(^) IN ASSOCIATION WITH
11
His campaign here is off to a flier,
with three assists at the London
Stadium and a significant hand in
the other two goals during what
was probably his best display since
a £60million move from Leicester.
Mahrez’s proactivity convinced
Guardiola to start him ahead of
Bernardo Silva, who complained of
a slight muscle problem. ‘Bernardo
now knows, “Wow, Riyad is an
incredible player,” and has to make
a step forward,’ Guardiola said.
‘Riyad wanted to come back soon
and he wanted to play. I like it!
Everybody has to know that I trust
all of them. That is the truth. They
have to compete with each other.
With the opponents, yes, but com-
pete with each other. You want to
play next week? You have to play
good. That is why we maintain our
high standards. We have to feel the
pressure. If you don’t then there is a
tendency to be more relaxed,
sloppy like the first half. If the
players don’t play good I have to
think others deserve it. They must
play good to show respect to
those who aren’t playing.’
WEST HAM (4-2-3-1): Fabianski 6; Fredericks 5,
Balbuena 5, Diop 5.5, Cresswell 4; Wilshere 5
(Snodgrass 56min, 6), Rice 6; Anderson 4.5
(Hernandez 66, 6), Lanzini 6, Antonio 6.5
(Fornals 45, 6), Haller 6.5. Subs not used:
Roberto, Ogbonna, Sanchez, Zabaleta.
Booked: Balbuena, Anderson.
Manager: Manuel Pellegrini 5.
MANCHESTER CITY (4-3-3): Ederson 7; Walker 7,
Stones 7, Laporte 7, Zinchenko 7; De Bruyne 8
(Gundogan 79), Rodri 7, D Silva 7 (Foden 80);
Mahrez 9, Jesus 8 (Aguero 69, 7), STERLING 9.5.
Subs not used: Bravo, Otamendi, B Silva, Cancelo.
Scorers: Gabriel Jesus 25, Sterling 51, 75, 90, Aguero
86 (pen). Booked: Walker, Sterling.
Manager: Pep Guardiola 7.
Referee: Mike Dean 6.
Attendance: 59,870.
E GUY!
hampion players City’s ‘clever’ fouls
impress Wilshere
JACK WILSHERE called on
West Ham to learn the
dark arts of defending
after Manchester City
taught them a lesson.
Pep Guardiola’s side
committed 13 fouls during
their resounding win at
the London Stadium —
many of them as the hosts
broke from midfield.
City are told to bring
down attacking players
if they are stretched and
Wilshere believes
West Ham, who made just
six fouls, can work on a
similar approach.
‘They’re clever players —
a team like us who like to
attack could learn from
that,’ the midfielder said.
‘They do that counter
press. They lose the ball
and bang, they go
straight away. They’re
going to make fouls. If
you do get out of it, it
happens so quickly and
they bring you down.
‘They’re the best in the
league at keeping the ball
but they also know you
have to put your foot in in
the Premier League.
‘You can’t get frustrated.
You have to get on with it
and hope the referee
takes care of it.’
Wilshere came off with a
dead leg after a number
of heavy challenges by
City’s record signing,
Rodri. ‘He seems to know
what the Premier League
is about already,’
Wilshere added. ‘I’m fine.
That’s part of playing in
the Premier League.
You get kicks. I’ve got a
dead leg but it will be
gone soon.’
BY JACK GAUGHAN
OW BUT IT’S VAR THAT STEALS CENTRE STAGE
Football achieves clinical accuracy
... but sacrifices a little of its soul
MARTIN SAMUEL
Chief Sports WriterIT IS not much to ask that, having
spent hundreds of millions investing
in football, those who own and run
Premier League clubs at least know
why they lose or win.
Yet as the directors and officials of
Manchester City and West Ham gathered
after Saturday’s game, neither group had a
clue why Sergio Aguero’s penalty was
retaken. They thought they did, but they
were wrong. So were former professionals
including Mike Summerbee, Sir Trevor
Brooking and England manager Gareth
Southgate. They all presumed, as the
majority in the stadium did, that West Ham
goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski had come off
his line to make his save.
Only later, if watching Match of the Day,
would they have realised that the retake
was the result of encroachment by, in
particular, West Ham’s Declan Rice.
Now VAR may be the modern way and its
opponents depicted as a Luddite tendency.
That those who pay to watch the game —
whether as fans, or owners — should not be
in the dark about the essentials of what
they have seen should be given.
And while Aguero’s penalty was immate-
rial to the outcome this weekend, that won’t
always be the case. On another day, a
retaken penalty could be all that separates
two teams chasing the title; and the prime
motivating factor in the outcome will be a
mystery to all but a privileged few.
The reason for the re-shoot was sent, by
email, to members of the press about 10minutes after the incident; perhaps when
the Premier League heard even City’s fans,
whose team had benefited from the call,
serenading the officials with a chorus of,
‘What the f*** is going on?’
Later, City’s directors were of the opinion
that they would rather have the release of
endorphins that accompanied their lovely,
third, disallowed goal and let Aguero’s pen-
alty miss stand. And that’s the flaw in VAR.
Nobody is disputing the decisions were
correct. Yet in achieving clinical accuracy,
football has sacrificed a little of its soul.
For VAR’s inadvertent mission is to erase
the special moments that form the
emotional peaks of the game. When a goal
is scored, the question being asked is, ‘How
can we disallow that?’ The same principle
when a penalty is saved. A moment of high
drama — the pinnacle of a goalkeeper’s per-
formance — is followed by an attempt to
have the kick retaken. The authority is not
tossed to VAR because the referee suspects
an infringement, but because that is the
way the game is now to be played. Goals are
reviewed as a matter of course; penalties,
too. There were City players encroaching as
well as Rice; so why wasn’t that also a factor
in whether to retake?Not that it would have changed the result
— but the disallowed third might have. It
came shortly after half-time, with the Lon-
don Stadium quietened and flat after City
took a deserved 2-0 lead. All the momentum
and noise surrounded the champions. Yet
after the VAR delay, the reprieve was
celebrated like a West Ham goal. Suddenly,
the stadium was alive. West Ham forced an
excellent double save from Ederson. Had
that gone in, that final 30 minutes would
have been completely different. And all
because Raheem Sterling’s shoulder had
strayed offside. It was a disproportionately
negative development from the most minor
of infringements.
Southgate said it echoed what happened
to England in the UEFA Nations League
semi-final. They thought the game had been
won by Jesse Lingard, VAR ruled out his
goal on a fine margin, England were utterly
deflated, Holland — who thought they had
lost — emboldened. There was only one win-
ner after that. Players will just have to learn
to handle those extremes of fortune, but it
is another complexity resulting from VAR.
These, however, are teething problems,
compared to the absence of information. Is
it really impossible to provide those in the
stadium with the necessary facts? ‘The goal
was disallowed because Sterling was in an
offside position, starting at his left shoul-
der.’ ‘The penalty will be retaken because of
encroachment by Declan Rice.’ It doesn’t
seem such an unreasonable demand given
the price of admission; and certainly not for
several hundred million pounds.aller are already in the penalty arearoached, play would have continuedEasy seat:
Guardiola
says he will
be more
laid back
GETTY IMAGESDecisions spot-on and people are still unhappy!
IT was disappointing to hear
VAR being criticised for getting
decisions RIGHT during
Manchester City’s 5-0 win at
West Ham.
The main source of frustration
for pundits and supporters
came after Gabriel Jesus’s goal
in the 53rd minute was ruled
out when Raheem Sterling —
who provided the assist — was
judged offside.
The decision was incredibly
tight and assistant referee
Darren Cann was right to allow
play to continue and the goalto be scored. At this point the
goal was checked by VAR and
it was proven that Sterling’s
shoulder — a part of the body
which can score a goal — was
offside. The decision to
disallow was
correct.We cannot then say, ‘Oh, it’s
only millimetres, give the
attacker the advantage’. It was
offside. Simple.
It is the same principle we use
with goal-line technology — if
the ball is only millimetres over
the line then it is a goal.
Likewise, if Sterling had been
millimetres onside, it would be
onside. Previously, an assistant
referee may have flagged
incorrectly in this instance and
a legitimate goal would not
have stood. Now, because of
VAR, we allow play to continueand then review the goal. So
we cannot praise VAR when it
leads to a goal being scored
and criticise the technology
when a goal is ruled out — we
cannot have it both ways!
The second situation to be
checked was Sterling’s second
goal and, again, Cann did
brilliantly to allow play to
continue and the goal correctly
stood. Again, when Sergio
Aguero’s missed penalty was
retaken after encroachment by
West Ham’s Declan Rice, it was
the correct decision.MARK
CLATTENBURG
MY VERDICT
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