03 Nov 2019 09:11:21
What a game, what a week!

There's so much on my mind and thought of letting some of it out.

1) Winning mentality
How many times have we clawed back points this season? It's unreal just how much they refuse to be beaten and is now playing for the win to the final sec. Love this spirit!

2) Mane
He's been our key match winner this season! how many times has that been? Thought he was giving their defence nightmares and when he was hugging the right touchline, he really opened the game up for us.
He does have to be more careful now as he seemed to be marked by the officials given how fast Moss was willing to give him a yellow. Was his fall theatrical? yes. Was there contact? yes. He's got to wise up a little.

3) Firmino
When he dropped in deep as we changed formation, he really opened up the game. What a player we have. And it was never offside.

4) TAA
Looked to be on fire and was hoping he could score from the freekick just as Gerrard did against AV years back in the final min.

5) Alisson
He is truly a great keeper. His quick movement off the line has denied clear goal scoring opportunities both against spurs and AV today. Just hoping he'll start getting his clean sheets back again.

6) Ox
Came on and really made a difference. Should have had a penalty too with that handball. And oh, what powerful shots he had that those blocking it would crash after that!

7) Keita
Its a strange one with him. Whenever he has come on late, he's been decent. Whenever he's started, he looked poor. Hoping to see the better version of him sooner.

8) VVD
I actually thought he had a poor game by his high standards. Too relaxed and made a few sloppy passes.

9) Lallana-Hendo
Surprised Klopp has Lallana as the no. 6, esp with his mid week performance. The midfield looked more solid whenever Hendo filled that role at diff. points in the game.

10) VAR
It's an absolute farce. It was shown on live TV that the 1st line drawn showed Firmino to be onside. So they proceeded to draw another line to show that he is off. Someone pointed out that the 2nd line drawn was not even straight!

Oh and why was the linesman so eager to raise his flag in a tight call? Wasnt he acting against instructions then?

Just as Ed 001 has pointed out, they now have a 'technology' to back up bad calls. And its only going to make refereeing standards go from bad to worse.

And the official PL twitter account had to audacity to follow up with a 'clarification' that indeed, Firmino's armpit caused him to be offside! I feel for Firmino, because his body must have been contorted in some very weird way for his armpit to be ahead of his extended knee when he was standing literally upright. But hey, its Halloween right? So just maybe.

This whole VAR is a joke. I believe the technology can make the game better. But how they are using it now, its beyond belief. And it makes me sick that a title, a CL place or a relegation spot could be decided by this whole mess they have created.

Onwards and Upwards. Let's get at city and open up a 9 point lead!

1.) 03 Nov 2019
03 Nov 2019 09:54:15
I’m sorry mate but I don’t believe there is a conspiracy against us. I’m pretty sure sterling had a similar one in the season where he was a mm off.

I don’t think either should be offside Imo and luckily we got the result in the end. I don’t think pundits are helping VAR either they just want to go against the decision either way.

I think we can all agree VAR is needed but there are plenty of issues that need ironing out.

2.) 03 Nov 2019
03 Nov 2019 10:12:02
Read my post again WY. You are reading things that aren’t there. No one suggested there is a conspiracy against us. But they have taken literally everyone (all the fans and anyone listening to their explanations) for fools for they way they have implemented VAR. it doesn’t just affect us, it affects everyone and it’s wrong.

3.) 03 Nov 2019
03 Nov 2019 10:21:40
The linesman is supposed to raise the flag after the ball has gone dead, which he did as the ball was in the net.

4.) 03 Nov 2019
03 Nov 2019 11:09:16
Love your assessment, OP. Truly enjoyed reading that. As for VAR as implemented in the PL, it is becoming farcical, bordering on the utter ridiculousness. I mean, you did not need VAR to see that Bobbie was not offside. You could see that when the VAR in the booth (Martin Atkinson, ladies and gentleman), you could see that the red line they used first got Bobbie onside by a fair bit. Then he redrew the line and STILL Bobbie was onside and then, they said officially, he was off by you guessed it, his arm pit.
The assistant was not even supposed to raise his flag and he did so of course, Atkinson had to cover for his boy so he had VAR working double overtime to make Bobbie look offside and it STILL did not work.

This is the complete rubbish we are having to deal with at this time. I mean, I read that even the Villa fans were laughing at that decision. Either way, we did not play well IMO as a lot of passes went astray and there were poor decisions in the final third BUT I like our fight, tenacity and drive to win so I'll take that. Mane? Stop diving, man, It really does not suit you.

5.) 03 Nov 2019
03 Nov 2019 11:48:07
You can’t have it both ways with VAR though?
In the Women’s World Cup there was criticism over VAR showing offside by toe nails etc and that it was too literal.
The PL adopted the ‘clear and obvious error’ interpretation, which is a sensible answer. However the calls are so tight that it’s virtually impossible to overturn the referee’s original decision.
So now the calls are for a return to the WWC interpretation again?

{Ed001's Note - actually the issue with the offsides is nothing to do with being literal. It is to do with the fact that it is not accurate enough to rule on a close offside and could in fact be wrong.}

6.) 03 Nov 2019
03 Nov 2019 12:00:32
What to do then Ed?
We all see the same pictures but different people are interpreting decisions in different ways?

{Ed001's Note - they should go back to giving the benefit of the doubt to the attacker, as they stated they would just a few weeks ago. And in cases like Villa's goal, when they couldn't even see through the bodies, they should just not use VAR and certainly not waste minutes of the game checking and re-checking something they can't see! It was just about making it look like Villa got a decision in their favour as they have been shafted by VAR repeatedly this season.}

7.) 03 Nov 2019
03 Nov 2019 13:26:59
Spot on, Ed. If you have to use literal millimeters to judge if a player is offside or not like that did vs Villa then advantage goes to the attacker cos in real time, no one deals with millimeters. When you over do it like they did, you are trying WAY too hard to make the decision the right one whereas we can all see it for what it is. If that was not the case then why would the PL put out a pathetic tweet saying Bobbie was offside with his armpit? If it too close to call and you can't show a player being clearly offside then let the goal stand, IMO.

{Ed001's Note - has a goal ever been scored with an armpit anyway?}

8.) 03 Nov 2019
03 Nov 2019 13:44:33
Ed001, to back up their newly developed rule, you just might see an armpit goal this year. how it'll be justified w/ o handball being an issue? i'll be waiting to hear.

they could have said anything they wanted, the lines (that were obviously slanted but i'll give you that) showed he was off, his shoulder (that wouldn't have been an issue in terms of body parts), whatever.

but armpits? they must believe the worldwide audience of football are fools.

{Ed001's Note - how this is not cause for some heads to roll I do not understand. How can Mike Riley continue to run the PGMOL in such a blatant and obviously, at best, inept, at worst corrupt, fashion?}