Furious Ryan Fraser hits nail on the head in brilliant rant at VAR after two costly errors
Ryan Fraser is not a happy man, and I don't blame him.
Not only was he denied a penalty at Anfield on Thursday night, he was taken clean out by Ederson in our 4-0 defeat at Man City yesterday...yet neither were given.
He believes referees need to be more accountable for the errors they're making and wonders what's the point of VAR when basic errors are now being made on a daily basis.
After being taken out off the ball by Ederson yesterday, he's also asked whether he can now volley someone in the middle of the pitch and get away with it from now on! A tongue in cheek comment, but he's got a point!!
Speaking to NUFC TV after Sunday's game, here's what he had to say:
“It’s a pen, simple as that. Even if the ball was getting away, he’s taken me out.”
“It’s just like anything else, If I volley someone in the middle of the pitch, is that not a free-kick?
“I don’t really get it. Even the Liverpool one at 2-1 down... the (Vladimir) Coufal moment for West Ham against Arsenal, if they’re getting a pen for that then they’ve got to give me mine.
“If they don’t give that then I’m all for it, don’t give mine. That’s two pens now I feel I should have had.
“Everyone has their own opinions but the referees need to be more accountable.
“It’s just one decision one week and you’re thinking ‘how’s that a pen’ and it happens the next week and it’s not a pen.
"No one gets it. Players don't get it, managers don’t get it.”
"There’s no consistency. If no VAR is there, you take it.
“Referees make mistakes but that is what VAR is there for to not make mistakes, so there’s no point in having it.
“It takes so long for everything to happen, there’s no point in having it I feel. It ruins the game.
"You see them more when you're down there towards the bottom of the league.
"When they're this clear cut, it makes you wonder what you're going to get."
The second last line is also interesting, suggesting he feels teams towards the bottom of the table are less likely to get big decisions go there way than those at the top? Put it this way, I think Man City get a penalty if this happens at the other end, and also think Mike Dean stops the game for a head injury should a player in Red have gone down in their own box as Isaac Hayden did.
Some feel the Alexander-Arnold challenge was a brilliant one. Maybe it was, but if the Coufal tackle is deemed a penalty, we should've got one at Anfield! Where's the consistency?
As for Ederson clattering into Fraser, it still blows my mind that this wasn't given...
