Lily Woodham was brilliant today.
Incredible run and perfect finish by Olsson, after excellent assist by Woodham.
Despite the circumstances, it's quite remarkable that the one thing Reds haven't had to worry much about is the massive absence of Alisson Becker.
@mlawton Of course people who are not used to think too much tend to reduce it to matters of benevolence / malevolence, intentionality / randomness, etc.
But the facts remain, and if they are verified, and we can agree on a factual reality as described by the cold hard data, it shouldn't be impossible to agree that changes are necessary to correct whatever it is that is skewing the process that yields the undesired results.
The fact that addressing the facts, and correcting what's skewing process is never a possibility under any circumstances makes me strongly suspect that people who have access to the levers of change are unwilling to act, or don't see a real need to make any progress in that direction.
Suspicion of ulterior motives is therefore warranted.
@mlawton Although the most damning thing may not be Tomkins' prose (he's a partial after all) but the charts.
The charts are not lying.
https://tomkinstimes.substack.com/p/man-united-and-liverpool-treated
Sometimes you may take a few data points in isolation and think.... MEH that's not a lot, is it?
But taken together, first you see pattern. Then you see process, then you see system in the numbers.
@mlawton Of course people who are not used to think too much tend to reduce it to matters of benevolence / malevolence, intentionality / randomness, etc.
But the facts remain, and if they are verified, and we can agree on a factual reality as described by the cold hard data, it shouldn't be impossible to agree that changes are necessary to correct whatever it is that is skewing the process that yields the undesired results.
@mlawton It seems he made it a "free read" since then. Let me know if you can't access it, I may be able to make a PDF from it if you need.
https://tomkinstimes.substack.com/p/man-united-and-liverpool-treated
@mlawton Although the most damning thing may not be Tomkins' prose (he's a partial after all) but the charts.
The charts are not lying.
https://tomkinstimes.substack.com/p/man-united-and-liverpool-treated
Sometimes you may take a few data points in isolation and think.... MEH that's not a lot, is it?
But taken together, first you see pattern. Then you see process, then you see system in the numbers.
@vruz I knew that was your sense too, but lacked the room in the post. (And I’m ranting!)
As for VAR, I would like to understand why some clubs always seem to benefit and others don’t. Why do some teams always get the same referee assignments? Why don’t we follow the example of rugby, which has no whiff of impropriety in their VAR system? How are VAR officials also peers with match officials? How are match officials graded?
It seems to me that the real problems are systemic, not personnel.
@mlawton The point is still that we can't possibly know.
We can't know. Many other things could have gone our way. We can't know the chain reaction of consequences and ramifications of an entirely different set of conditions.
They robbed us the chance of a level game, and they robbed us the chance to know where we really stand.
@mlawton The point is still that we can't possibly know.
We can't know. Many other things could have gone our way. We can't know the chain reaction of consequences and ramifications of an entirely different set of conditions.
They robbed us the chance of a level game, and they robbed us the chance to know where we really stand.
And as a footnote, I do think this materially affected the game, but I also think City would have claimed all three points in the end. #LFC were well off the mark that day.
What I want is for the standard of officiating to be better, or at least more consistent. Offsides and handballs are difficult, but too inconsistent.
I would also think that PGMOL might err on the side of caution, recusing Michael Oliver from games in which a possible conflict of interest could be legitimately raised.
In the end, it's what I expected. One thing that did surprise me was that the decision to uphold was prosecuted far more vigorously by Tim Wood (AVAR) than Michael Oliver (VAR). Oliver is still dithering about on the position of Robertson on the field, when Wood just bulldozes the conversation saying it's offside and "it's a clear, an obvious action which clearly impacts the goalkeeper".
They never look again.
Webb goes on to suggest that Bernardo Silva was not offside against Wolves last year because of shot location?!? I'm screaming at Owen again to push him on where that exists in the four conditions for a player being offside.
I knew the VAR review was shockingly brief, but 20 seconds is incredible. They looked at Marmadashvilli's penalty save longer. I also would like to know how often penalty saves are reviewed. Perhaps always? I don't recall games being held up, but it could be common.
Everything hinges on the subjective interpretation of condition #4: "Making an obvious action which CLEARLY IMPACTS ON THE ABILITY OF AN OPPONENT TO PLAY THE BALL"
Webb: "Only Donnarumma truly knows if he was impacted by this and we have to look at the factual evidence."
I'm screaming at Owen to ask, "if only he knows, what evidence do you see that he is clearly impacted?"
If none, the condition isn't met and thus the on-field decision is wrong.
Andy Robertson on his future: “The relationship between me and the club has been a wonderful one. They've done everything for me. I think I've not been too bad for them in terms of signing from Hull for £8m and what I've done.
“I'm relaxed about the whole situation. If it is my last year, then it's my last year. If it's not, then so be it. I had a bit of a stressful summer in terms of decisions. I've said to myself to just try and enjoy the next few months and then obviously it will start probably taking over my life. That's what happens when you go into your last six months.”
#LFC