Broadcasters and VAR officials have both lost the plot
EVEN on PPV it’s still all about VAR.
Both have caused so much anger on Merseyside lately. And in plenty of other parts of the country, too.
Liverpool and Blades fan groups followed some of their rivals this weekend by urging fellow supporters to put the £14.95 charge towards a foodbank charity rather than buying last night’s pay-per-view offering.
They rightly don’t agree that Premier League clubs and TV broadcasters should be allowed to charge to watch games when fans are banned from the stadium.
Many did and, at the last count before kick-off, more than £60,000 was in the coffers for a local foodbank charity to help families in need.
But while their goodwill can help boycott PPV, they can’t get away from VAR.
And yet again they were left fuming with the Video Assistant Referee.
Even if some decisions would later go their way.
After the controversial system left questions over red cards, penalties and offsides in last weekend’s Merseyside Derby, Liverpool must have felt it couldn’t go against them again.
One decision definitely did, though.
Fabinho’s tackle on Oli McBurnie appeared to be just outside of the area by a few millimetres while he also got a good contact on the ball.
Referee Mike Dean awarded a free-kick which the Kop midfielder turned defender was pleading against but it would get worse.
VAR Andre Marriner somehow decided it was on the line and inside the area and therefore a penalty.
After a lengthy look, of course.
The bizarre nature of the rules means he didn’t check if it was actually a foul. Figure that one out. At least Klopp and Co can take comfort in the fact it didn’t cost them further.
When Andy Robertson’s hand blocked a cross from George Baldock, the Kop defender’s arm was adjudged not to have been in an unnatural position when the ball struck it.
In any sane world it is not a penalty but when you need a masters degree in astrophysics to work out the interpretation of the handball rule these days it could have been given.
In fact, we have seen lesser handballs punished but this wasn’t.
Then Sheffield United had another shout when Trent AlexanderArnold left McBurnie on the floor after an aerial challenge but, again, it would have been soft.
There was more confusion though when Diogo Jota tripped Sander Berge – who scored the earlier penalty – in the area and there was no VAR intervention.
Why? Who knows. That certainly looked more of a penalty.
It all seems as confusing as a decision to charge people nearly £15 to watch a game of footy on the box in the middle of a pandemic.