Sunderland Boxing Day

I didn't watch it live at all. The first time I saw it was on a facebook link at full speed and I thought McLaughlin had clawed it back from a yard over the line with his left hand and was outraged.

On second viewing at full speed though I realised the ball was in his right hand and was much closer to the line and every subsequent close up, still shot or slow mo has made it look closer and closer.

The ref probably apologised because the ball was over the line and he probably watched the same full sped replay that we have so had the same initial reaction we had,

As for McLaughlins behavior I don't know what you mean and also haven't seen any of the other incidents to comment. All I know is that the ball was an inch over the line and to me that's an understandable 50/50 decision by the officials.

 

Yep. I explained the reasoning before. Don't see why it matters.

 

Anyone not at the game would not have seen the Flanagan/NKP incident as the cameras would have gone up the other end where City were attacking, until O'Donnell made the linesman aware who I assume spoke to the referee many were following play but it was just outside the box we were defending, not sure many if any would have caught it on camera.

 

Aslong as the yellows get revered what the coach That hair gel guy got and Hopkin got

Because they where only protesting a valid goal

And the referee has admitted he got it wrong

 

The Christmas spirit didnt last long.
The ball was over the line does it matter if it was a mm, an inch or a foot, it should have been the equiliser and the officials made the wrong call.

 

Yep this is very much an assistant call - no way the ref would be able to tell, though as the ‘lead’ for the team of officials it’s for him to talk to the managers/coaches afterwards.

According to the Sunderland forum the assistant was by the corner flag by the time McL got there.

I’m not going to defend the assistant as, without conclusive proof (i.e. Hawkeye, which of course is available at SoL but can’t be used in EFL), my view of all the video/stills is that it’s a goal - just. I reckon the ball is at it’s most “in” if you pause at 7 seconds of this:

https://mobile.twitter.com/mcchalk/status/1077975906176720896

The whole of the ball has to be over the whole of the line for the goal to be awarded - it certainly isn’t yards/feet/miles in as we were claiming yesterday though of course the distance over the whole line doesn’t really matter!

For the ref to actually apologise and say it should have been a goal, as opposed to defending his assistant/saying couldn’t be certain or whatever, I’d be very surprised if he’s based that purely on the video/stills as no matter what we think it’s not 100% fact given the angles of the pictures. As a ref you’re opening yourself up to further criticism if you apologise for something that isn’t ‘fact’.

You’d therefore have to wonder if the goal-line technology was ‘on’ yesterday (no idea if it’s a thing you switch on/off or if it’s always on) and it was shown to the ref afterwards?

 

The ball was 100% over the line, the penalty probably should have been given but it was never a red card.

 

Yep. We should definitely be expecting the officials to be getting 100% of the calls right if it's a mm over the line.

 

Doesn’t work like that and nor should it IMO.

Regardless of the incorrect call by the officials, it shouldn’t give free license for dissent/abuse from the players or coaches.To be booked for it suggests it was OTT.

I get it, we want the coaches and players to be passionate and to be able to expect the big calls from officials to be the right ones.

However, it doesn’t give them the right to cross the line when things don’t go our way i.e. oh OK then it’s fine you called the ref a **** because he got the decision wrong.

 

https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/17321626.ref-said-sorry-for-not-awarding-bantams-goal-at-sunderland/
Surley this puts the was it wasn’t it a goal to bed.
The ref said sorry for f’sake

 

Dermot Gallagher former premier league ref on sky sports news just now saying ball clearly crossed the line twice. Case closed.

 

Its a non story this now. How many angles and slow motion replays Dermot Gallagher seen? In real time its nearly impossible for the ref and the linesman to clearly see if the ball had crossed the line. We lost, we move on.

 

I do get where you’re going with this and I’d defend officials probably more than most (given I am one). We expect perfection and criticise when slow motion replays/angles prove a marginal call to be incorrect. That irritates me, particularly when pundits suggest something was clear, only having seen multiple angles and replays.

The ball isn’t a huge distance past the line IMO.

However, an assistant in the professional game normally has to work with an ‘imaginary’ line for one of their primary functions (offside) and deal in detecting whether an attacker is marginally behind/in front of a defensive line in a split second - getting the majority of calls apparently correct, because they’re trained in relevant techniques to be able to make those calls.

So, to have a clear unobstructed view along the actual goal-line (according to SAFC forum that’s where the assistant was) and not make the call, when they’ve later accepted it was a goal it seems (which is the key point), is very disappointing wouldn’t you agree?

They’ll certainly be getting marked down by their assessor for making a game-changing call incorrectly, if it has been proven as a goal. Per my other post, if the ref has apologised to Drury along those lines, that tells me he must have had some form of relatively conclusive proof?

My main issue is the goal line technology itself. With all of the money in the game, whilst the EPL will argue it’s not it’s job to subsidise the EFL, equally for me there should have been a call for the technology to be installed at all professional football grounds when it came in and the cost to have been suitably spread around. Currently the EFL say the cost is prohibitive.

It would have been c. £18m for installation at all 72 EFL grounds (accepting there is then a yearly fee) - pocket change compared the the money in the game nowadays.

 

1 angle at full speed is all he saw.

 

If it was over the line it was a goal, Sunderland fans are saying as much, and talk is that the match official offered his appologies for getting it wrong.

 

He'll have made the same initial mistake as everybody else then.

 

No he didnt.

 

Bronco, try to understand what I'm saying.

I know that if it's over the line it's a goal

I believe that it was very slightly over the line but I wouldn't stake my life on it.

However you can't expect humans to get 100% of close calls correct. They go either way. If a player is 1cm on/offside I don't expect officials to get everything correct and some decision, even if they're wrong, are understandable.

Talk of it being feet, metres and miles over the line and the officials needing to be hauled over the coals is frankly bollocks.

 

Yup thats a fair point - only thing to add it looked a goal first time I saw it at normal speed, and this was the view with most fans (inc Sunderland ones), John Mc knew it and the ref has now apologised saying it should have been a goal. But these things happen when it is down to human interpretation and not technology and hopefully the next 'key' decision will go our way.
One thing about the ref apologising - I saw on twitter he was getting slaughtered as 'it bloody doesnt help us now' but I actually have some praise for him on this. No it doesn't change the result but at worse it was a human error and for me I now feel more closure about the whole incident - yes there may have still have been an element that the officials 'bottled it' in front of a massive home crowd but apologising doesn't come easy to everyone (lets face it we all make mistakes and do we always apologies - or even admit to it??)
The players will now know for sure they should have had a point away to the biggest team in our division, who are going for automatic promotion and they can go into the Rochdale game without any doubts that our good run and their improved form has come to an end