I think that this "the death of competitive football" is over-stating the case.
I am sure you can understand my frustration spilling out, especially as my team was hugely impacted by this.
From the many reports, and articles, that I have read since then, no one has seen anything wrong with the lead up to the Fulham disallowed goal. The Fulham player, had the ball, used skill to evade the player, and more noticeably, no other player, or the on field referee, had an issue.
The penalty, was harsh, but you can understand it. The mitigating factors should have been the player, jumping and turning, and the ball hitting his upper arm/elbow. Not sure how you can jump without using your arms.
There were a few other incidents in that penalty claim, and that was the 2 pushes, but they are part of the game, the handball, again that would have been harsh, because the Chelsea player had little time to do anything. But in balance, if the Fulham one was handball, so should the Chelsea one have been.
I strongly feel, that hand ball, should be essentially from the elbow down, as you can do little to influence the balls trajectory with your upper arm/elbow.
The excess time played in the first half, was excessive. The injury time number, is a minimum, but MOTD did a add up of the time, and felt it too was 2/3 mins longer than had accrued.
On the matter of referees, I fully get that they have it tough, and are sadly, including from me, getting some inappropriate comments made to them, and sadly subject to even worse commentary too. However, the culture of VAR, the lack of allowing anyone to publicly comment on decisions, and ability of a referee, publicly, by teams, after a game, and the inability to reverse 'wrong decisions', adds to the hotbed of discussion that follows.
Former Premier league defender, Stephan Warnock, suggests there should be former player input into VAR, and feels that referees should spend time with clubs, to understand the players, tactics etc, more than they clearly do now. I'd go a step further, and suggest, just like Cricket has often had (plus many other sports) that the FIFA Refeering Panel should consist of match officials, that have played the game at the highest levels. Providing to the Match referee, valuable insight, alongside refereeing qualifications, to advise appropriately.
