VAR in principle is a good thing but it's not being used correctly. If the on field ref is any doubt about a goal, foul etc then seek a second opinion or use the pitch side monitor. If the ref is happy with his initial decision then that should be final. It's a shambles at the moment. Fans have no idea why goals are being chalked off. Players celebrating goals will be a thing of the past as they won't know if it's a legitimate goal or not. It's farcical.

I don't think VAR has anything to do with the ball crossing the line or not. That's goal line technology which has been around a couple of years now.

Re handball, it's a penalty regardless if it's accidental or not. That's new for this season onwards.

VAR in principle is a good thing but it's not being used correctly. If the on field ref is any doubt about a goal, foul etc then seek a second opinion or use the pitch side monitor. If the ref is happy with his initial decision then that should be final. It's a shambles at the moment. Fans have no idea why goals are being chalked off. Players celebrating goals will be a thing of the past as they won't know if it's a legitimate goal or not. It's farcical.

VAR works fine. There'll be some teething problems but we need technology to make sure we get the right decisions.

If a penalty for handball now has nothing to do with whether it was deliberate, that should make things straightforward...

That won’t stop bad decisions though. Referees can be certain they were right even when they were wrong. I accept goal line technology isn’t part of VAR. I mentioned it because it works on the same principle as Hawkeye in cricket or tennis, which does work.

If a penalty for handball now has nothing to do with whether it was deliberate, that should make things straightforward and, in terms of the current rules of the game, easier to get right. What’s more debatable is whether the current rules are right. Is it fair to give a penalty when a defending player genuinely had no intention of handling the ball? For example when an attacker blasts the ball straight at his hand from a short distance.

I thought the match day ref didn’t give the penalty and even booked Zaha for diving (rescinded when VAR gave the penalty as a yellow card didn’t appear next to his name on the ground’s scoreboard). The match day ref wasn’t to blame for VAR giving the penalty. Similarly, the match day ref allowed Sokratis late goal. It was again VAR that subsequently disallowed it.

I suspect people were hoping VAR would work like Hawkeye in cricket or tennis. Sadly that was probably naive. Where it does work in football is establishing whether the ball crossed the line fully for a goal, which uses a similar principle to whether the ball was hitting the stumps etc in cricket or whether a shot landed in or out in tennis.

But what is or isn’t a foul in the penalty area in football is far more down to personal interpretation and opinion. This is because penalties should be given for a foul in the box. The easy bit is whether the incident was in the box. The harder bit is defining if it was a foul or merely contact, because football is a contact sport and not all contact is a foul. The match day ref decided Zaha dived, which Rich said an experienced former ref Clattenberg agreed with after seeing it on video. The VAR ref, who is presumably an experienced current ref, felt it was a foul as I noticed various people did on here last night. Do you see what I mean? It’s down to individual interpretations and opinions. It isn’t an undeniable decision either way.

Penalty decisions for hand ball will be easier to get right if a penalty has to be given when a defending player touches the ball in the area. What makes such decisions more controversial is whether the hand ball was deliberate or accidental comes into the equation. I’m not up on the current rules enough to know which is the case these days.

I don't think that is the rule. We have had refs talk to us about the handball rule before schoolbous matches this season. If a player is running along in a normal fashion and the ball is whacked off his hand, it is not a foul, for example.

An Australian ref who has never reffed a prem game and only a couple of ChampionshIp games, that was the var guy.

I suspect people were hoping VAR would work like Hawkeye in cricket or tennis. Sadly that was probably naive. Where it does work in football is establishing whether the ball crossed the line fully for a goal, which uses a similar principle to whether the ball was hitting the stumps etc in cricket or whether a shot landed in or out in tennis.

But what is or isn’t a foul in the penalty area in football is far more down to personal interpretation and opinion. .

VAR is a mess as even Stevie Wonder and the Blind Boys of Alabama can see, nevertheless despite what has been said by some on here we threw that 3 points away having gone 2 up in 9 minutes. Aubameyang has been having a little dip recently and it's showing clearly how his goals have carried the team. The midfield is a complete shitshow.

Indeed. VAR is a mess and the disallowed goal was a nonsense, but we should have coasted to victory after that start. The way we are playing now, we haven't a hope of finishing on the top 4.

Also, just on Aubameyang as you brought it up, he's one of the best strikers in Europe and easily our best player. But once Lacazette is back Aubameyang gets shunted out wide again. Another inspired move by Emery.

Apparently Torreira was really upset about the crowd’s treatment of Xhaka yesterday. Following the game it made me wonder how badly players such as Aubameyang and Tierney, who came from clubs like Dortmund and Celtic with a reputation for loyal and passionate support (I’d have said the same had Tierney joined from Rangers), would react to it. Might they lose respect for Arsenal fans? But Torreira, who we got from Sampdoria whose support does not have the same sort of reputation, never crossed my mind.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/talksport. ... xhaka/amp/

You can add Jack Wilshere to that list of players as well. I feel sorry for Welbeck. It seems to be one setback after another. We were right to let him go however.

In fact, the players we have sold or released haven't been setting the world alight. Walcott and Iwobi at Everton, Sanchez, the Ox and Wilshere. It's early days for Ramsey but I guess he won't be a stranger to the treatment room.

While I don't think fans booing Xhaka off is probably the best move, I honestly don't see what other alternative fans have to express their frustration when he keeps under performing and keeps getting selected by Emery anyway. Also he was ambling off at 2-2 when time wasting was not what was required and that was just more evidence of his lack of game awareness.

A respected team mate getting booed may well piss off other players. To be honest I was there and it made the fans look somewhat pathetic. On your ambling off point, he was probably shocked by it, as was I. How often do players run off anyway? It’s not something I’ve noticed.

I’m sorry but booing your own players is a negative thing, and I don’t consider it acceptable however bad you think they are. I didn’t boo Gus Caesar, arguably the worst player I’ve seen play for the club.

A respected team mate getting booed may well piss off other players. To be honest I was there and it made the fans look somewhat pathetic. On your ambling off point, he was probably shocked by it, as was I. How often do players run off anyway? It’s not something I’ve noticed.

I’m sorry but booing your own players is a negative thing, and I don’t consider it acceptable however bad you think they are. I didn’t boo Gus Caesar, arguably the worst player I’ve seen play for the club.

Since Xhaka joined the club no player in the entire league has made as many errors directly leading to goals. He has 41 yellow cards and 2 reds in 141 appearances. Seeing him dive in to that tackle on Son earlier this season shows once again that he will not learn. If I made such a huge mistake in my work I’d probably be supported the first time, maybe sent on some extra training, but if I kept making that exact same mistake time and time again I’d get sacked.
Xhaka’s ‘efforts’ to stop the cross for Palace’s 2nd goal was non existent. He is dribbled last more than any defensive mid I’ve ever seen in the prem, he’s frequently out of position and doesn’t sense danger. I think you could take holding mids from the championship who would protect our defence better

A respected team mate getting booed may well piss off other players. To be honest I was there and it made the fans look somewhat pathetic. On your ambling off point, he was probably shocked by it, as was I. How often do players run off anyway? It’s not something I’ve noticed.

I’m sorry but booing your own players is a negative thing, and I don’t consider it acceptable however bad you think they are. I didn’t boo Gus Caesar, arguably the worst player I’ve seen play for the club.

I hear that Emery is consulting the players to see what punishment they think Xhaka should receive.

I mean come on, Emery needs to show more balls and get his ship in order. It seems like the lunatics are running the asylum.