VAR chief Howard Webb has defended the decision to allow Newcastle United’s goal against Arsenal to stand. The Gunners suffered a 1-0 loss to the Magpies, with Anthony Gordon scoring the decisive goal. However, there was controversy as there appeared to be a foul on Gabriel and questions over whether the ball went out of play.
The decision prompted criticism from Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, and the club released a statement expressing frustration with decisions consistently going against them incorrectly.
Nevertheless, Howard Webb has supported the referee and VAR’s decision, insisting that the process was correct.
Speaking on the ‘Match Officials Mic’d Up’ program, as quoted by the Daily Mail, Webb stated, ‘The VAR went through that diligently and identified no clear evidence to intervene to overturn the goal. The process was correct. It was an unusual situation with three aspects for the VAR to check whether the on-field decision of goal should be overturned.’
Just Arsenal Opinion
We did not expect Webb to support our claims after VAR had reviewed the footage for that long.
Perhaps their angle was different from what we had because we could all see that Gabriel was fouled in the build-up.
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So there was no handball, no offside, the ball was in play and Gabriel dived, fair enough I suppose……NOT!
What has not been mentioned is (Joelinton?) has both feet off the ground and his forward momentum carries him into the back of Gabriel. Its a clear and obvious foul.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnI0IxKKgRko
Secondly, although there has been an image showing the ball was just barely on the line, I find it strange that the ball looked well out and there was no justification for allowing the goal (at the time)
According to Howard and the VAR boys 1.Was the ball out INCONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE! 2.Was he offside INCONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE ! 3.Was it a foul HE HAD TWO HANDS IN GABRIELS BACK BUT BS BS BS !
AND the guy who whacked one of our players in head as he walked by that was ok because IT WAS A GLANCING BLOW AND NOT DANGEROUS !
Good on you Howard,you absolute idiot.
At this point it’s just an embarrassment, A foul one week on Rodfi against Utd is not a foul another week on Gabriel. Rushford was ruled out of bounds but Newcastle was not.
The inconsistencies in spite of the technology are a shambles.
I have said it before, refs and VAR should enforce the rules, not interpret intent or degree of force.
PGMOL behaving like a dictator; PR justification campaign, and too many pundits kiss the ring and fall in line. Rugby does VAR correctly, PL is amateur hour without fear of repercussions.
Gabriel foul was ignored in the build up to the Newcastle goal for lack of aroty as to whether he was actually fouled. But of the ball that went out pf play before Gabriel was fouled? Did the assistant referee linesman missed seen the ball gone out of play? If he did, what of the VAR personnel with all the sophisticated devices at their disposal for reviewing incidence and happenings as they affect the game?
As the ball has gone out, the game should be stopped for a throw-in. If the match referee didn’t blow his whistle for it because the linesman did not taise his flag to alert him. The VAR ought to had cancelled the goal because the ball had gone out of play before Newcastle scored which became an illegitimate goal.
So is Harrow Weeb the Pgmol referees Chief Officer trying to defend the indefensible? Just to save the face and image of his Pgmol organisation from the capable football damage done to Arsenal at Newcastle in the Epl,
Gabriel foul was ignored in the build up to the Newcastle goal for lack of aroty as to whether he was actually fouled. But of the ball that went out pf play before Gabriel was fouled? Did the assistant referee linesman missed seen the ball gone out of play? If he did, what of the VAR personnel with all the sophisticated devices at their disposal for reviewing incidence and happenings as they affect the game?
As the ball has gone out, the game should be stopped for a throw-in. If the match referee didn’t blow his whistle for it because the linesman did not taise his flag to alert him. The VAR ought to had cancelled the goal because the ball had gone out of play before Newcastle scored which became an illegitimate goal.
So is Howard Webb the Pgmol referees Chief Officer trying to defend the indefensible? Just to save the face and image of his Pgmol organisation from the capable football damage done to Arsenal at Newcastle in the Epl,
If Gabriel foul was ignored in the build up to the Newcastle goal for lack of clarity as to whether he was actually fouled. But what of the ball that went out pf play before Gabriel was fouled? Did the assistant referee linesman missed seen the ball gone out of play? If he did, what of the VAR personnel with all the sophisticated devices at their disposal for reviewing incidence and happenings as they affect the game?
As the ball has gone out, the game should be stopped for a throw-in. If the match referee didn’t blow his whistle for it because the linesman did not taise his flag to alert him. The VAR ought to had cancelled the goal because the ball had gone out of play before Newcastle scored which became an illegitimate goal.
So, is Howard Webb the Pgmol referees Chief Officer trying to defend the indefensible? Just to save the face and image of his Pgmol organisation from the capable football damage done to Arsenal at Newcastle in the Epl,
The leadership is severely lacking and hence Howard Webb should do the honorable thing and throw in his towel.
With this kind of subjectivity being applied it’s no wonder there are problems.
Although there are 3 controversial aspects, to me the one that is clear cut is the push in Gabriel’s back.
If a referee can determine that the two hands on the back of Gabriel didn’t cause him to go down then that would be an enforceable rule. But a ref can’t determine that, so it just can’t be part of the rules of the game.
It’s also really obvious that Gabriel isn’t diving, there’s nothing theatrical about the way he goes down it’s just a guy being pushed down when he’s trying to get to the ball.
It’s basically this. If one player’s in position to head the ball and another player jumps over him to get to the ball, that’s a clear foul. When he also puts his hands on the first player’s back to do it, that’s as clear as day. Even if Gabriel did dive, what the Newc guy did was illegal anyway.
For me, that part of it is the biggest issue. It’s as clear a foul as you’ll ever see, any ref saying “it wasn’t enough” blah blah is just plain wrong.
If these people can’t see that when it’s played back for them slowly then they are not fit to referee football matches. New people needed with clearer non-subjective guidelines. It’s not the tech, the tech is showing us how bad the officials really are.
Hands on the back was the standard for a foul I was told when I was a child. I remember a referee telling my something like “I can’t tell how much force you applied, so I have to judge the you pushed him because you had hands on his back”. I agree this *should* be the standard because it would make it objective, as you say. Unfortunately it’s not been applied at EPL level, or men’s football in general, ever, from what I’ve seen.
I disagree about Gabriel’s fall, though. I didn’t think it looked natural, and I can see why they didn’t think it was an obvious error not to give a foul on that instance – frustrating as that is
Glad we agree on the hand on the back thing. Seems obvious really, dunno why the rule makers don’t see it.
I guess we agree to disagree if Gabriel was a natural fall or not (but as we both said, we shouldnt have to care, it should be a foul just for having his hands there).
One other thing on that though. I noticed Joelinton’s body position was leaning way over into Gabriel’s space,. He was bent over at the hips so his head was about 2 feet further forward than where Gabriel’s head would be (if Gab had been able to stand up straight).
I just can’t see any way his head and upper body can get there without fouling Gab. It’s like you stand behind someone and put your head over their shoulder and then move it a foot further forward and say “Hey I’m not invading your personal space am I?” lol
The more I look at it, the more I agree with you tbh. I suppose I can see why in slow motion/under pressure they might have misread it, but on looking at it over and over, I think GM was just going to head it away easily and the only reason he didn’t was the push.
I don’t know about the foul in the buildup (assuming this is different from Joelinton contesting the cross?) but sky have released the whole thing – you can see what the var people were looking at, and hear what they were saying.
I have to say, I do agree with their assessments, and at the very least consider them to have made an honest and sincere attempt at it – their job is to only intervene if the error is clear and obvious, and I don’t think the evidence showed a clear and obvious error by the referee (unless there is another potential foul on Gabriel before the cross – I don’t think they assessed anything before the point where willock attempted to keep the ball in play).
On the potential foul by Joelinton when contesting the cross – Gabriel lurched forwards in a strange way that didn’t look natural. I think he might have been deceived by Gordon’s attempt to win the initial cross, or he might have simply misjudged it. It could well be that it should have been given as a foul, but i don’t think it was a clear and obvious error by the referee, which is what the var guys were looking for.
Completely agree with those complaining about inconsistency, though. That’s undeniably true imo.
The link to the whole video and convo is in the article…
The daily mail link? I think that’s a convo with Howard Webb. I’m talking about the live discussions by the var refs during the incident. Apologies if I’m missing it.
Ah, it’s within the segment where they talk to Howard Webb
Anthony Taylor officiated the game between Isreal and Switzerland yesterday and guess what, he ruled out a goal for a push far softer than the one Gabriel suffered in the hands of Joelington and here is this bozo trying to convince us that “the process was correct” and “no evidence to overturn the goal” only for one of his employees to prove otherwise under a far better stewardship in UEFA in the fixture between Isreal and Switzerland without VAR intervention as it was clearly obvious.