Welcome to The Briefing, where every Monday this season, Athleticism will tackle three of the biggest questions that will arise in football this weekend.
It was a memorable weekend for the crazy nature of English football – with scathing allegations of referee bias, complete implosions within 20 minutes of a 3-0 lead and moans about match congestion. Again. It ended with two appropriate trends on Twitter: “Embarrassing” and “bloody VAR.”
Here we’ll ask how embarrassed Manchester United were in their FA Cup semi-final win over Coventry on penalties – and the same question for Nottingham Forest after their club’s very public response to refereeing decisions . And finally, is it so bad to play football on a Saturday, Pep?
At Wembley, another bizarre day in Manchester United’s modern history began with billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe who had previously run the London Marathon, Clark Kent style, donning his suit for the current job of trying to ‘looking calm and in control while watching United do it. hilarious and bad things.
Ratcliffe, Erik ten Hag, even Jason Wilcox on his first day: they all mastered the stoic 50-yard stare while trying to look like they know what they’re doing, all while their team conceded three late goals in the FA Cup semi-final. -final for no logical reason.
VAR may have been all the rage, but, in truth, Coventry’s brilliant story of devastating bad luck was not the fault of the officials. The handball penalty decision against Aaron Wan-Bissaka, which sent the match into extra time, was questionable to say the least (especially considering the much more obvious “unnatural hand positions” of Jack Grealish and Ashley Young were not penalized this weekend).
And if Haji Wright’s big toe or left elbow is offside, then he’s offside.
VAR, a follower of regulations and not a fan of football jokes.
United were chaotic going 3-0 down, conceding from the 71st minute onwards. On the positive side, they won the game and didn’t concede at least 20 shots on goal, even after overtime. This hasn’t happened since February.
And at least they regained some dignity by not initially celebrating their shootout victory. There was no pile-on, no sprint towards winning penalty taker Rasmus Hojlund, instead they shook hands with the Coventry players in a courteous manner.
Oh, except Antony, who ran past the dejected Coventry players and put his hands to his ears. This is the same Antony who came on with United 3-0 up and contributed very little to his team’s victory.
We don’t make it easy for ourselves 😅🔴 pic.twitter.com/4V6h2oFQG5
– United Zone (@ManUnitedZone_) April 21, 2024
But still: “Yeah, take that, little Championship club with a payroll two percent of ours, it sucks to be you!”
Andre Onana being booked for time wasting against Coventry City says it all.
How much can Forest blame VAR?
When former Scotland striker Steven Fletcher told the world via social media that he had submitted a transfer request in 2012, it was like breaking football’s fourth wall.
“I’ve just submitted a transfer request just to let the fans know where I’m at at the moment,” Fletcher, at Wolves at the time, tweeted with the immortal hashtag ‘headsgone’.
It was a window into the inner workings of football, but Fletcher was just a frustrated, rogue player.
Twelve years later, a professional football club had its Fletcher moment.
“We warned the PGMOL that the VAR was a Luton fan before the game but they didn’t change it,” Nottingham Forest tweeted. Legacy of football and Twitter.
Three extremely bad decisions – three penalties not called – that we simply cannot accept.
We warned the PGMOL that the VAR was a Luton fan before the match but they didn’t change it. Our patience was tested several times.
The NFCC will now consider its options.
– Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) April 21, 2024
This is it, this is the level to which clubs are going down. Liverpool said VAR “undermined sporting integrity” earlier in the season, Arsenal responded with their view of “even more unacceptable refereeing”, and now Forest have lost their entire homeland, spending a poor day and banging his phone against a handrail.
Obviously, Forest should have been given at least two penalties and, yes, they have endured some horrible decisions this season, but given that every Premier League club has also endured horrible decisions on the pitch, perhaps , just maybe, the English referees could do it. Did you just make mistakes?
There is ample evidence of this. Tons of stuff, actually.
What there is absolutely no evidence of, unless Forest are about to present it to the world, is any prejudice of this nature among top referees. And to be honest, if you’re going to make allegations of this nature on social media – and you’re not a deranged fan who’s six pints deep – you should probably show some proof.
But if Forest don’t understand the decisions made against them and the only excuse they can come up with is that Stuart Attwell is a Luton fan, then it really begs the question: what is Mark Clattenburg – who been hired as club director? referee analyst – doing anything other than a bad John Anderson impression on Gladiators?
How bad of a situation do City really have?
Sometimes it’s not until you go on vacation, or maybe something bad happens in your personal life, that you step back and realize how completely insane football is.
It’s a deranged melodrama when you think about it.
Pep Guardiola, speaking about the health of his players on Saturday after a recent run of matches, including the Champions League quarter-final defeat to Real Madrid on Wednesday, said he did not understand how they had ” survived” their FA Cup semi-final. final against Chelsea.
“It’s not normal, it’s unacceptable to play today,” Guardiola said, lamenting the fact that his team could not have moved the match a day later. He was then asked if he or Manchester City had contacted the FA about the matter. “In this country they don’t change anything,” he replied, two days after the association ended more than a century of tradition by abandoning FA Cup replays so that players like City can be a little cooler for exciting trips on Tuesday evening. Leipzig.
Guardiola was understandably happy with the decision: “It’s much better… we have a tight schedule with a lot of games.”
THE @BernardoCSilva strike that ensured our place in the #FACup final! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/yCufXbtZ1h
-Manchester City (@ManCity) April 21, 2024
They also have more money at their disposal than almost any football club in the world, with the means to buy just about any player they want, not to mention the best academy in English football .
What else does Guardiola want to help his team? Maybe he would like the air at all matches to be purified. Maybe teams that have more possession in a match should get a bonus point. Maybe the ball shouldn’t be allowed to be more than 20 feet off the ground. Or perhaps clubs accused of breaching multiple financial regulations between 2009 and 2018 should have their hearings – let alone any possible sanctions – indefinitely delayed while they continue to win trophy after trophy and other clubs less so Influential players are deducted points for the rules they have broken. because they’re desperately trying to keep up with the league’s huge spenders?
If you’re planning to build one of the most expensive teams of all time thanks to owners whose wealth seems endless, you’re probably (unless you’re Chelsea) going to enter a lot of competitions and have to play a lot of games. matches. Try rotating your team instead of making just four changes. Or better yet, stop moaning after a game you still won.
Future
- Winning a championship title is great. To overtake your local rivals in the list of most titles ever won in your country is very remarkable. To win only your second league title in the last 14 years when you’re a big club and the last one just wasn’t the same because it was during the pandemic season with no fans, that’s great. Winning said league title by defeating said local rivals in a match is exceptional, astonishing and extremely rare. Inter Milan, as an away team, can do all of these things with a victory at San Siro tonight against AC Milan.
- Speaking of a local derby match with a lot to play for, Everton host Liverpool on Wednesday night in a match constantly touted as tasty, but in reality, since the turn of the century, Liverpool have won 28 derbies to Everton’s five. If the Reds fail to reach 29th at Goodison Park, their title quest is surely over.
- Manchester City are back in action on Thursday at Brighton, if that suits Pep.
(Top photo: Getty Images)
News Source : theathletic.com
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