SebastianBlue
President, International Julian Alvarez Fan Club
- Joined
- 25 Jul 2009
- Messages
- 57,736
I am sure if Haaland had run blindly, without checking to see where Pickford was, and cleaned out the dirty punter, he would have been awarded a penalty for maintaining a “natural run”.From ESPN VAR Review : "This incident could have resulted in all three possible outcomes: a penalty to Man City, a free kick to Everton or play on. Referee Taylor chose the last option, and there isn't enough definitive evidence to say that was incorrect.
Pickford checks on Haaland's position, while Haaland looks at Pickford twice before stopping his movement toward the ball to block the goalkeeper's path. Pickford's arm catches Haaland as the keeper appears to reach for the dropping ball. Whether Pickford was trying to get to the ball or just to Haaland will be open to personal interpretation.
Had Haaland not looked at Pickford and continued his natural run to play the ball, there would have been a stronger case for a penalty; but both players were equally culpable in trying to "game" each other.
If Taylor had given the spot kick, it'd be unlikely to get overturned; whatever he decided on this wouldn't be clearly wrong."
This seems to intimate that Haaland shouldn't look at other players and that there is a "natural run". He was punched in the head. I don't see how anything else matters. The fact that the guy writing this suggests that a free kick to Everton was also a possibility is insane.
By the way, the ball was 4 yards beyond Haaland when Pickford “appears to reach for the ball”.
It’s just farcical what they come up with to legitimise these bad (corrupt) decisions.
Webb’s new program did and will serve the same purpose: showcase the less contentious decisions, ignore the more controversial ones, and try to legitimise the inconsistent, nonsensical officiating, in an attempt to obfuscate continual attempts to manipulate match results.
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