on May 11, 2026, 3:10 pm, in reply to "Load of fuss about nothing if you ask me. Clear foul on the 'keeper, rightly disallowed..."
Personally, I think it’s as simple as a bunch of somewhat opaque laws implemented inconsistently by people who aren’t always very good at their job - and who are slightly influenced by big club bias (as many would be in their situations). You put that concoction of less than ideal circumstances together and get the unholy mess we have.
I think it’s a foul as well - but I also think at least two West Ham players are being clearly fouled, plus we’ve seen these kinds of situations ignored most of the season.
Bigger picture - you could eliminate the VAR conversation and speed up the game if you only used it for purely objective decisions (ball in/out of play, offsides, goal line tech). Everything else is re-reffing the game and impossible to reach consensus opinion on anyway.
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...the system worked. They took their time, came to the only obvious decision. 'Keeper impeded, couldn't jump properly to punch the ball which directly played a part in the goal a short time afterwards.
Get that wrong and they probably hand the title to City.
Not so long ago, the title gets handed to City and that foul is replayed and analysed to death and everyone is frustrated that the ref didn't see it.
Now we have a system where he can, and it stopped it happening.
Of course, consistency and incompetence is still always ready to rear its ugly head, like our lack of handball, so it's far from a solved problem. Previous Message
I don't think there is deliberate corruption. It's a combo of bad refereeing, unconscious bias, a fear of making the wrong decision and a feeling of being lied to.
From a match-going fan's point of view, it's absolutely shocking that the replays being shown to Stockley Park and Sky/TNT viewers are not shown in the stadium. It's absurd and ruins the match-going experience. I have no idea what the reasoning is. It won't lead to aggro in the stadium, VAR is all about being open and transparent.
Likewise, yesterday the Sky commentator and Gary Neville were clearly listening in to the comms between the ref and Stockley Park. Again, this just fuels 'cover up' and conspiracy theories. Why can they listen in but the TV viewers can't?
Rugby airs the two-way conversation on TV and shows the disputed incidents in the stadium and it works so much better.
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the claims of corruption are back...I wonder do those of you who suggest that mean, corruption as in, the game is corrupted by poor decision and/or a general bias to the bigger clubs? I am right on board with that.....but I think some of you mean more than that you actually think the EPL are fixing decisions to go one way or the other, i am not on board with that, because nobody has ever come up with remotely plausible answers to....
When and who has the secret meetings to decide which way to fix....why has there never been any inkling that these meeting happen?
How do they then communicate that to the var and on pitch teams....again thats hundreds of people involved and not one leak ever?
There are many more questions that make the whole idea laughable.
While a big percentage of fans believe this we can never hope to improve things....bad refereeing, unconscious bias, they are things that could be worked on if we pressured the EPL, but thats harder when half of fans just think its deliberate...how do you fix that?
Also those who think EPL or FA, or Uefa or FIFA are fixing games.....why the fuck do you spend your time and money on the game?
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