By Ian Grant
Did Oleg Luzhny kick the ball out for a corner unecessarily. Or was it poor refereeing?
Was it Bergsson or another Bolton player, holding down Martin Keown for the Bolton equaliser.
Sam Allardycecomplains about Laville’s red card. But what about the deliberate attempted leg breaker that Okacha performed on Ljungberg’s lower leg? Such is his skill that he can disguise sly fouls in normal motion. But the slo-mo picks it up.
The season lost credibility mid-way through – the moment Solksjaer pushed an opponent to the ground off the ball, in view of officials, and went on to score. It was Old Trafford.
Last weekend, at Old Trafford, Ricardostayed on the field after denying Cole a goalscoring opportunity. The turning point. Yet the TV panel universally agreed that been Brad Friedel, he would have to go.
Ruud van Nistelroy, smashes Fulham’s Legwinski in the face, goes on to score an admittedly fabulous goal. But is totally unpunished. Campbell makes contact with Solkjaer’s face and gets a four game ban.
And if you think this is a biased gripe about Arsenal probably blowing the title and the double double – United should have been six points clear of Arsenal before yesterday’s match – but for poor refereeing and a blatant offside goal in the 2-2 draw.
The problem is universal. In yesterday’s game at Stamford Bridge, John Terry handled the scrambled opener. In Fulham’s equaliser the ball had clearly gone out over the line, before Boa Morte showed some of the latent skill that Arsene Wenger saw.
Yet as if in willing suspension of disbelief, most of us carry on as if somehow this is a fair and just game.
The technology is there and could be developed. Electro-magnetic strips on players shirts and the ball aligned to a monitoring system could be developed to eradicate offside errors. TV adjudicators could be called in by refs for the bigger incidents and decisions- if their egos would allow.
But would it slow the game and damage it as a spectator spectacle? When a ball goes out in a tennis serve – does the technology interfere with our enjoyment? Or are we reassured that justice rules.
When the TV adjudicators are called in over tries and wickets, is it worth the wait for a sense of justice, or does the stop-start nature of the judgements dampen the adrenelin of the crowd and the rhythm of the play and players.
Will the collective mistakes of officials turn paying spectators, and TV viewers and ultimately advertisers away from the game.
Or is it part and parcel of the spectacle of modern football, leading to more revenue.
If it is the latter, and it is at the moment, then football is less about skill and more about lottery, and as such we should care less about who wins titles and cups.