This weekend's penalty situations

[duncandisorderly]

Why wasn't Nathan Collins sent off for giving away the penalty against Man Utd?
I'm not advocating for a suspension, but surely it's DOGSO?
Cash vs Fulham - I think penalty. The laws are so weird that you could probably find justification either way, but the fulham lad shot, it was on target, it was deflected away by a hand. I'd expect the penalty to be given against us.
King vs Villa - I think he's actually taken out and it's a penalty. He shouldn't be already falling over, and cheats shouldn't prosper, but it is a foul isn't it?

[Tricky Trevor]

The very worst decision I’ve seen in my long life was the non-penalty against Gusto for kicking the BHA player in the head. His boot was at shoulder height the attacker was coming in for a header on goal and he didn’t touch the ball. The easiest decision ever.
What annoys me even more is the number of players that have been sent off this season after clearly playing the ball then totally accidentally made contact with the opposition in their follow through. They call that endangering an opponent. Well what the hell is trying to kick their head off their shoulders?

[bobinho]

I’ve given up trying to analyse everything. Utterly pointless when it’s so subjective. Add that to the fact the rules change all the time, and it’s total bamboozlement for me.

All I know are these three things.

1. It’s a penalty against Burnley.
2. The Burnley goal was offside.
3. It will either rain or get dark before tomorrow.

[CaptJohn]

I’ve given up trying to analyse everything. Utterly pointless when it’s so subjective. Add that to the fact the rules change all the time, and it’s total bamboozlement for me.

All I know are these three things.

1. It’s a penalty against Burnley.
2. The Burnley goal was offside.
3. It will either rain or get dark before tomorrow.

I think you forgot number 4.
4. It's a red card for Burnley.

[Blue Skies]

Don't forget Popey's effort v Arsenal. Wasn't that exactly the same as the one at DL in Covid. He nicked the ball and took the player. Penno DL. Minutes later the Barnes/Mee incident.

[Dark Cloud]

Don't forget Popey's effort v Arsenal. Wasn't that exactly the same as the one at DL in Covid. He nicked the ball and took the player. Penno DL. Minutes later the Barnes/Mee incident.

The Pope one this last weekend was a really weird one. Imo, he A. Got a touch on the ball and B. The Arsenal player does a completely theatrical and unnecessary Tom Daley impression from minimal contact after the ball has been touched away by Pope. Not a penalty for me, but all the pundits seemed to think it was.

[Ashingtonclaret46]

The Pope one this last weekend was a really weird one. Imo, he A. Got a touch on the ball and B. The Arsenal player does a completely theatrical and unnecessary Tom Daley impression from minimal contact after the ball has been touched away by Pope. Not a penalty for me, but all the pundits seemed to think it was.

Not all the pundits, Joe Hart explained it perfectly on Match of the Day. I watched because I had seen his comments on the BBC reporting page and he got it all spot on. My opinions was that Gyokeres actually tried to poke the ball past Nick in order to score but Nick got the touch which deflected the ball away from goal. It was so close to goal that Gyokeres could not push the ball in another direction so chose to poke it in. Nick did well and made a good save, as he did at DL a few seasons ago, and the ball deflected away from goal. Gyokeres momentum took him into Nick who was actually stood still. Many said VAR should not get involved, however, it was a totally wrong decision and if they are going to use VAR, which I think is a total waste of time and money, it must get involved to correct the decision.
I fully accept that, without VAR, the decision would have remained a penalty, in spite of it not being correct, however, the game is still better without VAR than it is with it. Watched a smashing non-league game tonight, Bradford PA v Ashington and the officials did well, were not 100% perfect but players just accepted decisions and got on with the game -----as happens every weekend except for 11 games in England and a few in Scotland.

[ChorltonCharlie]

Won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I find Dale Johnson's weekly VAR review on the ESPN website informative. I still hate VAR, but at least it stops me being all old man shouting at the sky, whether as a neutral or wearing claret tinted specs. It's especially helpful as guidelines for when VAR should get involved aren't as simple as going back over the original (often subjective) decision. In the end though, it still always makes me think that with a subjective decision being covered twice over, unconscious bias is often going to lead to a bigger club getting the decision.

In this weeks review he did highlight the decision against Pope at Leeds and the similarities, and also key difference in why VAR would come to a different decision.

[THEWELLERNUT70]

I honestly think top flight football under it's current guise is virtually becoming unwatchable due to the ineptitude of the officials and the VAR operators that seem to make decisions based on a club by club basis.

Another one was the sending off for Chalobah in the Chelsea game, Hooper didn't see the foul, one of the easiest decisions he had to make and VAR had to call him over.

Yep VAR worked well on that one for once, but not so in the same game when a Chelsea player volleyed the head off a Brighton player making no contact with the ball ( actually look at the Chelsea players reaction when he realised what he'd done! ) a big chance for VAR to correct it ....... Checked and cleared

The one for Fernandez of Utd isn't a hard decision either, a studs up tackle that hits the opponent high on the leg, yellow card...... VAR checked and cleared

It was an awful weekend of top-flight officiating yet again last weekend imo!