Rorschach wrote:The point I was making was that it seems to be being implemented differently from how it's currently written in the rules so people are confused about it. From what I've heard, they're basically just taking the word 'deliberately' out (on the day of the Champions League final) but referees often seem to be making their calls on that version already.
I guess the idea is to remove the subjectivity behind referees' decisions as to whether or not a handball was intentional. But, as you say, much twatting will ensue.
It's a shit idea and totally against 'the spirit of the game'.
I think it's been the case for a long time that handballs are very unpredictable.
To be honest, drop below the top levels and you'll almost never see handball penalised as most refs aren't good enough to spot it or make the split-second decisions, so they miss it or ignore it.
I do actually think the law should be extended from merely "deliberate" handballs to
any handball that gains the player an advantage, though the exceptions still need to be made for the ball striking a hand or arm that is placed across or by the body. If you shoot or cross and it hits a defender's arm and deflects away, that I think should be an indirect free kick. Penalties if it's judged to be deliberate. But again, it's very dependent on interpretation there.
Darkness_Fish wrote:VAR also isn't being implemented as advertised, as only "clear and obvious errors" should be overturned.
That's been the case since day one, hasn't it? In the World Cup we had the same thing with refs taking five minutes to look at footage. If it takes five minutes to make the decision it's not a bloody "clear and obvious" error is it? Clear and obvious is not spotting a guy who is two yards offside, not spotting Maradona or Henry's handballs.
My team Oldham have had one experience of VAR when we played at Fulham in the cup. Tom Cairney went flying in the box and the ref gave the penalty. It went to VAR and
it was plain to see that Cairney had been seriously maimed by an Oldham player's stray shoelace. The officials allowed the decision to stand. So in that case was it because, the video showing that Cairney's leg had indeed been sliced off by a faint whisper of air, the error was not "clear and obvious"? Who the hell knows?
Mitrovic proceeded to miss the penalty and Oldham went right down the other end and scored the winner, so justice was done. But still.