Mark Speller

BREAKING: England have named a 15-man squad for the first Test against New Zealand 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

🚨🎙️| Joe Cole on the Spurs vs Leeds United game and how Leeds got absolutely robbed to help Spurs escape relegation: 🗣️ “Listen, I’m trying to understand how football fans are supposed to trust this anymore because what we saw in that Spurs vs Leeds game was absolute theatre. You freeze the live image and Dominic Calvert-Lewin is CLEARLY onside. You can literally see daylight between him and the last defender. Then suddenly VAR pulls out this cartoon animation with lines drawn from places nobody can even explain properly and now he’s magically offside? Come on. And the worst part is what happened after it. If DCL is onside and from the real broadcast angle he absolutely looks onside, then the entire phase continues and you’re talking about a blatant penalty on him by Destiny Udogie in the box. Udogie doesn’t get the ball, clips the man, stops him getting through, and somehow VAR completely wipes the whole thing away because of an offside call that looks manufactured from a computer model instead of reality. This is the problem with modern officiating. The live image says one thing, the ‘3D model’ says another, and conveniently the decision ends up favouring Tottenham in a relegation battle. That’s what’s going to infuriate people. Because if this happens to Leeds or Everton, everyone says ‘unlucky’. But when it’s Spurs needing points to survive, suddenly we get forensic geometry and invisible body parts deciding football matches. People keep saying ‘trust the process’, what process? Fans are watching a real image with their own eyes and then being told to ignore it because a cartoon graphic generated five seconds later says otherwise. Football’s becoming less about the game and more about who can manipulate freeze frames best. If that’s given at the other end against Leeds, I guarantee nobody overturns it. No chance. That’s why supporters feel like the game is being controlled instead of officiated. Spurs got away with one massively today, and Leeds fans have every right to feel robbed.”

I wouldn’t usually post a thread all about one decision in a 90 minute game of football, but today’s was so significant, and so outrageous, it has to be highlighted and discussed.

We should have built a bigger East Stand and had a 45,000-50,000 seater Upton Park. I have not enjoyed seeing this video this morning.

XI for Arsenal 🗞️