SEEING RED
There are many explanation why, as children, we fell in love with absolutely the mess we all know as soccer. The points of interest, the smells, the songs, the group, the craic, the personalities, the needle, the regimen, the unbelievable ability, the dazzling ineptitude, the drama, the suspense, the velocity, the sense of instance, the sense of belonging , the neighborhood, the explosions of emotion. Football Daily has now not but conferred with each and every unmarried fan that ever used to be – the venture is ongoing, or can be have been any individual ready to have interaction it in dialog – however thus far its unique analysis unearths that nobody used to be captivated by way of the trivialities of the sport’s officiating procedure.
That being the case, somewhat why the footballing government offered VAR – aiming to extend the share of proper choices from 95% to 99% – will have to be inconceivable to fathom. Should be inconceivable to fathom, however in truth somewhat simple to fathom: grown adults not able to manage as a result of their deficient little favourite crew did not win, “taking to Twitter” bringing up bias, corruption and vendetta; Embittered gamers and executives blame officers to misdirect from their very own failings. So the drift of the sport used to be sacrificed and with it the unbridled, incomparable ecstasy that follows the scoring of a objective, the best feeling recognized to humanity.
A soccer fit isn’t misplaced as a result of a refereeing choice. Officials make mistakes, so it’s the process of gamers and executives – who lead them to too – to render them beside the point. This level used to be famous by way of Erik ten Hag after Manchester United have been denied what gave the look to be a transparent penalty when drawing with Crystal Palace. “You have to accept the decisions from VAR, from the referees,” he stated, baldly. “I look in the mirror, I look at my team, I look at my own managing and coaching and I say invest more for the second goal then you avoid situations [where] you are dependent on the referee.
On Sunday, though, Ten Hag was unable to refrain from criticizing the officials following the red card shown to Casemiro – his second in just over a month – in United’s goalless draw with Southampton. Now, whether either of those offenses merited such sanction is a matter of opinion – Football Daily sees both sides – but what makes both situations so silly is the surrounding circumstances.
The first dismissal – for allegedly grabbing Will Hughes by the throat – came in a melee that featured other uncensored activities of equivalent seriousness, which looked bad from one perspective but more or less fine from another, better angle. Except, when called to make sense of things, the referee, Andre Marriner, found his attention drawn to only one altercation, which he had shown from only one aspect. Then, the following week, Conor Coady throttled Andy Robertson and received a yellow card.
Now, perhaps interpretation of the laws differs from official to official … which makes Casemiro’s second expulsion stranger. Anthony Taylor was just a few yards from the incident so shown a yellow card, only for the third official, Marriner – or Dre as he presumably insists his acquaintances call him – to summon him to check the screen, after which the red card and accordant a four-game ban was issued. Again, this might simply be an issue of perception. Except, when refereeing Leicester v Chelsea the previous day, Marriner had failed to show so much as a yellow card to Ricardo Pereira, for a tackle on João Félix that was far more dangerous and violent than Casemiro’s … and VAR failed to intervene. Which is to say that, even if Taylor made an error, it could not possibly have been so “clear and obvious” that he would be encouraged to alter it.
None of which is to blame the officials for United’s two points dropped or Southampton’s one point gained. Refereeing is difficult if not impossible, and the way football’s laws are drafted – poorly, its terms ill-defined, and broadly, officials given scope to make subjective calls – means that we should expect some variance. But the events of this weekend indicate that, yet, again, VAR has not had the desired effect, ceding far too much for far too little when, instead, all we needed to do to maintain the sense of wonder we had as kids was just stop acting like kids.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“After a surreal few days, I’m delighted that we have navigated a way through this. I want to thank you all for the incredible support, particularly my colleagues at BBC Sport, for the remarkable show of solidarity. Football is a team game but their backing was overwhelming. I have been presenting sport on the BBC for almost 3 decades and am immeasurably proud to work with the best and fairest broadcaster in the world. I can’t wait to get back in the MOTD chair on Saturday. A final thought: however difficult the last few days have been, it simply doesn’t compare to having to flee your home from persecution or war to seek refuge in a land far away. It’s heartwarming to have seen the empathy towards their plight from so many of you. We remain a country of predominantly tolerant, welcoming and generous people. Thank you” – Gary Lineker is again, child.
“Antonio Conte’s statement “I am ready to die for this club – until the end of the season” will for sure be regarded upon with skepticism by way of many Spurs fanatics however it will have to be remembered that he has already misplaced an organ within the procedure” – To set up John Weldon.
“I was heartened to see you print James Treacy’s letter [Friday’s letters] correctly reproving you for bad French, but subsequently amazed that you compounded your error in your final comment, which you should, of course. have read ‘et rien d’others’” – Steve Pilgrim.
Send your letters to [email protected]. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Steve Pilgrim,