The latest installment saw the VAR at the Coventry v Man U FA Cup semi-final destroy one of the greatest moments in FA Cup history. I was late home on Sunday afternoon and ran in to watch the end of the Liege-Bastoyne-Liege cycling classic. I checked my phone to see the score in the semi-final and saw that Man U were 3-0 up. Game over thought I.
After the end of the cycling I switched over to catch the end of the footy, just in time to see the ref pointing to the Man U spot. I looked at the score to see it was now 3-2 to Man U and Coventry had a penalty, which they dispatched. Extra time beckoned. And with the teams running out of energy and the game into the final minute of E.T., Coventry did the impossible and found the energy to bag the winner. But wait, VAR was checking for offside. And when the image came back the Coventry player's toe was offside. No goal. One of the greatest comebacks in modern FA Cup history was overturned because of a toe being offside.
This is not what football is about. No advantage was gained by the attacker. The game went to pens which Man U duly won. This can't go on. Something needs done. To add insult to injury, social media is awash with images of Man U's £70m flop, Anthony, goading the Coventry players when the winning pen went in. Classless in the extreme. A symptom of the depths to which the once great Red Devils have fallen.
Also, in FA Cup news, we heard that there will no longer be replays.
Personally I am happy. There are too many games and for the sake of the players the replays need to go. Don't blame the players or the clubs, blame the authorities, who have increased the number of Champions League games, World Cup games and Euro Cup games. The season is too long and there are too many games. The big losers are the small clubs, but this should be compensated by more money being taken from the big clubs and given to the small. I'm all in favour of the fair distribution of wealth, but I won't hold my breath.
This is not what football is about. No advantage was gained by the attacker. The game went to pens which Man U duly won. This can't go on. Something needs done. To add insult to injury, social media is awash with images of Man U's £70m flop, Anthony, goading the Coventry players when the winning pen went in. Classless in the extreme. A symptom of the depths to which the once great Red Devils have fallen.
Also, in FA Cup news, we heard that there will no longer be replays.
Personally I am happy. There are too many games and for the sake of the players the replays need to go. Don't blame the players or the clubs, blame the authorities, who have increased the number of Champions League games, World Cup games and Euro Cup games. The season is too long and there are too many games. The big losers are the small clubs, but this should be compensated by more money being taken from the big clubs and given to the small. I'm all in favour of the fair distribution of wealth, but I won't hold my breath.
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| Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports |
We were robbed by VAR too, surprised you didn't mention that Peter!
ReplyDeleteScandalous.
either team were going to claim they were robbed by VAR whatever the decision in that Semi final. But Peter is right - something should be tweaked. I think to be offside the gap between players should be visible to the VAR if not the naked eye. Doubt we will hear Caoimhin complain about that VAR call - the big Manchester United hallion!!!!!
DeleteSteve R
DeleteI was in Dublin for the weekend with the missus so I didn't see the game. But if you can't beat a team that played 120 mins plus pens on the Wednesday night then you don't deserve to go through. I heard you had a bagful of chances but one pundit said you couldn't hit a barn door with a banjo. Unlucky, maybe next year.
Touché Peter, We are utterly shite as further evidenced from tonight's capitulation. Bring back Jose!
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