VAR needs an enema!
When the concept of a video referee was first proposed, it was supposed to bring about more correct decision and restore justice. But the grisly reality of VAR is that it’s become a tool to prevent goals from being scored. Nothing exemplified this better than Josh King's disallowed goal for Fulham against Chelsea last Saturday.
The PGMOL have since acknowledged that this was a mistake and the VAR for that match, Michael Salisbury, has been stood down. But scapegoating one individual is not the answer. At the very least there needs to be a culture change whereby every goal scored is no longer seen as a chance to make a big call. At best, VAR should be scrapped.
Top level football must return to the principle that applies to the over 99 percent of the games that are played across the globe: that no matter the frustration and exasperation they cause, the referee's decision is final and that that there will always be calls that are too close for a referee to call correctly. The overwhelming majority of footballers and fans live with that reality.
However, if the Premier League insists on shelling out large sums of cash to Sony, the owners of the technology and VAR must continue then the bar for its intervention should be lowered to the point where only the most bone headedly obvious calls are corrected. And given the exacting standards of professional refereeing at the elite level, that means it would only be used sparingly.
Scottish Football’s European Tour Just Got A Major Downgrade
Sunday’s Old Firm Derby ended goalless at Ibrox and was a fitting result after a humiliating week for both clubs in Europe.
Last Wednesday, Celtic lost on penalties to Kairat Almaty, a team ranked 255 places behind them in UEFA’s coefficient. In fairness, Kairat Almaty are a growing force in Kazakh football, investing heavily since colourful businessman Kairat Boranbayev took ownership in 2012. Their breakthrough as the first Kazakh club to reach the Champions League proper since Astana in 2015–16 may reflect a shifting power base in European football. But for Celtic drew 1-1 away to Bayern Munich as recently as February. For them to fail to even score against such a low-ranked opponent can only be seen as a disaster.
At least Celtic can seek some solace in their league position, sitting as they do at the top of the SPFL. Rangers on the other hand are on the verge of a full-blown crisis. There were positives to be drawn from the point against Celtic, specifically that they didn’t lose and didn’t concede. However, the Gers are still yet to win and suffered a 9-1 two leg aggregate defeat to Club Brugge. The Belgian club are a decent side and higher placed in the coefficients but the margin of defeat is a bitter pill for the fans to follow.
This miserable week for Scotland’s dominant clubs capped a disappointing UEFA campaign for the SPFL. Both Old Firm clubs have dropped down to the Europa League where they will not be joined by Aberdeen who were knocked out on Thursday by Rapid Wien. Hibs qualified for the Conference League.
The absence of a Scottish club in the Champions League is deeply disappointing from both a sporting and financial perspective. Overall, the UEFA club coefficient suffers and in turn makes it harder for their clubs to get back in the Champions League. After a week like this the continued decline of Scottish football is an easy narrative to embrace.
The Scottish game does not suffer from a lack of players or enthusiasm, far from it. But there’s clearly an investment gap, in all likelihood, at various levels of the sport that is causing Scottish football to under-achieve in this way.
There is a positive aspect in the shape of Tony Bloom who became a minority stakeholder in Hearts. The Edinburgh club will benefit from Bloom’s analytics experience. Bloom also owns Brighton and Belgian club Royale Union Saint-Gilloise. It is likely that the club will also be able to take advantage of those recruitment networks. While Bloom only joined in June, his mere presence may already be having an effect as Hearts currently sit second in the table, only behind the leaders Celtic on goal difference.
But Scottish football needs more than multi club ownership solutions for it to live up to its history and tradition. In fact, the nation needs to be wary of such initiatives in case they end up as a feeder for the Premier League.
It shouldn’t be beyond the wit of a football nation of Scotland passion and engagement with the game to stand proud in Europe and on its own feet.
Is Woltemade the new Isak?
The Transfer Window shuts on 1 September so there’s still time form the Alexander Isak/Newcastle/Liverpool transfer drama to resolve itself. I said on last week’s Sound Of Football podcast that my instinct was that a deal would be done and that would see the Swedish striker transferred to Liverpool.
Since then, a major step forward has been taken after Newcastle signed Nick Woltemade from VfB Stuttgart. If you don’t follow the Bundesliga then you may have seen him during the summer in the Under 21s Euro where he was the tournament top scorer. The twenty-three-year-old made his breakthrough, last season, scoring seventeen goals and winning the DFB Pokal. His proposed transfer to Bayern Munich was one of the bigger transfer stories in Germany in the close season but Stuttgart resisted the Bavarian’s advanced. However, when Newcastle popped up unexpectedly VfB were content to let the player go and trouser the cash, a fraction of which will probably be spent on a replacement from Bundesliga 2.
Woltemade is a smart piece of recruitment and could act as a replacement to Isak but not in the long term. At Stuttgart he played a lot of games as a second striker behind Ermedin Demirovic. I suspect that he has been signed to be part of the post Isak solution but not the whole. Ideally a more orthodox number 9 would be required.
With that said, if the decision makers at Newcastle decide to let Isak go then the young German may be able to help fill the gap until January.
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You watch way more Bundesliga than me but I actually think Woltemade is a sensational pick up for Newcastle. Despite the money on Tyneside, I was expecting him to go to an elite club in terms of a record of trophies – if not Bayern, then perhaps even one of the Italian, Spanish or English giants.
As for Russell Martin, I have wondered whether the hostility towards him is down to his record as a vegan and Green Party voter who has also practised Buddhism as for anything to do with his coaching record, the denizens of Ibrox perhaps not best known for their liberal tendencies. That said, the passing out from the back does defy logic at times…
You watch way more Bundesliga than me but I actually think Woltemade is a sensational pick up for Newcastle. Despite the money on Tyneside, I was expecting him to go to an elite club in terms of a record of trophies – if not Bayern, then perhaps even one of the Italian, Spanish or English giants.
As for Russell Martin, I have wondered whether the hostility towards him is down to his record as a vegan and Green Party voter who has also practised Buddhism as for anything to do with his coaching record, the denizens of Ibrox perhaps not best known for their liberal tendencies. That said, the passing out from the back does defy logic at times…