the mind numbing inconsistency.
Word on the street is that in order to referee a Wolves game officials must familiarise themselves with the additional laws contained within the Wolf-Appendix. Examples of the Wolf-Appendix include:
1. An assumption should be made that within the penalty area no Wolves opponent would ever contemplate a dive.
2. Any implied attempt by a Wolves player within the penalty area to impede an opponent by physical contact is to be automatically penalised. Whether they actually touch the opponent or the ball is completely irrelevant.
3. Where Wolves are in a non-losing situation during additional time after the ninety minutes have elapsed, any opportunity to manufacture a game winning situation for the opponent should be taken. Creativity of decision by officials will be rewarded in the usual manner. BUT use of the ‘VAR cameras not working’ should be used as a last resort and no more than once a season.
4. A reminder that the ‘penalising a 3rd player for looking quizzically in a dissentful manner’ rule still applies to Wolves.
5. Any handball by a Wolves player in the penalty area still applies even though it occurred involuntarily after initially striking another part of their body, any other player or officials body or anybody else within a one mile radius of the ground.
Are you suggesting they’re biased?
Genius post. Thank you ?
Smiley face not question mark
I, personally, see things differently to many on here whilst respecting the frustration and fury felt in our treatment.
To me, VAR is not the problem at all. It is merely the mode or manner of carrying out the process or judgement, the interpretation of and the wording of the laws of the game by people who, often, have never even played the game.
To ask for VAR to go away makes no sense to me: it just needs a lot more common sense and openness to seeing and hearing the process.
The main reason it cannot be taken away, though, to my mind, is that any decision, wrong, contentious or not, is already forensically examined by the broadcasters, who seem to be far quicker and accurate in their findings.
The big ‘boy’ s club involved in VAR needs to be broken up and ex players and professional broadcasters along with the refs need to work together with the lawmakers to sort this inept and unforgiveable mess out. I would, personally have all this done under the chairmanship of Gary Lineker and Howard Webb.
The laws need to be altered so that we are not having to measure millimetres wasting time. Damning VAR, to my mind, is wrong; it is the way it is interpreted and carried out that is the real problem and it cannot be uninvented; we can learn to live with it if used properly and competently…
O yes, not forgetting the infamous,
‘The games on Monday night so our decisions won’t be ridiculed on MOTD’
Clause.
And I’m not talking Santa.
What a stinking shit show the EPL is becoming.
Kenny Hibbitt where are you now?
1 lv & COYW
I see Fawlty Towers have Jarred Gillet in charge of our next home match v Burnley next Tuesday. He is the turd who sent off Mario Lemina for being a ‘3rd person running towards the referee’. Another VAR ruling that only applied to Wolves. After we inevitably get screwed over at Arsenal on Saturday by the clown Bankes I can see Gillet being in for a rough ride at Molineux. It won’t take much to get the crowd riled up. If I was Gillet I may invest in a tin helmet.
Well (sigh) here we go again , after calming down and taking it all in until im bursting with other peoples opinions i have changed my mind from conspiracy against wolves to total incompetence from the official’s.
Debenham has hit the nail on the head imo in that the people in the VAR decision room should be made up of ex players (not overseeing previous clubs)and a top ref who puts to them the unbiased rules to then make a decision .
They know when someone is gaming the system and its blatantly obvious the officials dont of that there can be no argument.
Football in the old days was all about conning the referee seeing what you could get away with and pushing the rules to the limit now its about conning the ref in the VAR room who has never played the game but loves watching slowmotion replays that show the slightest of touches or pushes and makes them look way worse than they really are.
Ex players who have carried out these tactics and have been trained everyday to carry out these tactics are the ONLY people who know the truth that when a player deliberately runs across the path of another then falls like a felled tree conveniently leaving a trailing leg is conning the ref plus of course the miriad of other tactics they employ in order to gain an advantage.
Sad as it is it is just an evolution of whats always been going on but the other thing that bothers me is that when the rules are blatantly broken in front of every watching eye they ignore it hence the indefensible decision not to send off vinicious which was compounded by one of the most ridiculous excuses ever heard from a so called top referee.
We now hear that we will be subjected to more VAR and according to simon jordan thats a good thing and i actually tend to agree with him BUT that absolutely must be accompanied by a much better quicker system of judgement with those decisions made by ex professional footballers who we know have the experience behind them to make a proper decision .
In the meantime garry has to train our players to cheat much better than they have been doing.
sad very sad.
VAR is becoming as hated as VAT. And we know they are both here forever.