It demonstrates the real problem with the Premier League where we’ve just seen a first half full of exciting attacking football from Liverpool and Man City, but here we are focussing on the referees and VAR yet again.
Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville actually made some very interesting points in their Sky Sports commentary, particularly when it came down to Craig Pawson’s decision to award the penalty to Man City towards the end of the half.
They suggested that Pawson looked like a man who knew deep down that it shouldn’t be given, but the precedents from this season and the guidance from the top meant that he had no choice.
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It doesn’t seem as bad because Kevin de Bruyne had a shocker and missed the target with the actual penalty. but it just points to the same problem coming up over and over again.
Humans have arms and they need them to balance, so there are going to be numerous more situations like this where a defender has his arms by his side and concedes a penalty that they can do nothing about.
Gary Neville even ridiculed the rules by pointing out that great defenders like John Terry and Jamie Carragher would’ve conceded 40 goals a season if these laws were always in place, so it demonstrates that this is a fairly recent problem.
Something needs to be done about the interpretation of the rules, so hopefully it happens soon.