SENTINELCELTS

Morning,all.

An interesting weekend of football,that one. It certainly didn’t go as planned in my own case,but that is for another day,another place. And it certainly didn’t go as planned for a few football teams,here and elsewhere. And most definitely not as planned by the designers of the VAR system when it is executed in Scotland. 

Firstly,there was the almost unbelievable sight of runaway Serie A leaders losing at home to Lazio. Favourites by a long way for their domestic title and strongly fancied for the Champions League trophy as well,this result could look like a one-off to neutral observers. But there is a harsh history there too for Napoli,as they have been in similar situations recently a couple of times,and have blown up in the closing stages. 

They will be desperate to get the wheels back on the wagon,while even the fifteen point gap will not be as daunting for their rivals. And they defend a 2-0 lead against AWE NAW’s local favourites Eintracht Frankfurt a week tomorrow. Could be interesting. 

Seville,on the other hand,perennial challengers in La Liga and frequent winners in Europe,are in deep trouble at the wrong end of the table. They remain clear of the relegation spots only by a slender goal difference. Losing to Atletico Madrid by 6-1 won’t have helped their cause much either,and could have delivered a mortal blow to the players’ morale. Atletico haven’t had their own problems to seek this season,but are calmly building their points into CL qualification territory. 

Valencia,on the other hand,lost by the only goal of the game at Nou Camp,a respectable if ultimately pointless trip up the coast. But they are in even deeper trouble than Seville,lying two points behind them in second-bottom place! Mestalla,their home ground,has the sheerest of possible “terracing”,and I wouldn’t blame some of their fans for seriously considering the drop from it in preference to the one facing their side!

And then there was Manchester United on Sunday. Oh dear. They went into the match at Anfield still holding outside hopes of a quadruple-laughable as that seemed to most of us beforehand and I think to everyone now. A single goal deficit after a fairly even first half should have brought them out in fine fettle for the second half. It certainly didn’t,as the wheels fell off in the next 45. 

They eventually lost 7-0,only one short of inspiring millions of hilarious memes and gifs based on the old Monty Python sketch. A total surrender,and shamefully so,by a good few of their highly paid stars. The one or two still trying a leg were simply overwhelmed. It took me back a few months to their visit to The Etihaad,where they were remorselessly hammered 4-0 in the first half. But they came out for the second half and restored some pride by winning that 3-2,even if that meant a 6-3 loss. 

They clearly took some heart from that,and built on it. It will be interesting to see how they react to the result at the weekend,same as the other teams I have mentioned. 

Which brings us back to Scotland,and the unique interpretation of VAR up here. As half time approached at Ibrox,the home side were already two goals up,and cruising. Cue a forward and a defender chasing a through ball into the away box. Home player is held off as the ball bounces through to the keeper. VAR decision? Penalty-how did you guess? 

Now,the question is whether it was a clear and obvious error by referee Collum. It couldn’t have been obvious,and it wasn’t even clear that the ball struck the defender’s arm! In fact,former referee Dermot Gallagher said on his Ref Watch spot that it was the wrong decision for a number of reasons,not least of which was that the ball almost definitely struck the defender’s chest!  His studio presenters were also incredulous at the decision,struggling to contain their laughter. 

And then Sunday again,this time for Celtic away to St Mirren. I like to save the best for last. There were three penalties given in the match-and only one by the referee! The first was for the home side,ignored by the ref who had a clear view from close range. So if it was a penalty,it was certainly a clear and obvious one-but was it? I thought it was,but the handball rule definitely needs more work to clear up grey areas like this,which happen too often-and especially to us. We’ve given so many penalties away for this offence that you might be forgiven for thinking that it was handball and not football that we played. 

Fortunately,our second-half performance made up for a very poor first half one,bookended by another two penalty decisions. One given by the referee and overturned by VAR,the other the opposite way round. It wasn’t really a game for ref Dickinson to show on a highlights reel. The first,a clear pull on Kyogo as he burst onto a poor pass back from the defender. The original offence was obviously outside the box,no problem there. But the one that actually pulled Kyogo to the ground was inside,and thus a penalty. Yes,another fine-tuning of the laws since we were lads and lasses,but cast in stone nevertheless. VAR instructed the overturn without inviting the ref over to view the monitor,an almost unheard-of situation anywhere else but Scotland!

At 4-1 up,the game was won. So really there was no reason short of spite for Dickinson to ignore Oh!!! having the shirt pulled off him. But he did! Fortunately,VAR was a bit more sensible this time,enough controversy already without adding to it unnecessarily. 

IFAB,the advisory board on the laws of the game,have just finalised their recommendations for next season,and I’ll deal with that probably on Friday. They recommend increased UEFA/FIFA scrutiny at member associations,but apparently only for the addition of time at the end of each half to make up for injuries and time-wasting,etc.  They would do well to add VAR in Scotland to that shortlist-it is a system that works fine,but the interpretation is so open to abuse that it makes it a white elephant. 

As Ange said-VAR misses nothing,especially where we are involved. I continue to believe that the way it is being abused will eventually bring them to heel,but it can’t come soon enough. 

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Above article by BMCUWP