The Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has been very outspoken in his criticism of the performance of referees lately, especially after Mike Dean’s appalling decision on New Years Eve as well as other incidents this season.
There have been many discussions about introducing VAR (Video Assistant Referees) into the Premier League, and Arsene Wenger is keen on the idea, as long as it doesn’t actually slow down the pace of the game. The boss told Arsenal.com: “It’s inevitable because the referee can get help and become more efficient – and he can gain time, contrary to what people say.
“Of course, if we go the way where the referee walks down the side of the pitch and watches a screen, I say, ‘Leave it at home’. That means, ‘I just want to make every single decision. I want to be the boss’. [In that case] let’s forget it because that is not serious, and not the way we want to see the game going. If somebody upstairs quicker than he does tells him, ‘Go, let it go,’ that’s what we want. It’s not that he walks down the side of the pitch and watches a screen, and the people in the stand freeze up there until he has made a decision. That’s not what we want. If it’s [like] that, I personally am against it.”
The question is; Would Mike Dean have listened to an outside observer and not given the penalty last week? There will have to be indepth discussion about who is given the final decision, the man on the pitch or the man with the cameras.
What do you think?
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I’m not so sure how VAR will help because it only means the person upstairs will have to watch the replay before telling the referee what to do.
Will the referee wait for some seconds before blowing his whistle?? How is the VAR gon help and work? cus I believe after a referee blows n makes a decision, it can’t be reversed on the pitch.
BTW, I’ve seen the replay, over n over again, that ball ball was a 50-50 ball, and all Hazard had to do was get on the floor.
That ain’t no penalty, You can’t just expect Bellerin to stand there and not go for the ball while saying oh well if I go for this, it’ll cause a penalty.
Even Gary Neville said it last night that it wasn’t a penalty!!!
Henry on the other hand, I don’t know what his problem is or if he’s just trying to get on Wenger’s bad side cause he’s also tired of him.
But the decisions against us lately have been very very poor.
England still has a long way to go when it comes to refereeing.
Its the poorest I’ve seen among the top leagues
I agree, it was a 50/50 situation where both players stretched to hit the ball. Hazard went to ground while his foot which got hit was in the air.. Should have been a card for diving. On the other hand it was just stupid of Bellerin to put himself in that situation because there was no reason the challenge him at that point and also he should have shouted Hazard was diving to convince the referee. Real Arsenal defending. In the end we got lucky with the point, could also have lost 6-3 xD
Eddy, Neville was a defender and a Henry an attacker, hence the differing attitudes to incidents like these.
Yes, you can’t help noticing how very common disagreements are on fouls between defenders – who of course have never fouled anyone in their whole career – and forwards who have never missed an open goal but always been fouled. Humans eh? Who’d have ’em!
Not sure why but over the years, the referees has not been kind to us…
If its Fergie….there heaps of benefits… like extra minutes, easy penalty, blow the final whistle quickly when winning and many more
even in africa the referees are better than these.
Wow sounds a little racist with that comment.
I don’t think pires is inrtentionally racist BUT he is just too stupid to realise that it sounds racist and that others will assume he therefore is.
I am sure you are right Jon but such sweeping comments really do not sound good especially in this day and age.
Yes. Could not agree more. Most mass generalisations are at best thick and stupid; at worst bigoted and racist/ sexist/ misogynist or whatever. Rather like the myth of all Irish being thick, all French being more expert on food, English more reserved and other complete nonsense , as they all are. Even all USA presidents are not ALL bad! But one who certainly is springs to mind immediately. A clue: It was not Abraham Lincoln! But naturally I believe all my opinions ever, without a single exception are perfect! Though come to think of it , I did make a mistake once. It was a Wednesday, back in 1960. I GOT MY HOMEWORK WRONG!
You did homework Jon, what a swat! Lol
Pires. That comment is racist.
Its 2018 not 1918 get the cameras. Another Ref inflicting severe pain on Arsenal again.
Who do we play next?
Can we just win a game for a change
By the way I knew that the best result we could get against Chelsea was a draw
I wish I could go into HIBERNATION MODE & come back again when WENGER leaves
Hinernation. com eh? Reckon we would all sign up to that one!
If we had VAR it would be like Rugby which would mean you would see delays in the game so it is a question of what you like. More errors or delays in the game.
For me it was a penalty
For sure, VAR is going to be a mixed bag, a curates egg if you like; good in parts but not solving all problems and even causing some , with delays and disagreements between watching officials and the actual match ref being a possible regular occurence. The Bellerin on Hazard penalty was a case in point. I called it a technical pen but it was clearly a soft one and many will disagee, and I can quite see why. This sort of thing is down to opinion and what happens when two officials disagree? On the pitch the ref can and often does, overrule the linesman and all know who has the final say. But with VAR,who knows. To have any chance of working smoothly much thought must(but has it ?) have gone into its application. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating and in principle it is good. But always the devil is in the detail. I am sure we all await the experiment with some excitement but trepidation.
You are right Jon. Both recent decisions that went against us were both open to interpretation.
For me both recent penalty’s should not have been given. Last nights one was ridiculous as there was minimal contact. However the former referee Dermot Gallagher said on TV it is a penalty because Hector did not kick the ball. So as you say one presumes if he was the Video referee he would still have given the penalty. On another point a Video referee would have called Jack’s dive.
Interesting isn’t it. Not clear cut as you say. Personally I would still go ahead with VAR anyway.
They need to stop employing preening refs who care more about their image than the beautiful game. Look at cricket or rugby and how they referee fairly and without ego…tell that to Mike Dean the headline seeker…!!!!
I’d prefer the lawn tennis style of players challenging the refs decision. How many challenge? I’m not sure. That way the VAR will be called upon only when the players challenge.