VAR

CHELSEA boss Graham Potter was criticised for NOT slamming officials after the Blues were denied a late penalty.Potter congratulated West Ham’s Tomas Soucek for a “great save” from Conor Gallagher’s 89th-minute shot yet refused to blame referee Craig Pawson or VAR official Neil Swarbrick.
Graham Potter did not complain despite being denied a late penaltyCredit: Rex
Joe Cole feels Potter should have made more of the decisionCredit: Rex
Conor Gallagher’s strike was blocked by the hand of Tomas SoucekCredit: Reuters
But ex-Chelsea star Joe Cole and fellow BT Sport pundit Rio Ferdinand claimed the Blues boss should have created an “uproar” over the decision — to take the heat off him and his team after another disappointing 1-1 draw.
Cole noted Potter’s lack of experience managing a club Chelsea’s size and said: “He’s always diplomatic, he’s doing a fantastic job.
“But if he had someone in his staff who’s maybe been at that level, managed at that level, you need to cause a bit of an uproar because it does two things.
“It takes the deflection from the bad elements of your performance, and it also puts it on VAR.
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“Let these Chelsea fans leave the stadium feeling hard done by instead of thinking, ‘Why didn’t we beat West Ham? We’ve signed all these players’.
“It changes the narrative of the story.”
Potter tried to laugh off the controversy, saying: “It was a great save. You need your goalkeeper sometimes to get you a point.
“It looked quite a handball and I didn’t know Tomas could get down so easily and save like that.
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“It’s not for me to say about VAR. Every single decision and action you won’t get the same one again, so it’s very hard to get consistency.
“Sometimes they go for you and sometimes they don’t — and you have to accept it.”
But Ferdinand said Potter should have taken a leaf out of the book of former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho.
Ferdinand said: “Mourinho would have been at it and it would have been the story of tomorrow.
“The back page would have been ‘Mourinho slams VAR’, and it takes the gloss off what happened on the pitch.
“There were some bits you could improve on with Chelsea — that would not have been the focus.
“But it probably will be now with the money spent, the influx of players etc.”
A few minutes before the Soucek incident, VAR ruled out his “goal” for West Ham for offside against Declan Rice in the build-up.
And back in September, VAR more controversially disallowed a Maxwel Cornet equaliser for the Hammers at Stamford Bridge because of a clash between Jarrod Bowen and Blues goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
PGMOL later admitted it was one of six mistakes made by VAR officials in the first part of the season.
Hammers boss David Moyes claimed he had not seen the Soucek “handball”.
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He added: “We had a huge decision that went against us at Stamford Bridge — so don’t forget that.
“Tomas is someone who has always made a big impact for us. He can help in both boxes.”
Rio Ferdinand labelled the decision not to give a penalty as “unbelievable”Credit: PA More

HOWARD WEBB said he would NOT expect Bruno Fernandes’ goal against Man City to be given if the same thing happened again.The PGMOL chief was asked about VAR’s application ahead of Chelsea’s clash against Fulham.
Howard Webb stood by the Rashford offside decision
And while he stopped short of labelling Stuart Attwell’s decision incorrect, he said most people would expect an offside to be given.
Sky Sports pundits Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher questioned Webb about a controversial decision which resulted in a Manchester United goal against Manchester City last month.
Bruno Fernandes scored after Rashford ran onto a pass from an offside position, and although he did not touch the ball he appeared to distract Ederson and Manuel Akanji.
And Webb said: “Over time the laws of the game have moved in a direction where to be penalised in an offside position without touching the ball you have to do one of four quite specific things.
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“The aim was to be consistent in the application, Rashford doesn’t exactly do one of those four things but you could argue he does.
“There is definitely an interpretation needed, there’s some element of subjectivity about it. On the day the officials felt he didn’t interfere as per the way it is defined in the law.
“That was supportable. I think the game has told us that there is an expectation that situation should have led to an offside.
“We’re here to serve the game, we’re here to listen to the game.
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“I think if that exact circumstance happens again you would probably see a different outcome now based on all of what we’ve taken on board since then.
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“You can’t say that was an incorrect decision…(but) it is clear that most people would expect that to be offside if that exact same thing happened again.”
Gary Neville then asked who Howard Webb had consulted specifically when he referred to “most people”.
And Webb said: “We speak to other associations – be it the LMA, PFA, clubs. We speak to league execs, our officials. We discuss these situations and tweak things as we go.
“I think the issue with that one is Rashford followed the ball for quite some distance and got really close.
“And in general terms he probably impacted either Akanji or the goalkeeper in those circumstances, and I think that’s why the game expects it to be offside.
The ref’s chief was more unequivocal however, in calling out two other VAR decisions.
He held his hands up and said fouls committed by Fabinho and Andy Carroll should led VAR to overturn their yellow cards into reds.
Webb added: “Certainly the Fabinho one was one that we actually acknowledged publicly that it should have led to a video review.
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“The referee showed a yellow card, the VAR did not feel that it reached that threshold of being a clear error. We feel that was wrong, we feel it should have got involved and overturned the decision.
“You can make a similar case for the tackle by [Andy] Carroll on Christian Eriksen which was not a great tackle.” More