Football News: Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool

Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool

Somehow I have to write a review of that game that is not just a long winded rant full of cursing! One that does not make any kind of accusations against a VAR team that worked that match just after returning from the UAE, where they were working for the UAE league. A league run by and paid for by the UAE’s ruling family. The family that just happens to be the owners of Manchester City. So there is a VAR team for a match involving one of Man City’s biggest rivals for the title, that were employed doing a side job for Man City’s owners just a couple of days ago. I am sure there is no conflict of interest there though. And, luckily there were no controversial incidents involving VAR during the game or people might actually be questioning their integrity…

Anyway, we know there can have been no attempt to influence the result via VAR as the PGMOL put such a strong, experienced and confident man in the middle. If you were intent on using VAR in that way, you would put someone lacking experience and confidence, say a man that was only recently back from a suspension after failing to spot a blatant foul in the box, that would want to lean on VAR for guidance to ensure he made no more mistakes. Especially if he happened to be in his first season with the Premier League as a referee. That would be the ideal candidate to use.

Now, after listening to the audio and reading the transcript I have ripped up the rest of this part and had to start again. I was intending to just move on to talking about the game itself, though with a side mention for some of the major incidents, however I now have to talk about that audio. I am left with more questions over Darren England and Dan Cook and their actions in the VAR room. They clearly claim that Diaz is offside, even though the pictures tell them the complete opposite. It is only when challenged by the replay operator that England reacts. At that point he goes into what can only be described as a blind panic and refuses to take action. That leaves the question of whether he is panicking because he has been caught out cheating or caught napping? Either way, a man that reacts like that when put under pressure is not suitable to be a referee. Not only should (must?) he be immediately removed from the roster of PGMOL officials, but also questions must be asked of their whole selection and training process. Every single decision they make on the pitch is made under huge pressure, something which…