17 Jan 2024 13:38:00
I see Howard Webb (and therefore PGMOL) have finally admitted that the Odegaard handball against Liverpool was a penalty.

1.) 17 Jan 2024
17 Jan 2024 14:33:53
David Coote was rewarded by being given the duties of officiating a cup semi-final! It was his first time refereeing in a big game, the commentators said.

2.) 17 Jan 2024
17 Jan 2024 15:13:22
ShipleyKopite, you know it. Oh, and in other news: Gambling is legal in Vegas. That is the next piece of Webbo will have us all believe. That the Odegaard incident should have been a pen is something large majorities of fans and pundits already knew and said at the time BUT notice during and after the game, they kept saying that it was cos Odegaard slipped hence, it could not have been a pen. This is how the PGMOL and their allies in the media condition us into believing the very opposite of the what we are seeing hence, gaslighting us.

So now that Webbo has come clean 3 weeks after the fact (interesting, right? ), what's that going to do? Are they going to improve? Will Webbo put measures in place to get better training for referees to improve their perfs.? Wouldn't hold my breathe, based on the shambles we are being afflicted with on a weekly basis. So according to Webbo, it's as we were. Sound.

3.) 17 Jan 2024
17 Jan 2024 17:37:36
The language he uses is just baffling to me. He said something like ‘we now realise from the feedback we’ve received that the game expects that to be a penalty’. The game expects it? What on earth does that mean?

It’s a penalty. It’s been a penalty for well over 100 years but the PGMOL have only just realised that ‘the game expects it to be a penalty’?

Like I’ve always said these officials have no idea about the game. If they need others to tell them that this was a penalty they are simply not fit for purpose.

4.) 17 Jan 2024
17 Jan 2024 17:58:08
@BP, "The game expects it to be a penalty"? Wait, did he say that? Absolute porkies, man.

"We now realise from the feedback we’ve received that the game expects that to be a penalty’".


Wow, it literally gets worse with these chaps. They are relentless with their garbage and have pretty much admitted that they do not know what the rules are. I keep saying it. Us, the fans know more about the officiating rules of the game than these band of keystone cops patroling our PL pitches. Not being fit for purpose is putting it mildly, man. I would sack them all if I were in charge.

5.) 17 Jan 2024
17 Jan 2024 18:11:04
Why didn't the on field officials give a penalty and then go to VAR to see if it was the right call?

6.) 17 Jan 2024
17 Jan 2024 16:04:51
What I would give for Pierluigi Collina to come in right now and sort out the omnishambles that is the PGMOL.

7.) 17 Jan 2024
17 Jan 2024 18:46:47
JLC - because the on-field ref decision was that it wasn't a pen.

I kinda get what Howard Webb is saying but people won't like this. The referees need a framework to base their decisions off of. The wording of the law infers that if a player falls and that naturally made their body bigger then the ref can interpret that as not a handball.

In this case the VAR clearly says that they see Odegaard slip, his hand goes to ground to break his fall and have applied that in Odegaard's favour.

Then they've said his arm has come towards his body making his body smaller. It doesn't mention this in the rules but they've applied the principle of an arm movement to make the body bigger and interpreted it in reverse, again to Odegaard's favour.

In amongst all that is what we see with our eyes how Mo beat Odegaard with skill hence Odegaard losing balance to track what would have been a run in behind the lines and ultimately we love all the advantage. So that is why "the game" are telling Howard and his robots that this was a handball.

The question for me is how to add that to the framework so that referees can apply it. I think there needs to be an additional line in there that gives the ref the freedom to infer whether all of what happened stopped a clear and obvious goal scoring opportunity. Something along those lines to give them that license to apply that to the current wording.

8.) 17 Jan 2024
17 Jan 2024 19:05:46
I know Oli it’s crazy how clueless these guys are. I’ve just looked up his exact words as I couldn’t remember earlier but he said ‘The feedback we got back afterwards was very clear, the game expects a penalty in this situation and I would agree. ’

But 5 of your officials thought it wasn’t a penalty so how do you explain that Howard?

Did they not realise that ‘the game’ expects a penalty to be given when someone plays basketball in the penalty area? You couldn’t make it up.

9.) 17 Jan 2024
17 Jan 2024 19:30:41
Just a thought why don't they use players that have retired, they know more than these refs know?

10.) 17 Jan 2024
17 Jan 2024 19:33:59
Thanks Faith. my point is about why don't officials give these decisions as handball, and then VAR will check if its correct?

I will bet anything that if the ref gave the handball, VAR would not have overturned the decision, and nobody would be talking about it today!

VAR was brought in to get the crucial decisions right, and it's failing miserably, albeit as a result of totally inept and even corrupt officials!

11.) 17 Jan 2024
17 Jan 2024 20:48:33
It was never supposed to be VAR it was ARV said Phil McNulty from BBC
“My first job for BBC was to announce the new technology on X but my computer was hacked and they changed the letters around on me”
This proves it was doomed from the start and it’s all Phil’s fault.

12.) 17 Jan 2024
17 Jan 2024 21:18:23
Beckers pecker Im telling you, these guys are full of it. They made a mistake and instead of coming clean, Webbo is talking absolute rubbish and incoherent dust in a bid to muddy the waters and STILL try to get away with gross misconduct for the upteenth time. Did he say what improvements will be put in place to make things better? Crickets which tells me nothing will change so it will be apologies galore till the end of the season. "Great process, boys"!

I know the likes of @Faith and @JLC are trying their best to be rational about this BUY Im sorry, I know a con artist when I see one and can smell their smelly stuff from 50 yards out. They make up the rules and as they go along and depending on the outrage the bad decisions generate. That's it, IMO. Nothing left to see yere, guys.

I bet you they will come back with some kockamame story about how Paul Tierney and VAR refused both legit goals we scored vs Burnley that they chalked off for NO reason at all. It will be interesting to know what "feedback" they got from the "game" (whoever/ whatever that is) that "expects" both goals to be legit goals.

13.) 17 Jan 2024
17 Jan 2024 21:18:39
JLC - hey mate, just the first line of my earlier reply was for you. Rest of it for everyone!

But to expand on your point, we still want referees to make decisions based on what they see and then VAR is meant to then clean up the really bad mistakes.

IMO I think it is the correct approach to still allow the ref to make a decision. But where they’ve gone down a rabbit hole is the clear and obvious error bit.

14.) 18 Jan 2024
17 Jan 2024 22:57:13
I've said it all along and I will continue to say it webb must he is as much use as a trapdoor in a canoe.