O/T- Them over the river having a meltdown over a couple of inches

[Chicken Balti Pie]

So apparently they are demanding an explanation as to why VAR didn't cancel out Ivan Toney's goal for moving the ball a couple of inches and also why Maupay's winner wasn't chalked off for handball, you can smell the desperation in the air that side of the river

[OP67]

Did you see the shambles of a wall they tried to set up? was an absolute joke That's the reason he scored, not moving the ball a couple of inches. Who is their keeper anyway, never heard of him?

[Kent Magpie]

Before VAR managers called for VAR. Once it arrived they complain about VAR. I think they, as a group, lost a lot of credibility, so to try and give their complaints more weight they make an official complaint. I think we will see more of this, particularly from clubs struggling to stay up and struggling to stay with Man City, as it creates the illusion of being hard done by. The truth of the matter is they should have defended the free kick better.

[LaxtonLad]

The Forest players watched as the ball was moved yet never said a word to the referee.

[PedroTheFisherman66]

You would think they are the only team who has had the ball moved in the process of taking a free kick. I bet you none of their players has ever moved the ball forward whilst trying to take a free kick...!?

[kill_the_drum]

I don’t think there’s a fan on the planet that would be happy about what Toney did, apart from Brentford. You’d hear our fans screaming at the ref if someone was about to take a corner an inch outside.
VAR is killing the game, especially as a live spectacle. Fans don’t celebrate with the same instant euphoria as they never truly believe a goal is going to be given.
For me, technology can only categorically determine if a ball has gone over the line and if someone is offside. So that’s all it should be used for. Everything else is still subjective regardless of how much you watch it or slow it down.
It can only change if paying customers start turning there backs on the game, or people with influence come together to remove it, rather than just speak out when a decision has gone against them.

[BigFatPie]

They’ve written to the PGMOL so many times they’re official pen pals. Their constant whining this season has been pathetic.

[cher1]

For me, technology can only categorically determine if a ball has gone over the line and if someone is offside. So that’s all it should be used for. Everything else is still subjective regardless of how much you watch it or slow it down.
It can only change if paying customers start turning there backs on the game, or people with influence come together to remove it, rather than just speak out when a decision has gone against them.

Agree about VAR only being used for those purposes.

There's another way things can change that would have a huge impact on decision making. Players could stop cheating.

[Newish Pie]

As an Everton fan you'd expect me to have another reason to want Forest to get as few points as possible, but I think they've been hard done by there. It's not just that he moves the ball, it's that he moves the pitch marking too. I've never seen any other player do that before, but perhaps I've just not being paying attention. And as it's in a shooting position, small movements matter in a way that they don't when you're stealing a few yards from an offside decision or throw in. Yes, it's a poor wall, yes they could and should have adjusted, but the shot goes exactly where any advantage would have been, and that's hard to ignore.

Apparently ball placement is not one of the things that VAR can check. Perhaps that's sensible, or it would mean a lot more checks on corners etc. Maybe that should change, but then why not add in second yellow cards (or even first yellow cards, where a dodgy first yellow makes a correct second yellow a red), and so on and on it goes. Forest may be the only team to fall foul of this particular technicality that feels wrong, but they're not the first team to suffer from oddities in what VAR can/cannot look at, and they won't be the last.

I don't really understand why VAR seemed to be used effectively in international tournaments, but not the premier league. My biggest complaint is inconsistency... are we re-refereeing, or are we only correcting clear and obvious errors? Feels to me like too often, whichever interpretation favours the Big Sky Teams is the one that's used.

[Newish Pie]

As an Everton fan you'd expect me to have another reason to want Forest to get as few points as possible, but I think they've been hard done by there. It's not just that he moves the ball, it's that he moves the pitch marking too. I've never seen any other player do that before, but perhaps I've just not being paying attention. And as it's in a shooting position, small movements matter in a way that they don't when you're stealing a few yards from an offside decision or throw in. Yes, it's a poor wall, yes they could and should have adjusted, but the shot goes exactly where any advantage would have been, and that's hard to ignore.

Apparently ball placement is not one of the things that VAR can check. Perhaps that's sensible, or it would mean a lot more checks on corners etc. Maybe that should change, but then why not add in second yellow cards (or even first yellow cards, where a dodgy first yellow makes a correct second yellow a red), and so on and on it goes. Forest may be the only team to fall foul of this particular technicality that feels wrong, but they're not the first team to suffer from oddities in what VAR can/cannot look at, and they won't be the last.

I don't really understand why VAR seemed to be used effectively in international tournaments, but not the premier league. My biggest complaint is inconsistency... are we re-refereeing, or are we only correcting clear and obvious errors? Feels to me like too often, whichever interpretation favours the Big Sky Teams is the one that's used.

Actually, after reading an article in the Athletic (paywall), I've changed my mind. The author (Matt Pyzdrowski) is a former keeper, coach and analyst) and he's written a really interesting article about roles and responsibilities and challenges about defending free kicks. We can normally rely on the 'goalkeepers' union' to defend goalkeepers, but if he says that a correctly positioned wall would have made the moving the ball irrelevant, that's good enough for me.