SENTINELCELTS

Morning,all.

A bit of a weekend for VAR,both north and south of the border,though admittedly only two matches in Scotland were subject to its vagaries-which were plenty enough! Down south though,numerous complaints led to the intervention of the head of the PGMOL calling a mandatory meeting of all top flight officials,while suspending the referee of the Palace v Brighton match. 

It was hardly the only contentious decision of a Keystone Cops weekend for the system,and the fact that it has become an all too familiar refrain in the media after match weekends has also led to calls for the dismissal of Lee Mason,who was the VAR official for that one,while the referee John Brooks has been removed from VAR duties fixture in the Mersey derby last night. 

In England,it is rare for any media pundits to look for excuses as to why any official might have come to a clearly wrong conclusion to an incident. Quite the opposite,in fact. Down here,it is simple-it is entirely possible that the referee can miss an incident in real time. And that is why VAR was introduced,to overcome human error by applying technology offering views of the incident from various angles. 

If they still get it wrong,they are hung out to dry. No quarter given. 

It is slightly different in Scotland. Firstly,my congratulations to St Mirren for a spirited defence of their Cup aspirations on Saturday. Again,they played out of their skins against us,and were doing well until the 75th minute. At which point,the wheels fell off. With legs tiring against our rejuvenated lads,their defender Taylor stuck out his arm to stop a goal bound shot. Incredibly,referee McLean-fast becoming a regular for our matches,as I’ve noted before-ignored the incident altogether,despite it happening virtually on the goal-line!

I say incredibly,but I suppose I really mean that he was being true to form. VAR duly performed its task and a penalty was eventually awarded. Perhaps the first time he has ever done so,I may add. Taylor was given his commensurate red card,Reo slammed it home and we finished in a flourish,a five goal display on the night. Though not before McLean had awarded a consolation penalty to the Saints. 

Incredibly,their manager claimed that the penalty and red card had decided the match. No,Mr Robinson. The second goal which your player illegally prevented decided the match. The penalty and red card were not punishments,they were consequences,and the correct ones at that. 

Naturally,the media muppets were all over it like a rash,most deciding that the red card was wrong,and some even suggesting that the penalty itself was also a poor decision. Heyho,we are used to it. Ange took the umbrage aimed at him in his stride as usual,swatting aside the incoming like flies on a Melbourne beach. Which I think pisses them off more than anything,you know!

To Sunday then,and VAR Round Two. Huns at home to Thistle,and surely a home banker. Thistle had other ideas and really took it to the hosts,forcing some good saves from the opposing goalkeeper who had doubtless been looking forward to a quiet afternoon of leading the choir. Indeed,they even had the temerity to take a one goal lead into the break,following another disputed penalty decided by VAR.  This might have been the first that referee Munro has ever given against his side,and no doubt left his half time orange tasting somewhat bitter. He wasted little time in the second half to even things up by giving the most ridiculous penalty to the huns when their player had to launch himself into the box to sprawl there,having been fouled a full two yards outside it. 

VAR down south would have dealt with that correctly,even on their own miserable weekend. Up here,it agreed with the original decision-and not a voice raised in protest afterwards or since!

Go figure. Go compare,even,with the outcry only the evening before.

Finally on the subject of their match,I admire the decision of Beale to tell his players to allow Thistle an equaliser after Tillman’s shocking display of bad sportsmanship. It was the correct decision,but a brave one nevertheless at that stage of the game. Nothing said-or asked-about his side’s penalty though.

And so to the next round where despite there being only three possible SPL opponents out of seven,we got the toughie of an away tie at Tynecastle on 11 March. At least it will be a Saturday kick off,as Scotland play Ireland at Murrayfield the following day. I have little doubt that Neilson will still be smarting from the criticism of the new formation he tried against the huns there only two weeks ago,and will spend the next few weeks training his players in the fine arts of hammer-throwing and high-kicking. 

Except that he didn’t get any criticism from the SMSM for that,nor from his own club either. His fans though were none too pleased,and I doubt he will pull that stroke against them the next time. (Rumours that he has asked the women’s team to play instead are surely unfounded) 

Don’t expect too much pretty football that day,folks. It will be ugly. And you know what? I’m willing to bet,even ante-post,that not a word of criticism will come his way from the SMSM. Plus ca change…
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Above article by BMCUWP