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      VAR who gave controversial PSG penalty in Newcastle clash AXED for Champions League game tonight

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      THE VAR official who awarded Paris Saint-Germain a controversial penalty against Newcastle has been axed for a Champions League game tonight.Toon looked on course to do the double over Kylian Mbappe’s side as they led 1-0 in Paris with moments to go.
      The VAR official who gave PSG a controversial penalty against Newcastle has been axedCredit: Getty
      Tomasz Kwiatkowski instructed ref Szymon Marciniak to review the incident, resulting in a successful PSG penaltyCredit: Getty
      But disaster struck in the 98th minute when a point-blank shot was fired at Tino Livramento.
      The ball hit his chest before deflecting onto his arm.
      And PSG players went beserk as referee Szymon Marciniak refused to award a spot-kick.
      However, VAR official Tomasz Kwiatkowski instructed Marciniak to rewatch the incident on the pitch-side monitor.
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      And despite replays showing Livramento knew nothing about the handball, Marciniak decided to reverse his decision.
      Mbappe then fired home a penalty to seal a 1-1 draw, leaving Newcastle’s hopes of reaching the next round of of their hands.
      The decision from VAR was blasted by the wider football world, with many calling it a “robbery”.
      And the backlash has now been felt by Kwiatowski, who will no longer be on VAR duty for tonight’s Champions League clash between Real Sociedad and RB Salzburg.
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      The decision is sure to please Newcastle boss Eddie Howe, who was left deflated after yesterday’s final whistle.
      He said: “Yes, I do (have a sense of injustice). It wasn’t the right decision in my opinion. There are so many things to take into account at that moment, the speed first.

      “It was a ricochet that when it is slowed down looks completely different to the live event.
      “The ball hits his chest first, comes up and hits his hand. But his hand is not in an unnatural position, it is down by his side but he is in a running motion.
      “I feel it is a poor decision and it’s hugely frustrating for us.” More

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      Uefa recommended handball rule change that would have stopped Newcastle heartache against PSG

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      NEWCASTLE felt hard done by after conceding a late penalty against Paris Saint-Germain. The Magpies were leading going into the final minute before the ball struck the arm of Tino Livramento in the penalty area.

      Newcastle felt hard done by after conceding a late penaltyCredit: Getty
      The ball bounced off Tino Livramento’s chest before it hit his armCredit: TNT Sports
      Referee Szymon Marciniak initially waved away PSG appeals before VAR overturned the call, with Kylian Mbappe duly scoring an equaliser from 12 yards.
      However, replays showed that the ball had come off his chest first.
      Under Uefa rules, Livramento was deemed to have made his body unnaturally bigger with his arm.
      But in a series of recommendations for the 2023/24 season, Uefa’s Football Board – an independent advisory group – had in April proposed a change that would have saved Newcastle’s skin in the final minutes.
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      The statement on the organisation’s website, said: “With regard to the Laws of the Game, which stipulate that not every touch of a player’s hand/arm with the ball is an offence, the Board issued the following recommendations for next season for better compliance of the Laws with the nature of the game:

      In their guidelines for the next season, the Board recommends that UEFA should clarify that no handball offence should be called on a player if the ball is previously deflected from his own body and, in particular, when the ball does not go towards the goal.
      On the same notice, the Board recommends that not every handball should automatically lead to a caution after every shot at goal, as anticipated by current guidelines.
      The Board encourages the referees to be more decisive in cautioning players who display unsporting behaviour, especially when attempting to deceive the referee by feigning injury or pretending to have been fouled.
      UEFA should launch an initiative towards the IFAB for the amendment of Law 12, which foresees that a player should be sent off for denying the opposing team a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity by a handball offence. The Board feels players should be sent off only if they deliberately and intentionally touch the ball with their hand/arm. In case of other handball offences, the players should only be cautioned.”

      Keith Hackett, former general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the English referees’ body, told the Daily Telegraph that this recommendation was not implemented by Uefa for its own competitions.
      The Premier League, meanwhile, operates under more lenient handball rules.
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      TNT Sports commentator Ally McCoist suggested Eddie Howe’s side had been “robbed” by the decision.
      He said: “That is a shambles! Honestly, that’s not on. It hits his chest, goes off his left elbow. If that’s a penalty, we may as well give the game up!
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      “It’s never a penalty, we’ve been singing his praises all night. If he’s the best ref in the business, how has he given that?! There is no way that that penalty kick should be given.
      “That’s not on, I feel for Eddie Howe and those players, I genuinely do. It’s bordering on robbery, it really is.”
      Fellow pundit Jermaine Jenas echoed this sentiment while Toon legend Alan Shearer also shared an X-rated post on social media with his own thoughts on the matter.
      Jenas added: “I think that’s a shocker from the referee. He had such a good game and to give that right at the end, he’s caved to be honest with you.
      “I think the players from Paris Saint-Germain put so much pressure on him throughout the match, he’d performed so well, but for that to happen in that moment like that, it doesn’t feel right.
      “It’ll be a tough one to swallow for the players but Eddie Howe should be so proud of his team.
      “They’re down to their bare bones, they’ve worked their socks off and they should’ve left Paris with all three points.”
      Meanwhile, Shearer posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Do me a f***ing favour man. What a load of s***.”
      Alexander Isak had put the Magpies ahead in the opening stages by taking advantage of a spilt save from Gianluigi Donnarumma.
      However, Newcastle were soon penned back into their own half and defended resolutely before seeing their hard work undone by Kylian Mbappe’s 98th-minute spot kick.
      A 3-1 win for Borussia Dortmund at AC Milan means it is a one-game shootout for one of three teams to progress into the knockout stages of the Champions League.
      PSG sit on seven points, while Newcastle and Milan both sit on five.
      The Toon host Milan in their final group stage game, knowing they must win to stand a chance of progressing to the Last 16.
      A defeat will see them knocked out of European football entirely. More

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      Football rule change set to stop time-wasting goalkeepers for good with new punishment proposed

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      TIME-WASTING goalkeepers are set to be punished with a CORNER being awarded against them in a major new proposed Law change.And English professional football could trial sin-bins for dissent and cynical game-stopping fouls as soon as next season.
      The new rule will come in to prevent time wasting from goalkeepersCredit: Getty
      The Law-making International FA Board has agreed that keepers are routinely abusing the “six second” rule and that action is required.
      While a formal proposal is unlikely to be brought in for next term, the belief is that making sure there is a suitable punishment for time-wasting will ensure keepers speed up play when they have the ball in their hands.
      Fifa refs’ chief Pierluigi Collina explained: “I have seen keepers with the ball in their hand for 10, 15, 20, 25 seconds. That’s not acceptable.
      “The issue was that giving an indirect free-kick inside the box might be considered too harsh a punishment.
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      “But we think we have found a solution.
      “We may consider increasing the time given to the goalkeeper – sometimes six seconds is too little.
      “But then they have to expect this alternative punishment would be given.”
      It is thought likely that an extension to 10 seconds for a keeper to keep the ball in their hands will be written into the Laws.
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      And FA chief executive Mark Bullingham added: “We talked about whether there was a way where you concede possession but without it being a huge punishment.
      “People feel an indirect free-kick so close to the goal is too much but if you had a corner given, you’d be conceding possession, but not giving such a clear goalscoring opportunity.”
      The potential change is more likely to be introduced for the 2024-25 season although it could come earlier.
      But the Ifab did agree to global trials of sin-bins and new Laws allowing only the team captain to approach the referee in a bid to clamp down on misbehaviour.
      Protocols will be drafted over the next few months with a view to confirming trials from next season.
      That could even see sin-bins introduced in the Women’s Super League or FA Cup next term – although that has yet to be decided.
      Ifab says the plan is to root out “anti-football behaviour”, with deliberate game-stopping fouls and mouthing off at officials top of the hit-list.
      Bullingham explained: “The areas we were looking at were dissent and tactical fouls.
      “There’s a real frustration for fans when they’re watching games when they see a promising counter-attack that’s ruined by that sort of foul.
      “We asked if a yellow card is sufficient punishment for that and don’t believe it is.”
      Players judged guilty of the offences will get 10 minutes on the sidelines in addition to the yellow card – with a second offence caution still bringing dismissal.
      The Wembley boss added: “You can call it a tactical foul, cynical foul or professional foul.
      “But it’s a foul that prevents a promising attack and they do it consciously knowing they’re going to only get a yellow card.
      “We don’t think they would do it if they felkt there would be a sin-bin for that and 10 minutes out of the game.”
      Ifab also agreed new Laws to come into effect from next term which will see all deliberate defensive hand-ball offences in the penalty box bringing red cards and that will mean the ball must overhang or touch the centre of the spot at penalties.
      Goalkeepers will concede corners in the event of time-wastingCredit: Getty More

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      What if VAR was just a ploy to bring breaks into football to make money from advertising?

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      SOON after VAR was introduced, those in favour of it and those against it divided into two distinct groups.If a decision went the way of your team, you liked VAR. If a decision went against your team, you were against VAR.
      VAR could be extended to checking corners, free kicks and yellow cards under new plansCredit: Getty
      What about if they’re in it to change the game in order to squeeze more TV advertising revenue out of it?Credit: AFP
      The advantage of this was that we all had a try at being in each group.
      We’re shallow like that, us football fans. We even laughed at our own shallowness, chanting: “**** VAR, **** VAR, **** VAR” over and over again when it had disallowed our team’s goal.
      But then, perhaps only minutes later after it had disallowed the other team’s goal, we’d chant: “Love VAR, love VAR, love VAR.” It was all very funny.
      But now the laughing has stopped. VAR could be extended to checking corners, free kicks and yellow cards under plans by football law-making body IFAB.
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      You don’t even get opposing fans goading each other when decisions go against the other lot.
      Because we all know it will be our turn in a minute. It has dawned on us all that it’s ruining the game and we’re all going to be on the losing side.
      As a West Brom fan, I ought to be enjoying watching Wolves on the receiving end of one terrible decision after another.
      There were three more howlers for them on Monday night at Fulham.
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      And I just feel plain sorry for them, even angry on their behalf. Yes, a West Brom fan annoyed on behalf of Wolverhampton Wanderers.
      This is what it’s come to. Each well-meant tweak to VAR’s operation only seems to make matters worse.
      In the interest of eliminating errors, every micro- second of footage is pored over in ever more forensic detail. And what do we seem to get? Yes, yet more howlers.
      Before VAR, we only had the man in the middle to blame.
      And hard though it sometimes was, we generally found it in our hearts to forgive them their mistakes because they were, after all, human.
      By the same logic, we can’t forgive VAR because it feels like it’s not human. It’s to do with bewilderingly clever technology and was set up specifically to counteract the fallibility of humans.
      Except, of course, even this logic was flawed as it’s become abundantly clear the technology is only as infallible as the humans in charge of it.
      We’re told the development of Artificial Intelligence might result in humans being taken out of the picture completely. In terms of VAR, that could get really interesting.
      Perhaps it’s only the human involvement saving VAR from destruction at the hands of the football mob.
      Imagine if, instead of humans looking at screens at Stockley Park, there was only a super-clever AI mega-machine.
      If this super-computer then started making mistakes, I honestly think football fans could end up marching to Stockley Park and tearing the thing limb from limb, or from chip to chip, or whatever the machine equivalent is of human physiology. And AI will end there and then.
      The question is whether VAR can survive long enough for things to get that far.
      Perhaps it’s time to write the whole thing off as a noble idea that, despite everyone’s best efforts, simply couldn’t be made to work.
      Terrible mistakes
      Or perhaps they should stop it for a year in the hope that we’ll go back to despairing of terrible mistakes and demanding video technology all over again.
      To try to make sense of the current VAR chaos, I tried a mental exercise.
      I considered who it could possibly suit to have longer and longer VAR checks ruining the flow of the game.
      And I have an answer. An answer which, I must admit, amounts to nothing more than a conspiracy theory.
      I therefore ask you to disregard every word of the following paragraph.
      Here’s my conspiracy theory: While we’re all busy worrying about the influence on our game of troubling regimes in oil-rich countries, we’re forgetting to be concerned about the effect on football of the growing amount of American investment.
      Around half of the Premier League’s clubs have American money in them.
      If they’re in it for the love of the game, that’s nice.

      If they’re in it to make money out of the game, that’s not quite so nice.
      And what about if they’re in it to change the game in order to squeeze more TV advertising revenue out of it?
      I’m sure they’d be chuffed to bits if we switched to playing four quarters instead of two halves.
      And here’s the conspiracy bit — what about if these VAR checks got long enough to accommodate a commercial break?
      You can just imagine it: Will the goal stand, or will it be disallowed? Join us after the break to find out.
      Or no penalty given! But will the ref change his mind? He’s on his way to the monitor! Sit through this message from our sponsor and we’ll tell you what the referee decides.
      As I say. Disregard the previous paragraph. It couldn’t happen, obviously. More

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      Footie bosses WILL press ahead with changes to VAR for corners, free-kicks & yellow cards sparking fan fury

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      FOOTBALL chiefs are ignoring fan fury over VAR by pressing ahead with an expansion of it in the game.Members of the law-making body IFAB agreed at a meeting yesterday to work on plans for interventions on corners, free-kicks and second yellow cards.
      Footie bosses are ignoring fan fury over VAR by pressing ahead with an expansion of it in the gameCredit: Getty
      They have agreed on the moves despite a backlash from supporters on the tech and amid fears games could become two-hour marathons due to delays.
      It comes after we had revealed how football bigwigs from the four Home Nations and Fifa were planning the VAR shake-up — with the summit taking place at a Heathrow hotel yesterday.
      Last night, Fifa referees’ chief Pierluigi Collina confirmed that more VAR calls are on the table.
      Collina, 63, said: “We want to go to a second stage.
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      “It is the right time to consider if something can be changed and VAR used for other things.
      “But there is one important criteria that must be respected: we must have no extra delays.”
      FA chief executive Mark Bullingham is opposed to adding more decisions to the current VAR focus on goals, penalties and red cards.
      But he has just one vote out of the eight IFAB members — with six votes required for any ­measures to be agreed.
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      VAR controversies have plagued the Premier League this season — Chelsea’s recent win at Spurs saw a record nine VAR checks during it.
      IFAB chief executive Lukas Brud said they would look for feedback from Prem officials and the other European leagues.
      However, he added: “If we feel as a group that there’s a need to adjust or improve certain areas of VAR protocol, then we will.”
      Fans groups hit out at the plan.
      Martin Buhagiar, chair of the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust, said: “Rather than going further with VAR, they need to realise it’s not working.”
      And Richard Smith of the Arsenal Independent Supporters Association said: “How do they propose to check corners and yellows?
      “What would define an issue worth checking?
      “It’s none or all — so it’s surely unworkable.”
      The Sun’s front page reported on the new plans for VAR More

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      Football chiefs set to make history with brand new ‘orange card’ – but you’ll never see it

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      ORANGE cards for sin-bins are set to be introduced as football’s lawmakers want the new rugby-style measure in elite competitions.But fans will never actually see the new card being waved at players.
      Football chiefs set to make history with brand new ‘orange card’Credit: Getty
      The International Football Association Board (Ifab) has agreed in principle to test the rugby-style measure in elite competitions such as the Premier League – as early as next season.
      This has been approved in an attempt to tackle the rising number of disciplinary issues during games.
      Since 2019 in England ten-minute sin-bins have been effective in dealing with dissent at the grassroots to the academy level.
      Players who display words or actions of dissent leave the pitch for ten minutes.
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      And with the news trials impending the rule may also apply to penalise tactical fouls.
      The trial will also cover cynical fouls such as the one committed by Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini when he grabbed England’s Bukayo Saka’s shirt in the Euro 202 final.
      But the incident only punished the player with a yellow card which outraged the Three Lions fans.
      If the new measure is in place the foul would equate to an “orange card”.
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      However, fans will not see the orange cards on the pitch, as they will only be shown on the electronic boards when a player is temporarily dismissed.
      The rule would see offences that at more worthy of a greater punishment than your standard booking.
      But the incident does not quite live up to a sending-off.
      Meanwhile, another major rule change which has also been set by the Ifab to take place from next season is to show the red card for “deliberate” penalty box handballs. More

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      Gary O’Neil reveals referee admitted crucial error that cost Wolves in Fulham clash

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      GARY O’NEIL claims that the referee Michael Salisbury admitted that he got a crucial decision wrong during Wolves’ defeat at Fulham.And the frustrated boss has called for change in how VAR is used after his team were on the wrong end of another controversial decision.
      Fulham were awarded a penalty for this challenge from Nelson Semedo on Tom CairneyCredit: Alamy
      Gary O’Neill claimed afterwards that ref admitted he had made a mistakeCredit: Twitter @SkySportsPL
      “Tonight has finally turned me against VAR.” Gary O’Neil reveals what he discussed with the match officials after full-time at Craven Cottage 🔊 pic.twitter.com/dknwqBFyEB— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) November 27, 2023

      Wolves dramatically lost 3-2 at Craven Cottage after three penalties were awarded during the game, two of which went to their opponents.
      But the key one came deep into additional time when Fulham’s Harry Wilson was fouled in the box by Joao Gomes.
      It was not initially given, but VAR eventually stepped in and then Salisbury, after viewing the pitchside screen, pointed to the spot.
      Although the ref insisted that decision was correct, O’Neil claimed afterwards that the official admitted to him that a mistake was made for the first Fulham penalty when Nelson Semedo was adjudged to have fouled Tom Cairney.
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      That left the Wolves manager fuming – but it was not the only decision that annoyed him.
      After speaking with Salisbury after the match, O’Neil then told Sky Sports: “We discussed a lot of decisions.
      “Vinicius should have been sent off for headbutting Max [Kilman]. Clear, he headbutts him on the nose. Isn’t sent off, is given a yellow.
      “Tim Ream should have been sent off for a second bookable offence on the penalty. They’re both my opinions on those, obviously everyone can have their own.
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      “The penalties that went against us, Nelson plays the ball, doesn’t touch Tom Cairney. I watched that back with the referee and, to be fair to him, he says he thinks they’ve got that wrong and he should have been sent to the monitor.
      “Doesn’t help me, doesn’t help all the fans that have travelled all this way to watch the team, doesn’t help the players who are feeling frustrated again.
      “So the Nelson one has pretty much been admitted by the referee that they made a mistake.
      “The one on Harry Wilson we disagree on a little bit. He thinks there’s enough contact there to give a penalty. I think it’s really soft.
      “So you could argue two of them could go against us, but for all four of them to go against us is a tough one for the lads, the supporters and myself to take because we’ve been here a lot of times this season. It’s tough because we didn’t deserve that.”
      O’Neil received an apology in August from the PGMOL after not getting a penalty in their 1-0 defeat at Manchester United
      There have also been several other debatable calls that have gone against his team this term.
      Now O’Neil says he has had enough and believes the string of bad decisions are having a huge impact on everyone at the club.
      He said: “Bad luck that it keeps going against us, but there are bad refereeing decisions in there.
      “I’ve had a real grown-up conversation with him in there, I’m trying to remain calm and I’m not angry with anybody, I’m not in there abusing people.
      Gary O’Neil says the bad calls are affecting everyone at the clubCredit: Alamy
      “It’s a conversation around, “come on guys it’s six or seven points now that have gone against us. I’m managing a big football club here. 
      “The difference that you’re making to my reputation, the club’s progression up the league, to people’s livelihoods is huge.
      “It can’t be with all the technology, all the time, the biggest league in the world that we’re getting so many wrong. It can’t be okay.
      “What can I do? I have two options really now. I keep behaving the way that I should and I make my players behave in the way that we should, we respect everybody and the decision making. Or we go, that’s not working, we’re going to have to make some noise.
      “I’d rather be a decent human being, answer things honestly and have honest chats with people but things need to get better because I can’t accept us being on the wrong end of decisions as often as we are.”
      O’Neil added that he had been a fan of VAR, however he has now changed his mind and thinks it could be time to step back from using it.
      He said: “I’ve always been for VAR but I think it’s causing a big problem at the moment.
      “The fact that the first one’s not deemed a clear and obvious error but the second one is, I just think VAR has cost us there.
      “If it was just a normal referee maybe we concede one penalty from a mistake, the fact that we’ve conceded two…for me, VAR is not helping much with subjective decisions.
      “Maybe tonight has finally turned me against VAR when I thought it would help but it doesn’t seem to be.” More

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      Football set for major rule changes to penalty shootouts and handballs in the box with SIN BINS to be trialled

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      RED cards for “deliberate” penalty box handballs are set to be introduced next season – in a major clampdown by football’s Law-makers.Under current Laws, players are only sent off for “denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity” for box handball offences.
      Deliberate handballs such as Cristian Romero’s against Arsenal this season could be punished with a red cardCredit: Richard Pelham / The Sun
      That is almost always for an offence blocking a goalbound shot on the line.
      But new Laws to be recommended following a meeting of the International FA Board will bring “deliberate” handball offences into line with goal-stopping fouls where there is no intent to play the ball.
      It is understood that the new approach will mean players who are deemed to have deliberately raised their hands above the shoulder to block a cross or shot risk being sent off as well as conceding the spot kick.
      The view is that the change will bring handball offences into line with deliberate fouls in the box – where there is no attempt to play the ball – which should be punished with red cards.
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      Other changes – which will then be sent to the March annual general meeting to be held near Loch Lomond for confirmation – involve penalties.
      The new wording will require the ball to be placed at least partially over the centre of the penalty spot, while “encroachment” by the goalkeeper will only be punished by a retake if it has a “material” effect on the outcome.
      That means a spot-kick that rebounds off the post or misses the target will not be retaken even if the keeper has left the line early.
      The Ifab is, though, expected to agree to trials for Laws that will only allow team captains to speak to officials and that could eventually see sin-bins introduced for offences including repeated dissent and fouls that now result in “harsh” red cards.
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      There are no scheduled discussions of any potential changes to the offside rule, with Arsene Wenger’s idea of “daylight” between the attacking player and the last defender appearing to have been quietly dropped.
      And despite recent controversies, Ifab remains extremely reluctant to allow “live” broadcasting – either on TV or in the stadium – of conversations between referees and VAR officials.
      However VAR powers could be extended to free-kicks, corners and second yellow cards – currently it can only be used for “match-changing incidents” – goals, penalties and red cards. More