Oh, look. VAR has got caught up in a bit of controversy once again.
Maurizio Sarri had a Chelsea laptop out after the game showing the world that VAR had got it wrong at that Harry Kane was offside before Kepa cleaned the Tottenham striker out for a penalty in last night’s EFL Cup semi-final.
And, and! If VAR was right then the fact that linesman had put his flag up and stood still had put his defenders off because, obviously, they’d have defended properly if they had believed Kane was onside.
And, and! Well, the whole thing is a bit of a shambles, isn’t it?
Sarri claimed the Chelsea cameras, conveniently, showed that Kane’s head and knee were offside and the VAR officials were working from different cameras. Whoa, there. What’s that? Different camera angles tell us different things? That cannot be right, surely. What about Hawkeye? What about GPS? What about it doesn’t really matter, just get on with the effing game?
Sarri’s other point actually kind of makes sense, even though the Chelsea players should have played to the whistle. In this day and age, players will grow up being taught to not worry because VAR will sort it out whereas when we were kids it was very much drummed in to keep playing. The assistant referee flagged and stopped and that moment’s hesitation did mean Kepa mistimed his challenge. But then, Kepa shouldn’t have been looking at the lino anyway. So tough.
For the record, the Poch also said he wasn’t a fan of VAR (whilst grinning like a cat).
Callum Hudson-Odoi is telling Chelsea that it is a bit late now to be making golden promises. Now that Bayern Munich are upping their offer to £35m Chelsea have suddenly cottoned on to the fact that Hudson-Odoi might actually be pretty decent and are on hand and knee to make him stay.
The England U17 World Cup winner is adamant that he fancies a crack at Munich and good luck to him. If it goes well, he becomes a star. If it doesn’t, he ends up in the Championship which is what would happen to him anyway if he stays at Chelsea.
Peppy G would love Big Vinny to end his career at the Etihad. And that doesn’t mean he is asking him to retire at the end of the season, though after seeing that tackle on Mo Salah last week you’d be forgiven for thinking that might be where this conversation was going.
Guardiola would like Man City’s captain to extend his deal for a little bit longer. And they say there is no blind loyalty left in football.
The aforementioned Salah has been named Egyptian Footballer of the Year for the second year running which got me to thinking whether I could actually name another current Egyptian footballer. On the presumption that Mido has retired, I have to admit I cannot.
Tottenham’s Mousa Dembele fancies a move to China in January. For the money, you’d probably think. Actually, no. Dembele thinks ‘the slower tempo will suit him’. Yeah right, Mousa. It’s the money.
Tammy Abraham had the chance to walk away from Aston Villa in the Championship and sign, on loan naturally, for Wolves in the Premier League and turned it down. Was it because Wolves are local rivals to Villa? Maybe. Was it because he feels loyal to Dean Smith who seems to be getting a tune out of him? Maybe. Or was it that deep, deep down Abraham knows that the Championship might just be his level and a move to Wolves could damage his reputation? Yeah, I reckon it’s that one.
Someone who has realised that moving to China in the prime of his career was foolish is the Belgian international Yannick Carrasco. He’d like to find a club daft enough to keep paying him the same as he is earning behind the Great Wall and Arsenal could well be that club.
Cesc Fabregas’ move to Monaco seems to be taking forever, primarily because Chelsea forgot to mention they’d like £10m please and thank you.
