Man Utd 2-1 Aston Villa - Friday 1st January, 2021

[Lucas]

Just now, Burning Gold said:

It's a coming together. There is contact between him and the defender, but it wasn't initiated by anyone, just the kind of thing that happens when two people run next to each other. Unfortunately that's a penalty every time these days

I did think that, I was even more surprised they didn't ask the ref to go have a look but you're right when you say the softest things are penalties these days.

[LFCMike]

16 minutes ago, Lucas said:

Are we thinking that was a penalty then?I got to be honest, from what I saw, it looked like Pogba tripped himself up.

Just saying, in my totally, neutral, unbiased opinion mind.

I'd be wanting that as a penalty if it was on a Liverpool player

[Stan]

Enjoyed that game. Quite open for the whole 90 and plenty of attempts for both sides.

[Rick]

Bloody hell Villa 

[MUFC]

Being honest I thought Pogba tripped himself up for the penalty.

[LFCMike]

5 minutes ago, MUFC said:

Being honest I thought Pogba tripped himself up for the penalty.

I've just seen a closer replay of it and it does look that way. His trailing leg possibly gets slight contact from the Villa player too though.

[Cicero]

Title race may be competitive but it’s come at a cost with the quality of football being so low. 

 

 

[El Profesor]

From that angle on this Douglas Luiz tweet, I really don't think it's a penalty. He has a point. 

The translation to his tweet is something like this:

" I look at this image and I can't believe this was called a penalty. I support a fairer football, with less errors, but then I see these types of calls. 

If we have VAR to assist (referees), then we need to start using it correctly. Those errors can affect the fate of clubs. "

 

By the way, wasn't Villa helped by a terrible referee mistake last season? I don't remember well, but I think so. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stan]

17 minutes ago, El Profesor said:

If we have VAR to assist (referees), then we need to start using it correctly. Those errors can affect the fate of clubs. "

 

By the way, wasn't Villa helped by a terrible referee mistake last season? I don't remember well, but I think so. 

 

Yep! Sheff Utd scored a goal at Villa Park where the keeper (Nyland) carried it over the line so blatantly and clearly but the goal wasn't given. 

I agree with him that VAR needs to be used correctly but his words are ironic when you think how a decision as bad as the Sheff Utd one favoured them. But then one could also argue they were dealt a shit hand when Fernandes was given a penalty against them for stepping on the defender's leg. 

I think it's a penalty. Pogba has been impeded, albeit slightly because there's some/little contact from Luiz in to Pogba's left leg which has caused the trip. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

2 hours ago, El Profesor said:

From that angle on this Douglas Luiz tweet, I really don't think it's a penalty. He has a point. 

The translation to his tweet is something like this:

" I look at this image and I can't believe this was called a penalty. I support a fairer football, with less errors, but then I see these types of calls. 

If we have VAR to assist (referees), then we need to start using it correctly. Those errors can affect the fate of clubs. "

 

By the way, wasn't Villa helped by a terrible referee mistake last season? I don't remember well, but I think so. 

 

 

 

 

 

I think it’s a really tough call if it’s a penalty or not even with VAR. Some angles make it look like a penalty, others like this... it doesn’t look like a penalty at all.

I think there are a lot of legitimate complaints about VAR and how it’s used (especially in England) - we’ve seen VAR award penalties from outside the box, seen stonewall penalties (this weekend even) completely ignored just because a player stayed on their feet... meanwhile penalty decisions that I think would never have been given pre-VAR are awarded with the slightest of contact. Only difference is the player goes down... so it rewards diving lol.

So I agree with him that VAR does need to be used correctly. And we do need to ask out officials to be more competent by a pretty significant degree, because I honestly can’t remember a time where I’ve thought refs were as shit as they are.

But I’m not sure this example is the best example for asking refs to use it correctly... at least when you see the other angles. This one is one of the tougher ones for a ref. But tbh I don’t think it should have been awarded.