Premier League: Brighton penalty decision was wrong

"Have admitted privately" says all that needs to be said. In the U.S. this would be called an "anonymous source" and no credible outlet would ever run with it. Until you can definitively state the who, what, where, why, and when, and cite confirmed sources, it may as well be made up. Which appears to be the norm for British dailies? I'm really astonished by how much credence is given them.

Before anyone thinks, or says, what I suspect they might, let me share that I have a Bachelors of Arts degree in Journalism from the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College (Google it!)

I do not work as a journalist.
But I fully understand how journalism works.

This isn't it. Your mileage may vary, but I'm hoping this is the first post! 🤞🏼

What about the Spurs game?

He will have got his information from the source but it's rare that sources are specifically identified. Usually, they go with the line “The Telegraph/Sky Sports/The Athletic understands...” which is journalistic shorthand for “this came from the horse's mouth” or someone close to the situation.

In this case, Bascombe will probably have spoken with contacts at Everton and they will have passed on the info that during the meeting with PGMOL, the PL acknowledged a mistake was made at Brighton. And, really, it's not far-fetched — it was a terrible decision and everybody knows it.

As for the why/why not, it didn't seem likely to me that the EPL would admit or acknowledge anything was wrong since they presumably rubber stamped the use of VAR in the first place, or didn't they? In other words, I didn't know they understood the concept of 'mea culpa.' Hilariously they omitted any comments around why VAR isn't working but I digress...

According to the world's most powerful man, it's ALL fake news.

I hate to criticise an industry that you are attached to but the days of honest journalism are over.

It is now all about sensationalism and clickbait.

I still contend, if not for the VAR bullshit, we would have seen out that victory. Brighton were offering nothing going forward and playing with little self-belief. That penalty changed everything.

"No credible outlet would ever run with it."

I live in the US, and journalism is long dead here. Fake news, unnamed sources, and agenda-driven articles are all we have left.

I dare say, its the same in the UK.

There would be a Truth & Reconciliation Committee set up if this happened to “other clubs”. There'd be tearful Norwegian guys chaining themselves to railings and if they got the Alli decision a week after possibly self immolating on the streets of Oslo.

We just get told something we knew was wrong in nanoseconds was wrong a fortnight later, the points long gone. Great! Why don't you give me a paper cut and pour lemon juice in it while you're at it?

What new, cruel and usual way are we going to find to not win this week? Depressing Everton!

Until full communication around all the rules and decisions are made public, its will continue to cause controversy.

There is now a 'mystery' person deciding in-game decisions, over-ruling referees without referees being able to review such decisions.

Who is in charge of officiating matches, who's accountable for errors and mistakes?

Is you ask players, managers, coaches, referees and their assistants to explain their understanding of VAR and how it works on specific incidents you would get a dozen or more different answers. This can't be right.

The Brighton match was especially unfortunate as we had just put in our best game of the season against West Ham and without that dubious penalty I think we'd have won our first away match in a while, completed our first comeback under Silva and moved 6 or so places up the table with some forward momentum.

Silva desperately needs a positive run but may have to make his own luck.

This is no consolation to EFC and if the Brighton balls up is been belated decided it was a wrong call, then surely the Spurs descision should follow suit.

God help us today as the old adage things happen in threes some times does happen.

Let's hope today we get a good referee, no spineless gut less coward like Atkinson, and absolutely smash Southampton today. No mercy.

Not many great days of late down there but we had a few good wins, at The Dell. I was there for Sharpies 4, in1987, and beating them 3-2, 1985, and telling the J xxxxhouse Case, to get to, after that game. Happy days.

So today our plight is very, very serious. Simple as, we must win. Let's hope the injustices and the injury to André, galvanise and spur on the team today.

Never before have we needed a good result, as after Norwich, it's as tough couple of months of fixtures as we could get.

Watching us struggle near the bottom of the table doesn't help either I suppose.

But that's not what the PL implemented. They're doing exactly what the anti VAR crowd were scared of - they're re-refereeing the game from a TV screen. So instead of consistency, they get massive inconsistency. It's not good for fans, teams or even referees.

Again, any football fan could see what they were doing wrong and what would happen. Somehow they couldn't see it.

VAR isn't the problem, it's the total incompetence around our game.

If you're looking for recent posts on VAR I recommend you take a look at last Sunday's match day thread.

Link

Scroll down to Pat Finegan's excellent post @ 358. It got 'lost' in the many issues that naturally preoccupied TWers following that game.

Indeed, @ 413 I flagged Pat's post up to the editors suggesting it merited it's own thread, such was the quality of Pat's submission on a very hot topic.

They chose not to do so. A missed opportunity, I feel, as thoughts about VAR are fragmented across many different threads when they could have been concentrated under one dedicated thread on the subject.

And Pat, if by chance you read this, may I congratulate you again on the excellence of your post I reference.

You can't tell me that these decisions would have gone against the "golden ones" in the top six? Are these people accountable to anyone in their boys club?

I also believe there is a refereeing bias against us, but I would, wouldn't I ?

Link

Unfortunately the refs seem to not apply common sense as in the Keane non-penalty.

In summary, I would repeat that VAR might work in PL if we lived in an ideal world and played the game on a level playing field, however we don't and never will. For those reasons I remain "anti_VAR.

The referee said no penalty. His opinion, in a game where it's his opinion that matters. To overturn that it needs to be a clear and obvious error. And it wasn't. So no, it wasn't a penalty.

I wouldn't mind if the referee looked at his monitor and gave it. Obviously I'd disagree with the decision but I've disagreed with plenty of decisions over the years. Then we could get back to blaming referees instead of people in a bunker.

We get a dodgy penalty on the 4th December. Take that as an apology.

But the penalties not given at Brighton or against Spurs were far worse in my opinion.

It was mentioned earlier that one could forgive referees in the past for not spotting something on one view but the operators of VAR have no excuse whatsoever

How was the Alli pen not given? How was the foul on Richie not given?

It's absolutely maddening and frustrating and is putting me off football

That's great that you have a degree but a favourite saying of my dads springs to mind:

He can spell marmalade but he can't open the jar.

I don't mean any malice, just a gentle dig!

Where technology can provide the answer it should be used. The goal line decisions are fine. They are instant and impartial.

I am a supporter of technology in sport. In my own sport, which is probably one of the fastest team games with a ball - Hockey - we have technology and it in no way slows down the game. It does provide, in almost every case I've seen, the fair and correct decision.

Football could also take lessons from Rugby and tennis, in which technology works perfectly in those sports too.

But then, it's pretty clear by many many other things connected with footy, that sadly for us passionate fans, it is run, in the main, by morons.

My last observation would be that if players themselves stopped cheating and trying to con the ref into giving pens, the sport would improve beyond limits and VAR would be virtually unnecessary. STOP THE CHEATS I say!

I caught the international Rugby with England and it reminded me just how much standing around and waiting there is in Union - not a fluid game like football used to be.

However, with VAR the game suddenly got very pedantic and technical - they still get decisions wrong - and now there are all new bizarre decisions like the Keane one which may well be technically correct but make no sense in the context of what is happening on the pitch.

The fluidity and passion has somehow been dampened.

I'm watching Wolves v Villa when the ball goes out for a Villa goal kick.
However, Wolves player Coady is sitting on the pitch taking an eternity to put his boot back on and lace it up, and the ref waits until he gets up before restarting the game!

Why?

Another blatant stone-cold handball, as obvious as the Dele Alli one by Liverpool, there's no point having all this technology if it's wankers doing the live review of it.

Anyway, it now looks as though Riley has changed his mind, and will encourage referees to start using the pitch side monitors

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50367354

I'm not a Silva fan, but no denying he hasn't had any luck with VAR decisions or injuries in past month.

Link