Bournemouth robbed by VAR as referees in match against West Ham United make numerous controversial inconsistent decisions regarding handball..

2022-10-25 16:44

Bournemouth robbed by VAR as referees in match against West Ham United make numerous controversial inconsistent decisions regarding handball..




The last game of matchday 13 of the Premier League in the 2022/23 season has just ended, and immediately on the Internet, fans unanimously criticized the unfair VAR refereeing decisions in the game.


West Ham United faced Bournemouth at the London Stadium on Monday night, but the first controversial decision has already came towards the end of the first half.


In the 45th minute, West Ham United won a corner kick. Jarrod Bowen took the corner and crossed it into the penalty area. Tomáš Souček headed and passed the ball and Kurt Zouma then headed into the net from a very close distance in front of the left side of the goal.


However, Bournemouth players immediately protested to referee David Coote that someone in West Ham United had committed a handball foul first and the goal should be disallowed.


Coote personally went to the sidelines to watch the VAR video playback, and then asked the VAR assistant referee on duty Mike Dean to intervene. 


Unexpectedly, when the two watched at the same time and missed the fact that Souček's header hit Thilo Kehrer's arms in the middle, but still judged that Zouma's goal is valid.


The outrageous misjudgment of Dean and Coote immediately caused the fans of the away club to boo loudly, and Bournemouth intermim manager Gary O'Neil couldn't hold back his anger and told Coote that "he is f**ing disgraceful" after the whistle sounded at the end of the first half which landed him a yellow card.


In the second half, there were two more controversial incidents which went against Bournemouth on the field.


In the 81st minute, Adam Smith made an overhead pass from the front, Jordan Zemura successfully followed up, chested down the ball from in left side of the penalty area. After the ball was chested down, it hit Ben Johnson's arm, However, Coote and Dean judged that the player's hands were in a normal position and Johnson was too close to Zemura at the time, leaving it no way to avoid it hitting the former's arm, thus refused to give Bournemouth a penalty, which once again caused dissatisfaction among the Cherry fans.


8 minutes later, when Vladimír Coufal crossed from the edge of the byline on the right, the ball hit the arm of Zemura who was already making a sliding tackle on the ground, When using the VAR video playback, Coote and Dean ruled and awarded a penalty as they thought Jordan Zemura's hand was in an abnormal position, which indirectly caused Bournemouth to lose any hope of an effective comeback.




The entire internet is furious


There is no doubt that fans immediately complained for Bournemouth through various social media platforms for the unfair refereeing of Coote and Dean, and the three disputes this time have once again exposed and heated the debate which amplified the disadvantages shown through English referee's decision making through the VAR system.


After the game, O'Neil himself said in an interview with the Daily Mail that he believed that the instances of referees in the country causing more unfair judgments by the use of VAR video playback has become more and more, and ridiculous.


He also complained that since taking over the role of interim manager, he has had VAR misjudgments over 10 times, and the most hateful thing is that these decisions have never brought justice to Bournemouth.


As for the outrageous refererring of Coote and Dean, ESPN's resident pundit, former West Ham United Trinidad and Tobago Republic legendary international goalkeeper Shaka Hislop couldn't help but also slammed that Coote and Dean are indeed suspected of unfair VAR refereeing decisions.


Hislop criticized that: "One week they thought it was a handball, a week later they said no, and a week later they said something else, we know that making a verdict on this topic is always a subject which falls into a grey area. But at least there should be a set standard, right?! How can people be convinced by different decisions every week?!”


In fact, the same controversy occurred three weeks ago when Arsenal played against Liverpool at home. In the 15th minute, Diogo Jota crossed from the right side of the penalty area and the ball clearly hit Gabriel, whose arm rose high, that match's referee and the VAR assistant referee also refused to award a penalty because they thought the latter's hands were in normal positions and the two were too close.


However, in another Premier League game between Newcastle United and Brentford earlier in the day, in the 52nd minute, Vitaly Janelt crossed into the penalty area from the left, Aaron Hickey made a headed pass in the penalty area, and the ball hit Kieran Trippier's raised arm, and the referee and the VAR assistant referee for the game instantly judged that it was a  handball.


With the increasing incidence of unfair VAR refeering decisions in the Premier League, it is no wonder that calls for for VAR to be abolished by the British fans are becoming more and more prominent.