Sky Sports pundit rages at ‘ridiculous’ officiating ‘farce’ after Tottenham loss to Aston Villa with referees now ‘afraid’
We’re delighted to welcome former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson as our exclusive columnist as each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium…
Paul Robinson has blasted the “ridiculous” officiating in England which he says is still getting worse after Tottenham were denied a penalty vs Aston Villa.
Spurs had two shouts for an early spot kick during the 2-1 defeat on 26 November as the ball hit Ezri Konsa on the arm seconds before Bryan Gil was elbowed in the face by Diego Carlos, but amid doubts over whether VAR was even working or not [Sky Sports] neither were given.
Sky Sports pundit Robinson is sick of the “boring” need to endlessly go over the same problems which keep cropping up every week and feels neither Villa calls would have been overturned if given the other way around, but claims referees are now “afraid” to make decisions on the pitch.
Speaking exclusively to Tottenham News Robinson said: “Honestly I’m so fed up of talking about officials and VAR. It’s ridiculous. Those two decisions that Spurs had there, if they were given on the pitch they wouldn’t have been overturned.
“That’s where we’re coming to, a world of referees being afraid to officiate on the pitch because they know there’s the comfort blanket of VAR there, but we’re not necessarily getting that right.
“The officiating in this country has been poor, and it’s getting worse. The way that VAR is implemented, there’s far too many people involved, there’s far too many voices. Let one person speak, let one person tell the referee there might be something he needs to look at.
“The referee on the field, let him then go and look at the monitor and only him watch it. Nobody speak to him, just let him watch it and let him make a decision. Because there’s far too many people becoming involved and I think that was the case with Spurs and Villa at the weekend.
“We’re not sure what we can and can’t overturn, what we can and can’t interfere with, and the whole thing is honestly becoming a farce. Every single week we talk about it. It’s not going anywhere, it’s in to stay, but it has to be regulated and used in a sensible way.
“I, like however many hundreds of thousands of fans up and down the country, am bored with it, it’s boring, and it’s the same stuff every week. They’ve even got their own show on the television. I don’t even like it but I watch it just to find out what they’re saying.
“It’s ridiculous. And then they’re bringing in sin bins as well aren’t they? We can’t even get the referees right on the field and now we’re bringing in another rule with sin bins which is obviously going to be implemented at the higher level.
“I’m not so sure they’ve thought that one through because what is it? You get down to eight a side and then the match is abandoned? That’ll be an interesting one.”
Whatever the rights and wrongs of VAR or the standard of officiating it feels like the argument has gone so far that officials are shrinking under the pressure and the issues are getting worse instead of better.
When it seems simplifying the process as much as possible would make most sense instead there are endless tweaks in the other direction to the point that virtually nobody is now satisfied, as VARs appear to nitpick on minor infringements and wave through glaring errors.
It’s impossible to please everyone with inherently subjective decisions, and the debate has reached a fever pitch now where every decision is hyper-analysed, but the Carlos elbow at the weekend especially seemed a pretty clear error that went unpunished as the losing streak extended to three for Tottenham.
In other Tottenham news, the manager has earned transfer backing from the board heading into January.