For reasons best known to whoever thought of it, the League Cup game with Motherwell kicks off at 18: 15, which is unfortunate not only for those who will be on the way home from work at that time, but for those of us whose clocks only go up to twelve.
When you add the introduction of VAR to Scottish football this weekend, it’s clear that football is changing.
Premier sports have a double bill of football tomorrow, and predictably it’s Celtic who star in the early show, whilst “rangers ” are the feature event.
After all, they need the gate money more, although recent performances at Ibrox suggest they may not have a capacity crowd.
Or a capacity team, come to think of it.
Celtic will be out to build on their recent return to form against Hibernian, proving the 6-1 rout was no fluke. It did appear for a while that fans and players were beginning to lose faith in the manager, who rightly pays no attention whatsoever to what anyone else thinks, having always stood or fallen by his own decisions, which is the right way to manage anything.
Once you let other people dictate or influence, you might as well clear your desk and let them get on with it.
Though after much thought, i’d like to offer my own opinion, safe in the knowledge that he’ll ignore it.
Celtic are creating chances, but Saturday apart, having really been taking them. The obvious answer would be to play with two up front, which in theory would double the chances of someone getting on the end of a pass.
But that would mean losing a winger, and with that the balance of the team would suffer. So a compromise would be for the right sided forward to become a centre forward when the play is on the left, and vice versa.
If the play is through the middle, then one or the other could join in…or both, their positions on the flank covered to some degree by the full backs.
Piece of piss this management lark.
It may leave us open to breakaways, but we are anyway so we’re hardly losing anything., the plan, remember, is to score more than the opposition, and as long as we do, we’ll be fine.
The introduction of VAR for the Hearts game will be an interesting development, especially if it can identlfy fans who attack the away bench.
We’ve seen it’s advantages in Europe where Leipzig had a couple of goals chalked off, but the real issue is who gets to call for the VAR to be used.
The EPL has been using it for a while, and on their website there is a set of frequently asked questions, the answers to which might help to clear a few things up, and also give us an idea about how it will affect Scottish football…..
What is VAR?
Every Premier League fixture has a Video Assistant Referee (VAR), a qualified referee who watches the match via a number of screens and can view slow-motion replays, enabling them to advise the on-field referee.
So, in theory, John Beaton can ask Nick Walsh for help. I’m already on the point of spotting a problem or two…..
Who appoints the Video Assistant Referees?
VARs are qualified match officials. Their appointments as part of the refereeing team are announced by Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) for every Premier League match round at the beginning of each week.
Jesus suffering fuck, we really are in trouble….I imagine there’s posters up in every Lodge in Scotland advertising opportunities for Referees, as more referees will be needed, and that means more of the same as opposed to a change in direction.
When will VAR be used in Premier League matches?
The VAR is constantly monitoring the match.
VAR is used only for “clear and obvious errors” or “serious missed incidents” in four match-changing situations: goals; penalty decisions; direct red-card incidents; and mistaken identity.
But factual decisions such as offsides, and the issue of whether a player is inside or outside the penalty area, are not subject to the “clear and obvious” test.
If the VAR sees an error has been made in such a situation they will intervene, regardless of how marginal the decision is.
There is a high bar for the VARs to intervene on subjective decisions, to maintain the pace and intensity of matches.
I can see it now….. twice as many of our esteemed officials looking for ways to award penalties to Tavernier, and let’s face it, their high penalty count is because referees have been awarding them where they perhaps would not have awarded them to other teams….
When will VAR be used in Premier League matches?
The VAR is constantly monitoring the match.
VAR is used only for “clear and obvious errors” or “serious missed incidents” in four match-changing situations: goals; penalty decisions; direct red-card incidents; and mistaken identity.
But factual decisions such as offsides, and the issue of whether a player is inside or outside the penalty area, are not subject to the “clear and obvious” test.
If the VAR sees an error has been made in such a situation they will intervene, regardless of how marginal the decision is.
There is a high bar for the VARs to intervene on subjective decisions, to maintain the pace and intensity of matches.
the clue here is in the definition of a ” clear and obvious error “. Some might argue that giving John Beaton or Nick Walsh a job as a referee is a clear and obvious error in itself, and if “rangers ” haven’t had a penalty by half time, is that a clear and obvious error on behalf of the referee.
There are some Scots refs who try to be fair and impartial, will VAR be used to make them toe the company line ?
As the Greeks used to say, “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes ? ”
What incidents does the VAR check?
VAR will be used only for “clear and obvious errors” or “serious missed incidents” in four match-changing situations: goals; penalty decisions; direct red-card incidents; and mistaken identity.
What incidents does the VAR not check?
The VAR will not review incidents outside of the four match-changing situations: goals; penalty decisions; direct red-card incidents; and mistaken identity.
It will not review, for example, fouls or handballs in the middle of the pitch when there is no goal or penalty decision.
It will not review the decision to award a corner instead of a goal-kick, even if the corner produces a goal.
This is because the VAR will only check the attacking possession phase that led to the goal, and the starting point is limited to the immediate phase, in this instance the corner being taken.
there seems to be a lot that is pretty much black and white, and there seems to be more than enough that isn;t so clear, which means that all we will end up with is more and more arguments about the interpretations of the rules of use, which is down to the referees….
Can players ask for a decision to be checked by VAR?
No. In fact, yellow cards will be issued to players or club staff who aggressively make the VAR signal to a match official
And two yellows make a red…..you can see where this is going.
What qualifies as a “clear and obvious error”?
In testing, there was no unanimity. Different VARs came up with different outcomes.
But the VAR should not be asking, “Do I think it’s right or wrong?” The question is, “Is what the match officials have done a clear and obvious error?”
There is a very high bar for that intervention.
Tavernier is worth a fiver for the European Golden Boot.
Can VAR overrule a referee?
No. The final decision is always taken by the on-field referee. The VAR only provides advice.
Presumably career advice…….
Will it be used for all offside decisions?
No, only for one of the four match-changing situations: goals; penalty decisions; direct red-card incidents; and mistaken identity.
They’ll just call them earlier, to avoid anything happening. Like Beaton does when he breaks up play.
See…..
Will assistants still flag for offside or is it decided only by VAR?
For clear offside decisions the assistant referee should flag immediately.
But when an immediate goalscoring opportunity is likely to occur and there is a tight, marginal offside call, the assistant referee should keep their flag down until the passage of play is completed.
Once the goalscoring opportunity is complete – either a goal is scored or the chance is gone – the assistant will then flag to indicate the initial offence. If a goal is scored the VAR will then review the offside judgement.
In both of these situations the referee should wait to blow the whistle until the immediate phase of play has ended.
When the VAR is involved in offside decisions, they will be making a factual call based on evidence from fully calibrated offside lines.
What will the VAR do when a penalty is being taken?
The VAR can intervene for a clear and obvious error by the on-field match officials relating to goalkeeper movement, a double touch by the penalty taker, feigning at the point of the kick, and encroachment that has a direct impact.
The 2020/21 protocol does not allow for tolerance levels, so if the goalkeeper saves a penalty and his foot is over the goalline then VAR will advise it is retaken.
If the goalkeeper is off his line and the ball hits the post or goes over, it won’t be retaken unless the ‘keeper has a material impact on the kick being missed.
For player encroachment in the box, it is now judged on any part of a player’s body that is on the ground when the kick is taken.
Therefore, if any part of the foot is on the penalty area or arc line it is encroachment. The player must still have a material impact on the outcome of the kick.
Or until Tav scores……
The full article is worth a read, but I must say it’s rather depressing.
Still, at least when the present Ibrox incarnation goes down, they can call the third entity Video Assisted Rangers, because that’s what will happen.
Good diary Ralph. Two things I am unaware of any supporter or player losing confidence in Ange. Hibernian restored Celtic’s status quo. We were off in a few games and we moaned but we knew Ange/ players would put it right. Form is like that and October, strangely, often has often been an ‘ off’ month for us.
Secondly the VAR tv programme on Thursday and your points are helpful. How often have we shouted “he was never off” only to see on tv a clear offside. We watch the ball not the movement before the pass.
VAR should help us because of our possession and attacking. I think the ref conspiracy is fantasy but what is real is the Scottish referee incompetence and VAR will help with that.
I agree about fans not questioning Ange, certainly not domestically.
Europe is different and with only 1 point from 12 then I think it’s right that fans have questions.
I don’t think fans are saying that this is as good as it gets and most still have hope/expectation that it will be better in the future.
Re VAR. The details above are useful but the SFA will be doing it slightly differently.
The major difference is that it will adjudge on goals, as there’s no goal line technology.
This is slightly troubling, as the ball can often look over the line if it’s not on the ground, so is this another opportunity for honest mistakes?
Re refs. Whether it’s a conspiracy or not, what is undeniable, is the amount of Rangers fans eg Madden (as was), Beaton, McLean and Walsh involved in our and their games.
Also the substantial evidence of former refs acknowledging their bias.
On the other side, the only evidence offered is Collum and Conroy but that’s purely dog-whistling based on their perceived religion not evidence of Celtic bias.
Until referees declare their allegiance and are banned from their own team and their main opponent then it fails the “justice has got to be seen to be done” test and deserves its lack of credibility reputation.
https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/news/var-goes-live-for-hibernian-v-st-johnstone-on-21-october/?rid=14258
Check out the article on scottishfa.co .uk (remove space) re VAR going like this weekend.
Good points The Cha I will check out. the article.
So you are telling me that Jock’s statement that we need to win by 4 to guarantee a draw is still in play? And I thought that everytime the ref was asked to check, he was really told to change his mind to suit the establishment and pretend it was his choice. Love the foreign quotes. Adds style to a fine point. HH!
King Kenny made a valid question,why will there be teething problems with VAR as you’ve had over a year to set it up..
“Billy fae Lanark” is still working his notice, would be the true answer…
There is no reason whatsoever the VAR assistant needs to come from the limited (in every sense) Scottish Referee pool run by SFA.
He could be stationed in Oz as long as the connection is sound.
The Company mentioned could set themselves up as suppliers of professional referees instead of SFA as well as VAR monitors with SPFL as users of the service the judges of referee performance.
It will take time for a model on that basis to become reality but a start could be made by the VAR assistant coming from outside the SFA pool.
The suggestion on Sentinel Celts to improve referee standards is an attempt to get a Referee Service ball rolling.
Otherwise its same old same old.
Juvenal was a Roman poet and the quote attributed to him is in Latin not Greek. Still I suppose it’s all Greek to Ralph.
I suspect Ralph was joking although chaque’un a son gout as they say in Spain.
Mais oui mon ami.
Sorry, ‘mate’, ah thoat he wiz jist a delinckwent, naw?
Neil, Neil, orange peel.
If only I could see you again.
Seriously must be on the piss if a) you come within seconds of a draw with Man Utd after a creditable result in the first game 2) are mid-table with games in hand 3) get bounced by Greeks, they tolerate a bucket of swally and I can prove that. Deary me. S.A.D.
Having a Charlie said sort of a day fellas. Wish me luck
The VAR thing’s kinda interesting, especially if we don’t pre-judge it and just maintain a vigilant eye on it. (Of course, with McClean being the VAR man vs Hertz after a blatant anti-Celtic performance vs Hibs, “Honest Mistakes” will come quickly, I fear, but the Celtic PLC Board will no longer have a place to hide. Individuals like me will ensure that. Instead of angry talk there will be recorded proof. Even Peter T Lawwell, lying scum that he is, couldn’t get away with THIS.
HH