I think the issue is, referees are judged by impossible standards against rules that aren't fit for purpose and are ever-changing with technology.
A lot of it VAR is to blame but VAR in essence isn't a problem, it's the rules brought in to accommodate VAR are a problem. It's this implementation of the rules that has a lot of us sick to death of VAR.
Clear and obvious needs a rethink.
VAR: What did you see happen?
Ref: I saw this...
VAR: That's fine or review on monitor and make your own decision (do not show incident in slow motion).
The handball rule. Last year I actually thought was working. In essence every handball where the arm was away from the body was a penalty. It was wrong from a deliberate standpoint but at least it was consistent. They've moved away from this now though, where some are given and some arent and I get why this is happening. Most handballs just aren't deliberate, including the Young one, the Grealish one and Wan Bissaka's one against Coventry which all happened at the weekend. They either need to go back to accidental handball or awarding every pen again. The in-between just leads to more inconsistencies.
The PGMOL does need to improve the standard but I get why its hard to do. Lower leagues dont have VAR so the training pathway is much harder. Plus who'd be a ref at the moment with the abuse they get. I probably would given the money they get but the abuse is brutal.
I do think clubs and fans need to grow up with the statements put out. I'm sick to death of hearing about the officials every week, they make mistakes and have been making them for decades. The talk around it in the last few years has gotten worse. Sometimes they're shit but a lot of the time it only gets called out because the team that are calling out the decisions have been just as shit that day.
Sometimes though the officials aren't as shit as some think. TNT's commentators were essentially calling the referee in the Lille-Villa game an idiot last week for failing to send Martinez off in the shootout. It wasn't until a producer pointed out the rules around yellow cards in shootouts had changed that they realised they were wrong. Did they apologise though? Did they fuck.
Semi-automated offsides are coming in, that's worked in Europe and the World Cup, so there's one change that makes the game better and hopefully helps referees.
I know that reads like I'm defending PGMOL, I'm not, as an organisation they are a mess, the training isn't up to standard and they've not done enough to simplify the implementation of the rules. It does feel like a mess of a job to do though.
I suppose I'm just sick of it being about decisions the ref has made every week and not the football being played on the pitch. Forest have scored the 4th least goals and conceded the 5th most, on top of having 4 points deducted. The refs aren't the only reason they're fighting relegation.
