I'm not sure if there is enough interest for an entire thread, but here are the assignments for Week 1 in Serie A. At the very least, I can update it weekly for those interested. CAGLIARI – BRESCIA ABBATTISTA PAGANESSI – BRESMES IV: ILLUZZI VAR: PAIRETTO AVAR: DI IORIO FIORENTINA – NAPOLI Sabato 24\08 h.20.45 MASSA TEGONI – ALASSIO IV: DOVERI VAR: VALERI AVAR: MONDIN H. VERONA – BOLOGNA GIUA SCHENONE – IMPERIALE IV: DI MARTINO VAR: NASCA AVAR: GALETTO INTER – LECCE Lunedì 26\08 h.20.45 LA PENNA GIALLATINI – PRENNA IV: VOLPI VAR: AURELIANO AVAR: FIORITO PARMA – JUVENTUS Sabato 24\08 h.18.00 MARESCA VALERIANI – DE MEO IV: PICCININI VAR: MAZZOLENI AVAR: DI VUOLO ROMA – GENOA CALVARESE LIBERTI – CECCONI IV: ROS VAR: FABBRI AVAR: PASSERI SAMPDORIA – LAZIO ROCCHI MELI – PERETTI IV: SERRA VAR: BANTI AVAR: TOLFO SPAL – ATALANTA MANGANIELLO ROCCA – PAGLIARDINI IV: BARONI VAR: CHIFFI AVAR: LO CICERO TORINO – SASSUOLO MARIANI SANTORO – BACCINI IV: GHERSINI VAR: ABISSO AVAR: LONGO UDINESE – MILAN h.18.00 PASQUA VIVENZI – RANGHETTI IV: MAGGIONI VAR: GIACOMELLI AVAR: DEL GIOVANE Rocchi & Massa have the high-profile games. Banti & Mazzoleni, who both are retired from on-field duty, continue as VAR specialists this season.
Business as usual in regards to handball VAR madness! Only took 5 minutes for an OFR and penalty! I love this league
I couldn’t tell if Legea was the new referee kit sponsor. If only there was a way to let me know.......... In all seriousness, definitely not a fan of the new Italian referee kit, especially the huge billboard on the back. Last year’s Diadora kit was far better.
I was at the Fiorentina v Galatasaray match two weeks ago and the referees were wearing the Legea kit. I thought for sure it was a situation similar to "USSF wears OSI and MLS wears Adidas" since it was a friendly.
I know that. I just think the huge “LEGEA” nameplate is really overdoing it. We were joking about Macron overdoing their logos on the UEFA kit. This is far more blatant.
Interesting decision by Massa. Perhaps a more interesting decision by Valeri not to intervene. This was given as a penalty. 1165346514098642944 is not a valid tweet id
I watched it live. Two things to note ... 1. There’s another angle that shows the SLIGHTEST completely accidental contact. 2. Before this instance there was a potential handball by a different defender. This is certainly an exaggerated contact. But was it a dive? I’m not 100% sure ... so maybe it isn’t a clear and obvious error.
Oh I 100% believe there was contact. But that’s because the attacker deliberately leaves his right leg dangling to ensure there is contact. What on earth has the defender done to carelessly trip his opponent, other than exist? For me, this is that rare situation where a simulation yellow is absolutely warranted despite contact. The attacker is trying (successfully here) to deceive the referee.
I see where you’re coming from. I was more thinking in terms of VAR - in case there actually is contact, the bar is probably higher for a clear and obvious error. Massa has been heavily criticized, this call being the focal point. For whatever reason, I just don’t think this is THAT bad of a call. But I am certainly in the minority with that opinion. His overall game management and other incidents didn’t contribute to a great overall performance . He really hasn’t been that good in recent games, including the U20 WC if I remember. If Guida continues his form from the end of last season - he will surpass Massa to become Italy’s #1 post Rocchi/Orsato.
Massa & Valeri will apparently sit one match-day for the penalty decision. Marcello Nicchi, President of AIA, was on national TV last night and said the decision was wrong. Apparently there was some issue with the VAR technology and all the angles weren't shown properly. Just to highlight how opposite Serie A is from EPL, Nicchi said something along the lines of "If you aren't sure, just go look at it again".
Serie A Matchday #2 ATALANTA – TORINO A Parma DOVERI GALETTO – FIORITO IV: DIONISI VAR: CALVARESE AVAR: RANGHETTI BOLOGNA – SPAL Venerdì 30\08 h.20.45 DI BELLO DI IORIO – GORI IV: RAPUANO VAR: FABBRI AVAR: GIALLATINI CAGLIARI – INTER MARIANI DEL GIOVANE – LO CICERO IV: MARINELLI VAR: MARESCA AVAR: PRETI GENOA – FIORENTINA GIACOMELLI TOLFO – MONDIN IV: ABBATTISTA VAR: BANTI AVAR: LIBERTI JUVENTUS – NAPOLI Sabato 31\08 h.20.45 ORSATO MANGANELLI – COSTANZO IV: PASQUA VAR: IRRATI AVAR: SCHENONE LAZIO – ROMA h.18.00 GUIDA CARBONE – BINDONI IV: ROCCHI VAR: MAZZOLENI AVAR: VIVENZI LECCE – H. VERONA SACCHI DI VUOLO – COLAROSSI IV: PRONTERA VAR: GIUA AVAR: DE MEO MILAN – BRESCIA Sabato 31\08 h.18.00 ABISSO BOTTEGONI – VILLA IV: PEZZUTO VAR: MANGANIELLO AVAR: PERETTI SASSUOLO – SAMPDORIA PAIRETTO CALIARI – MASTRODONATO IV: MAGGIONI VAR: CHIFFI AVAR: CECCONI UDINESE – PARMA PICCININI LONGO – VECCHI IV: ROS VAR: NASCA AVAR: VALERIANI Orsato for the early clash of giants, and Guida with the Rome derby. Last time Orsato has a big Serie. A game was the disastrous Derby D’Italia in the 2017/18 season.
From watching this it looks Serie A has just basically applied a policy of "if it hits the hand it's a penalty." VAR is turning the sport into penalty kick ball. I really don't understand IFAB/FIFA/UEFA's obsession and insistence on turning handling into an exact science with VAR. They allow for referee judgement, leeway and margin of error on serious foul play and violent conduct and other penalty kick fouls, but not handling.
What is Peter Walton talking about? The Italian Federation has made NO such statement. What he’s saying is total nonsense.
Does no one vet what people say at all on tv ?! I know the answer is obviously no. But this puppet has gone on ESPN FC as a professed referee expert and spewed utter garbage and falsehood. And of course no one is challenging him because everyone is clueless! Exhibit A of how misinformation spreads.
Serie A Matchday #3 BRESCIA - BOLOGNA ROCCHI BACCINI – PAGNOTTA IV: MASSIMI VAR: PICCININI AVAR: GALETTO FIORENTINA - JUVENTUS Sabato 14/09 h. 15.00 IRRATI PRETI – PASSERI IV: DI BELLO VAR: MAZZOLENI AVAR: LO CICERO GENOA – ATALANTA h. 12.30 FABBRI ALASSIO – SANTORO IV: PAIRETTO VAR: MARESCA AVAR: DI VUOLO H. VERONA – MILAN h. 20.45 MANGANIELLO DE MEO – VALERIANI IV: DI MARTINO VAR: ORSATO AVAR: MONDIN INTER – UDINESE Sabato 14/09 h. 20.45 MARIANI LIBERTI – CECCONI IV: ABISSO VAR: GUIDA AVAR: FIORITO NAPOLI – SAMPDORIA Sabato 14/09 h. 18.00 LA PENNA PAGANESSI – PRENNA IV: MARINI VAR: BANTI AVAR: COSTANZO PARMA – CAGLIARI PASQUA GIALLATINI – SCATRAGLI IV: SERRA VAR: DOVERI AVAR: DEL GIOVANE ROMA – SASSUOLO h. 18.00 CHIFFI PERETTI – VIVENZI IV: SACCHI VAR: GIACOMELLI AVAR: TOLFO SPAL – LAZIO CALVARESE SCHENONE – BRESMES IV: GHERSINI VAR: AURELIANO AVAR: DI IORIO TORINO – LECCE Lunedì 16/09 h. 20.45 GIUA RANGHETTI – IMPERIALE IV: MARINELLI VAR: DI PAOLO AVAR: NASCA No Orsato leads me to believe he has a Tuesday UCL game. Irrati with a reminder that he isn't perpetually locked into the VAR booth.
Good VAR intervention in Genoa-Atlanta. Was such a clear penalty it’s unbelievable it was missed in real time.
Maybe a not so good intervention here? https://streamable.com/ile5x Serie A and EPL are bordering on two different sports right now.
What do you mean exactly? I think that’s a clear penalty. Whether or not you want to call it a clear an obvious error in the first place might be somewhat debatable, but once the referee goes to the monitor how can you end up with something other than a PK? And why does it take SO long. He was at the monitor for at least a minute but it felt like an eternity.
I guess I mean a few things. First, it takes four minutes overall. Second, it takes 90 seconds before he even gets called to the monitor. Third, after everything, it results in no penalty. It disrupted the game and didn't change anything. It's a poster child for what the EPL is trying to avoid. If I'm Mike Riley, I'm sending this to every club in the EPL and saying "is this what you want?" Whatever you think of the merits of the decision, it's not a good intervention in the sense that it was not well done. And speaking of the merits of the decision, this goes to the heart of why VAR is not well thought-out. Is it a clear hold? Sure. But does that often go unpunished? Yes. So what does football expect? It's off-the-ball and doesn't affect a goal-scoring situation whatsoever. Also, though he was clearly held, the Torino captain smartly falls forward and looks to sell the decision. If VARs start giving penalties for this, then you're going to see bodies flopping to the ground everywhere there is contact in order to try to buy more penalties. The existence of VAR would be creating a new incentive system that otherwise didn't exist. If VARs are going to try to punish every one of these incidents every time, no matter how far away from the ball said incident is, then sure, make it open season and let's have 2-3 penalties per match. But, if not, then this is re-refereeing. The fact that it took a VAR 90 seconds to even recommend a review and then a referee another 2 minutes to finally decide "no" tells me that this isn't as clear as some might like it to be. I think there's a 0% chance this is reviewed in England (if the Matip foul, which was on the ball wasn't reviewed, how can you review off-the-ball holds?). I think there's a 50/50 chance in MLS with it being more likely the closer the incident was to the drop zone. La Liga, this will probably 100% be a penalty via VAR. And, thus, after years and years of trying to get the game more uniformly refereed around the world, we've introduced a new system with language "clearly wrong" and "serious missed incident" that ensures everyone is doing their own thing on major game-changing decisions. Great job, everyone.
Feel free to move this to a more appropriate thread. Maybe VAR Review Thread. Start watching from 2:50 to 8:00. Predictably the NFL is having the same exact problems and maybe even worse than soccer is when it comes to implementing video review on subjective decisions. You change out the terminology related to the specific sport and its basically the same conversation we've been having here in regards to VAR. Just like VAR, replay for pass interference is wiping out touchdowns (goals) that no one was asking to wipe away before. Just like in soccer, the NFL reviews every touchdown and now they are able to identify every ineligible man downfield fouls or "picks" by the offense to disallow touchdowns. Also, predictably no one has a clue as to what "clear and obvious" is in the NFL. Turn on any NFL or college football broadcast and you'll hear their referee analyst use the term "clear and obvious."