One eye-catching episode in Arsenal’s 1-1 draw against Burnley today was when VAR overturned a penalty awarded to the Gunners for handball by Erik Pieters.
The defender was initially deemed to have handled the ball and he was sent off and a penalty awarded to the Gunners.
However, after consulting with VAR, Andre Marriner changed his initial decision and rescinded the red card, followed by a dropped ball.
It looked like the right decision, however, some fans were still not happy, mainly because of an earlier penalty appeal that was turned down, much to the bafflement of those watching.
The Premier League took to Twitter to post about the changed decision and received some backlash from fans.
The Premier Legaue tweeted: “After consulting the VAR, referee Andre Marriner has overturned a decision to give a penalty for handball and a red card to Erik Pieters, and a drop ball will take place.
“Burnley 1-1 Arsenal (87 mins)”
Some fans weren’t having the inconstancies and they commented on the post to make their feelings known with one of them asking if the Clarets defender was playing basketball in the earlier decision because he clearly handled the ball. Here are some of the reactions
He’s playing basketball pic.twitter.com/4X8eYM8P4h
— liam (@liam25791819) March 6, 2021
Clear agenda against Arsenal FC, enough is enough, what did Arsenal did to you to continuously ruin our games with your referee decisions?
— 🅰️rsenalogía (@arsenalogia_) March 6, 2021
Corrupt league, why didn’t the previous one get a proper check
— TEJ (@sartejt) March 6, 2021
that’s a wrong decision cuz pieters did actually moved his arm towards the ball. It is a penalty.
— sue mora (@suemora6) March 6, 2021
VAR is not ruining football! English refs are bums
— Bruno NOT Fernandes (@whel_oooo) March 6, 2021
Arsenal will now have to get a win in their remaining games of the season and they would feel that they deserved to win this game considering that they had the best chances.
About time things have been levelled a little after the cheating over many years from Arsenal.
BFC have been cheated out of several points recently a double hand ball and the scorer was also offside in extra time 3 years go at Turf Moor but you will not remember that….!
Karma
Two wrongs don’t make it right.
He’s just a disgruntled, hard done by, supporter of a team who just play hit and hope hoofball. The beautiful game doesn’t exist in the eyes of Sean Dyche.
Unfortunately because there are so few goals scored in football so many games are now decided by incidents in the penalty area which VAR must adjudicate upon.
One solution would be to do away with penalties completely and award free kicks and red card players instead.
If that is considered too extreme then reduce the penalty area by half which would greatly reduce the number of VAR devisions.
VAR came to football decades after the technology was introduced to Tennis Cricket NFL Rugby Union and Rugby League. Why that was I don’t know but FIFA seemed to doubt the football fans willingness to embrace technology the way other fan bases did.
One significant point about VAR is its unwillingness to announce or explain the reason for some decisions. Rugby and Rugby league referees are heard discussing their decision process with the Video refs. In the NFL the on field ref actually makes an announcement explaining the decision.
Given football was decades behind other sports in embracing technology we should expect a couple of more years before the system is streamlined and more attuned to football fans requirements.
For me though the lack of goals in football remains a greater challenge which FIFA also seem unwilling to acknowledge let alone address.
Wyoming, the big issue is Mike Riley controlling FA referees. He is steadfastly against implementation of VAR under the same conditions as it is implementation in Europe, Australia and elsewhere.
There is a reason why English referees are not selected to officiate at international tournaments. Incompetent or corrupt, take your pick?
Both?
straight BIASNESS
VAR is not meant for football, it wasn’t originally design to suit football, it’s an NFL technology n now the incompetent corrupt refs are using it as an excuse to be bias, the arsenal game, giving a red card n a penalty n over rulling both of them is totally bais, one has to stand which is the penalty n the red card should be over rule, by not doing so I think the match officials is not feet for the job, can’t stand on his own decisions n his allowing technology to do his own job, what a shame
All I just see and noticed was that fa is against Arsenal,we are always Rob by this refree and nothing has been done to address the issue, very very bad.