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    'VAR got it wrong AGAIN!' Was Kovacic lucky to get away with a yellow? | ESPN FC
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    ‘VAR got it wrong AGAIN!’ Was Kovacic lucky to get away with a yellow? | ESPN FC



    ESPN FC’s Stewart Robson and Mark Ogden join Gab Marcotti to discuss whether Mateo Kovacic deserved to be sent off in Manchester City’s 1-0 loss to Arsenal.

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    View 36 Comments

    36 Comments

    3. Cbricklyne on

      One week, Curtis Jones goes for a ball, his leg slides over the ball and gets the Spurs player in a bad angle with studs showing,….. he gets sent off.

      The very next week, Kovacic makes pretty much the same play (Except he got none of the ball),….not once but TWICE within a span of five minutes and somehow he doesn't see a red card; no VAR review either or call to have the ref come and look at it at the monitor at the side of the pitch.,…
      Nothing.

      PGMOL at its finest.

    5. KC Sniper on

      I'm with Mark, I am a referee and when i watch Division 1 level games It sometimes feels like VAR is more in charge than the Official on the pitch because 80% of the VAR checks he never gets to see. I don't think it has to be all of them, but If its a red card level offense I think the center needs to have second look.

    6. Richard Bruneau on

      I've seen it many times, a player does a "bad " tackle and gets a yellow early in the game. Then the player knows that he can do another reckless challenge quickly because the refs, not wanting "to ruin" the game will let it go. They always do. NEVER seen it given. Brooks and Oliver should be suspended. Refereeing in the Premiership sucks donkey….

    13. Dapo M. on

      How does the English premier league that making billions of pounds have what feels like 5 refs.The standard has to be raised. I think fans may have to think about protesting refs to find change.

    15. JJ Samuel Gunn on

      There's no argument here. Curtis Jones got a red. Kovacic have even MORE reasons to get a red. Heck, he should have been sent off twice! There is no explanation for this except inept refereeing for big games. Let's not forget the Diaz offside goal that wasn't given.

    16. Robert Morici on

      What's wrong with not spoling the game by giving a red? Why does Gab and these other idiots think it's good if a ref sends people off? It's a game meant to be 11 v 11 and it should be only in the most extreme circumstances people are sent off.

    18. Robert Morici on

      I'm fine with those tackles only resuliting in 1 yellow, I truly am, I like physicality, I like tackling. The only thing is the consistency. I'd prefer they ref all games like they did the city vs arsenal game. We need to allow for tackling to come back and that means a few mistimed challenges not being given yellows, I'm fine with it.

    20. The More You Know on

      I don’t think there’s any conspiracy, I think the refs are just bad lol. If you’ve ever seen interviews or heard em talk, they’re all pretty nerdy. I think they just legitimately get scared and nervous during the big moments of the game

    23. James USA Nashville on

      When you remember well.this same refree gave Martinelli two yellow cards in 27 seconds. In a passage of play. Now he is saying he is protecting someone from being sent off .compare two incidents.

    24. Tom J on

      The argument about it being a "skill" knowing when to direct the on-field ref to the monitor is correct; but it's also PRECISELY the problem. Relying on a skill is just replacing one person's capacity for human error with another person's capacity for human error and just makes the whole VAR situation pointless.

      In a league with the money and prestige of the EPL they need to throw money at the problem. Every game should have 5 VAR officials in seperate, isolated locations; 3 referees and 2 ex-players. Each reviews an incident independently and makes a ruling to a central controller. Majority ruling is forwarded to the on-field referee, 3-2 split with a recommendation to review the monitors.

    25. Les Gourlay on

      That was Liverpool. He would have been sent off and thrown to the wolves, like Jones and Jota. It's the inconsistency that is the problem….some refs play on and others stick by the rules.

    26. NOURINHO on

      VAR needs to go. It is not doing the job they were brought to do. I think they will embarrass the premier league, and football all together.

    32. Jason Grad on

      Never a red seeing as his leg was bent and the contact was low. Just go back a few seasons and look at Jahanbakhsh’s tackle on Gundogan, he was off the ground and caught him with his studs around the knee but was only given as a yellow because his leg was bent. No one even wants to talk about how ridiculous it was that Wolve’s Hwang wasn’t sent off at the end of the first half for a clear second yellow offense with his heavy tackle on Walker – Hwang’s first tackle could have been red as it was also high and late and caught Akanji with the studs but no one devoted any time to questioning those calls because City lost (in part because of the bad calls by the refs).

    33. John Mossawir on

      The optics of this are that Man City’s owners – the UAE – is employing Michael Oliver – the referee who didn’t rule correctly on two Man City fouls. Regardless of whether this affected Oliver’s call on the field – it is not a good look

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