Coady whiffs on a clearance and Ings got a clear path to goal. Ugh
Southampton score. Ings gets his 4th of the season. Gotta turn this around!
Coady whiffs on a clearance and Ings got a clear path to goal. Ugh
Doherty draws a penalty and Jimenez puts it away from the spot. 1-1!
And it ends 1-1. Disappointed not to get the win, but good to see us bounce back and get the equalizer after giving up a bad goal
A disappointing but not surprising result. A point is something I suppose.
What I don’t understand is they thought they saw enough evidence to overturn our goal in the first half, and I thought it was a 50/50 call at best. In which case, I’d go with the original call on the field. But I was watching the Tottenham-Watford game and Deli Alli had a ball bounce off his upper arm - and it was 100% clear as day IMO - and they kept it a goal. Just very inconsistent in what the criteria is for upholding or overturning a call on the field. Have to have those details ironed out for VAR to be useful IMO.
Some seven**** hours after the match I have come to the conclusion that VAR is not working. It is taking the excitement out of the game and as a result the enjoyment. From memory it has cost us four points already this season and a place in the top six.
As yet I have not seen the replays but Jimenez was seen to use his hand on the first and a marginal offside seems to have been the reason to rule out the second. The linesman, nor the referee saw anything wrong with the second, neither did the Southampton players complain. Everyone was back in position to restart the match when the VAR decision was made. Jimenez was awarded a yellow card for his misdemeanour and then seemed to get penalised for every challenge that he made through the match. He did look back to his best after a few games where he looked shattered.
Redmond for the visitors always looked a danger, giving the home side no rest. The early injury to Bennett seemed to unsettle Wolves and the introduction of Vellejo so early into the match was hard. The young Spaniard made a few mistakes, including a major contribution to their goal. However, in fairness to the lad, he didn't try to hide and continued to become involved in the game, so much so that he picked up a yellow. I hope the Wolves fickle section don't crucify the young man. Neil Emblem had a sticky start to his Wolves career and that didn't turn out to be too bad.
A crude tackle from behind on Neves by the seasoned Inngs finished him off for the match. Deliberate, we will never know! Only their goal scorer will know the truth.
Southampton were always ready to put eleven men behind the ball, work hard and waste time when ever they had the opportunity. They were lucky to get a point but in some ways a draw was fair. Dendoncker looked almost back to his best covering almost every blade of grass, while Moutinho was as at his imperious best. His energy is unbelievable, and his range of passing takes your breath away at times. He reads the game so well, almost like a snooker player seeing his (pot/pass) several moves a head. Good to see Jotta back, several telling runs into their area before being crowded out. Talking of being crowded out, the Saints had obviously done their homework on Traore, each time he received the ball there were two or three players on him.
The referee made several strange decisions which enraged the crowd, but I think I would rather go back to the old system and let the bad decisions even out over the season. VAR works in Cricket and to a degree in Rugby, but they are both stop and start games, Football isn't. Even the Asto Villa manager was questioning it's validity on the radio last evening.
VAR - if your watching the game in the ground it kills the atmosphere, ultimately it will lead to fans not celebrating a goal until it's clear that VAR isn't going to change the decision, spontaneity and atmosphere gone. Punters and viewers on TV will probably think its great and adds to the spectacle and ensures the correct decision, football has been fine without VAR for 150 years and has thrived on the controversy surrounding poor decisions and the debate that has followed. In my lifetime there has only been one incident that I can recall where I would like VAR to have existed Mexico 1986.... F*ck VAR.
Well after this weekends matches, and certainly the Liverpool/Manchester United game, how can the paying spectators be happy with VAR. Every week it is becoming a laughing stock. I hear that it will be discussed by the clubs this week, but I can't see the league wanting to change things. Supporters will start voting with their feet if this farce carries on. Goal line technology works but VAR is spoiling the game.