Sky Sports pundit rages at ‘ridiculous’ officiating ‘farce’ following Tottenham’s loss to Aston Villa, claiming that officials are now ‘afraid’.
Paul Robinson has lambasted England‘s “ridiculous” officiating, which he claims is growing worse after Tottenham were denied a penalty against Aston Villa.
Spurs had two chances for an early penalty kick during the 2-1 loss on November 26 when the ball struck Ezri Konsa on the arm seconds before Bryan Gil was elbowed in the face by Diego Carlos, but neither was awarded due to uncertainties about whether VAR was even operating [Sky Sports].
Sky Sports pundit Robinson is weary of the “boring” need to go over the same problems week after week, and believes neither Villa call would have been overturned if it had been reversed, but argues officials are now “afraid” to make decisions on the pitch.
“Honestly, I’m so tired of talking about officials and VAR,” Robinson told Tottenham News exclusively. It’s ludicrous. Those two Spurs rulings would not have been overturned if they had been made on the pitch.
“That’s where we’re going, a world where referees are afraid to officiate on the pitch because they know there’s the safety net of VAR there, but we’re not always getting that right.”
“This country’s officiating has been poor, and it’s getting worse.” The way VAR is being implemented, there are simply too many people participating and far too many voices. Allow one person to speak, and allow one person to inform the referee that there may be anything he needs to check into.
“The referee on the pitch then let him go look at the monitor, and only he watched it.” Nobody should speak to him; simply let him view it and make his own judgement. Because there are simply too many individuals getting involved, as I believe was the case with Spurs and Villa last weekend.
“We’re not sure what we can and cannot overturn or interfere with, and the whole thing is turning into a farce.” Every week, we talk about it. It’s not going away; it’s here to stay, but it must be regulated and utilised responsibly.
“I, like hundreds of thousands of other fans across the country, am bored with it; it’s boring, and it’s the same stuff every week.” They even have their own television show. I don’t even like it, but I keep watching to see what they’re saying.
“It’s absurd.” And they’re also bringing in sin bins, aren’t they? We can’t even get the officials on the pitch, and now we’re introducing another rule with sin bins, which will undoubtedly be enforced at a higher level.
“I’m not sure they’ve considered that one because what is it?” You get to eight a side and then the game is called off? That should be interesting.”
Whatever the merits of VAR or the calibre of officiating, it appears that the debate has progressed to the point where officials are shrinking under pressure and the problems are worsening rather than improving.
When it appears that streamlining the process as much as possible would make the most sense, there are constant modifications in the opposite direction to the point that almost no one is now satisfied, as VARs appear to nitpick on minor infringements and wave through major faults.
It’s impossible to please everyone with inherently subjective decisions, and the debate has reached a fever pitch where every decision is hyper-analyzed, but the Carlos elbow at the weekend seemed like a pretty clear error that went unpunished as Tottenham‘s losing streak reached three.
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