But you kind of can't blame Oliver for that. I am very sure that Oliver gives that as a penalty if he's called for the OFR. How he is not called can only be answered with one phrase: "it's England." Even if the defender hadn't been moving the arm toward the ball to make this all look deliberate, it would still be a penalty just for the unnatural position. The non-intervention from the VAR here is astounding. I mean, this would be given without a second of thought in a WC Final. Yet, it's England, so we can't be soiling a cup semifinal with those icky VAR interventions, can we?
But, what else is he looking at there? Away from the ball? Not there, they are going for goal. Not only did he miss the penalty, he GUESSED at the way the ball went out. (In my opinion). Plus, there were a couple of other instances during the match where contact was not called. Of course, I had my London sunglasses on today! But, Chelsea should have scored 4. They have only themselves to blame.
No official was controlling the wall at the freekick (you can see from the Pochettino replay that fourth man Darren England would have been perfectly placed to detect the offence), so imo you can at least partly blame Oliver for this mistake as it his job to distribute responsibilities for set-pieces.
In reading some fan boards, (I know!), this is a play where you can make a case for “clear and obvious error.” The call on the field is goal kick, meaning no one sees it off the arm. How they don’t have an OFR is just wrong.
I can’t find a video but need an explanation. 33rd-ish minute. Kilman on Wolves challenges Havertz, no whistle. Play continues with Arsenal. Havertz rolling around on the ground, then they lose the ball. Advantage, if it existed over. Play continues until Rice fouls a Wolves player, gets a yellow card. Then the ref points at the spot of Kilman’s challenge and gives him a yellow card. Why did play continue after Arsenal lost the ball?
I thought Tierney was horrible. Did the typical "English" thing of barely punishing fouls that were close to injuring players and then brandishing yellows for ticky tack stuff.
Forest have had three strong PK appeals turned down in the massive bottom of the table fixture. Clatt's will be a popular man again.
*Shots fired* Three extremely poor decisions - three penalties not given - which we simply cannot accept. We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times. NFFC will now consider its options.— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) April 21, 2024
So upon reflection this is a very serious accusation from Forest. If Attwell had already declared that he was a Luton supporter to PGMOL before the season or in the past then it's shocking assigning from PGMOL. If he hadn't declared his Luton support then we seem to be looking at Clatts using personal/inside info from his former co-worker which looks terrible for many parties (including Clatts and Attwell). Or it's entirely libel/hearsay.
Attwell is a known Luton fan. See this article from last year: https://www.planetsport.com/soccer/...ier-league-referees-support-man-utd-liverpool
That's really bad assigning from PGMOL. You don't put one of your guys in a situation where this can happen if one side feels aggrieved. Not defending Forest at all with their statement/accusation but don't even put Attwell in that situation because you've put the potentially CL final VAR under intense and unnecessary scrutiny.
It’s not been a good 24 hours for English VARs. Or more specifically the system in which England uses their VARs.
this isn’t “ref you suck” this is an explicit accusation of bias. with NFO one point above relegation I have to think they are considering options and making a case if they are relegated also, absolutely terrible assigning if true (seems like it is)
How many degrees of separation is required for a referee to be unbiased? There are four teams at the bottom of the table that all games matter. In addition, three at the top, two on the bubble for champions league. Plus, rivalries… can Arsenal fans do a Spurs game, Everton/Liverpool? and then, games that matter for the second and third order effects?
Completely routine tactics as from Greece by their owner Marinakis, who has owned Olympiakos Piraeus for ten yrs. Edit: the handball is embarrasingly bad (as yesterday) and the second half tackle should have been given; even UEFA are moving away from awarding penalties like the first half tripping. So, two missed penalties all told.
I think there definitely has to be a response here from the FA acknowledging fault of some kind (“unschöner schiedsrichtereinsatz") or a major fine/suspensions. Points deduction seems extreme and unlikely but the team publicly accused the league of cheating so I don't think that's inappropriate, even if it won't happen.
I don't know the answer to this, but regardless of where the line is, "one point apart in a relegation battle" probably crosses it.
Not only that, but he's also bad at his job. So it's a double whammy. Look, Forest's tweet isn't the most savory thing. But the FA and PGMOL are the ones who create this atmopshere--or allow it to flourish. If Attwell is an avowed Luton supporter, per the rules everyone seems to apply and accept for refereeing assigning, I found it absolutely dumbfounding that they would not also apply for VAR assignments. And I mean that for all VAR assignments, not just the ones where relegation is in question. I don't think there's any real remedy here. But I also doubt we've heard the last of this today.
That's future CL final VAR Stuart Attwell there! (Well maybe not after today depending on where the media takes this)
But seriously, if per the PGMOL/FA's own regulations Attwell can't referee Luton, how is it suddenly fair that he can VAR them, where he is in absolute control of whether or not major controversial incidents are readjudicated? I'm sure @Mikael_Referee is right about the tactics here. But the reality is that the complaint emanates from PGMOL's or the FA's own premise. This is a really hard one for me to come down against the club fully.
Wild FA Cup semifinal! Coventry comes back from 3-0 against Manchester United to make it 3-3 in stoppage time with a penalty kick (given on the field, similar arm position to Grealish yesterday). Coventry then scores the winner at 120+1 but he's slightly offside. Both keepers get booked in penalties (including Onana who got one in the 2nd half) and Manchester United go though.
I don't think they necessarily have to come down on the club but if they don't they should acknowledge some form of error, otherwise this makes a bad situation worse. Of course, that's me looking for internal consistency which probably isn't something I should expect here.
Right. I was just focused on your suggestion of major fines/suspension or points deduction. I'm saying the EPL really can't go that route because of the premise Forest is complaining about is true. At the same time, I don't think PGMOL can easily acknowledge error, either. Like, it's such an obvious error how can it only be seen after-the-fact? And saying "oh, we shouldn't have done that" has its own complications because at that point, the implication would appear to be that Attwell was corrupt or biased. It's really hard to admit error, acknowledge the unfortunate appearance of impropriety, yet insist that nothing untoward happened. I mean, you can try it if you're the PGMOL. But at that point, who is satisified with such a statement or result? I think the big question here is if any other VARs have officiated their home club despite not being allowed to referee them. If PGMOL can point to such an example and prove that this Attwell assignment wasn't unique, that is the only thing they can hang their hat on. Because if this Attwell assignment is the first case of an official being the main VAR for the club they support... ooh, boy.