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Daily Mail, Friday, August 16, 2019JACK
WILSHERE
says he will
need a few
more games
in the Premier
League to get
up to speed
after missing
most of last
season with injury. West Ham
cannot afford to wait. At the
weekend, Declan Rice was
doing the work of two men
keeping Manchester City at
bay and was exhausted by the
time Wilshere (above) came
off, with his team already 2-0
down. After that the game ran
away from West Ham.
Everyone would love to see
Wilshere at the peak of his
powers again, but the fact is
West Ham’s form only picked
up last season after his injury,
with a more balanced
midfield. Wilshere is yet to
collect a point in his five starts
for West Ham, with an
aggregate score of
2-15 in those matches.
Manuel Pellegrini loves him,
but this cannot last.Let’s stop kidding VAR is
up to speed on offside
CITY REPRIEVE IS A
SORT OF PROGRESS
Suzann
PetterSen is the
world number 620 and has
played two golf
tournaments since
november 2017. She took
time off to have a baby
but, in the years before
that, her influence on the
women’s tour was dwindling. Since taking
the evian Championship in 2013, Pettersen
(above) has won twice, the last time in 2015
at the Manulife LPGa Classic in Canada.
Her most recent tournament was the Dow
Great Lakes Bay Invitational, where she
missed the cut. Yet, at 38, Pettersen is one of
captain Catriona Matthew’s wildcard picks
for next month’s Solheim Cup. It says much
for Pettersen’s resolve that she is included; it
doesn’t, however, say much for the strength
of women’s golf in europe.At Bournemouth
last week, Sheffield
united manager Chris
Wilder sent out a starting
XI made up entirely of
British and Irish players —
it is the first time this has
happened in three Premier
League seasons. It is also
the reason a manager as
innovative as Wilder has
not been poached.
Chairmen see this domestic
fixation as problematic ata time when squads are
made up of large numbers
of foreign players. they
mistakenly think it makes
Wilder insular. Similar
logic has held back Sean
Dyche at Burnley.Adams picks
wrong target
nIGeL aDaMS is this
week’s sports minister,
and would like
everyone to know it.
and, as nothing
makes a headline like
a moral sermon about
football, he has
chosen as his subject
Wayne rooney’s move
to Derby, sponsored
by betting company
32red.
‘I would ask Derby
County to look within
themselves and think
about the impact
problem gambling can
have, particularly on
vulnerable people and
youngsters,’ adams
said. ‘they have got a
social responsibility to
be mature and grown
up. Football needs to
be mindful of the
problem gambling
has.’
all of which makes it
sound as if Derby, or
rooney, and not the
government of which
adams is a member,
make the rules on
gambling. there has
been a lot of
pontification from
politicians on this
issue since the rooney
deal was announced,
but little mention ofwhat could be done,
quite simply, to help
the type of vulnerable
young people inviting
adams’s concern.
no mention of
raising the legal
gambling age, or of
limiting the amount
that can be gambled
through smartphone
apps. no discussion of
linking proof of funds
to betting, or limiting
the stake placed in
one day through a
credit card.
these proposals —
drastic and unpopular,
particularly with those
who bet regularly and
can afford it — would
greatly impact on the
profits of gambling
companies, and
therefore government
revenue. Similarly, a
ban on gambling
advertising across all
forms of media, would
be disastrous for
newspapers and
broadcasters, who
view these companies
as an important
revenue stream.
Far easier, then, for
adams to make the
villains an aging
footballer and his
second division club.CHELSEA are no doubt
livid to be serving a
FIFA-imposed transfer
ban, only to see
Manchester City
given a £315,000 fine
for similar offences
surrounding the
signing of youth
players. Yet this is
progress, of sorts.
When Manchester
City and Paris Saint-
Germain were
sanctioned by UEFA
over financial fair
play, their penalties
were identical
although their
economic
transgressions could
not have been. It was
a crass, blanketpunishment as if the
clubs — or more likely
their Arab owners —
were all the same.
This at least
distinguishes
between cases and
offences. FIFA’s own
rules surrounding
admission of guilt
have changed, which
benefited City — but
there also appears to
be an attempt to
explore the nuances
of the two offences,
with Chelsea’s judged
more serious. This is
surely better than
one-size-fits-all, or
the view that all new
money is equally
distasteful.IT is the height of irony that those who have
VAR seem unconvinced of its wisdom, while
those who do not are agitating for its
introduction.
Jonathan Woodgate, manager of
Middlesbrough, insisted it should be
introduced in the Championship, after a 1-0
defeat at home to Brentford on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the International Football
Association Board, the game’s rulemakers,
are considering a number of tweaks that
could be introduced after this season. These
include more information for fans inside the
ground — which is a must — and an
assessment of whether offside calls must be
clear and obvious rather than black and
white. The problem seems to be the
pretence that VAR can judge the precise
moment the ball is played forward and ruleaccordingly. For example, the fastest player
in the Premier League is Leroy Sane with a
top speed of 22mph. So even if we reduce
that to 15mph, it still means a player will
cover 22 feet per second. And now offside is
being measured in matters of inches, this
requires gauging events in fractions of
second. To be two inches offside takes 1/75th
of a second, less time than to blink. And how
long does the ball remain in contact with
the boot when it is kicked forward? We are
kidding ourselves if we think we can
measure the precise moment of contact in
relation to the position of the forward with
sufficient accuracy to judge his status
perfectly. These are subjects for IFAB to
discuss, although one might have thought
this would have happened before VAR’s
introduction. It was hardly unforeseen.tySon Fury will take on otto Wallin, a
little-known Swede, in Las Vegas on
September 14. expect a lot of talk, plenty of
antics, much calling out of Deontay Wilder
and a fight you wouldn’t cross the street to
watch. In other words, the usual.LonG before kick-off in
Istanbul, the verdict was in.
no matter what happened,
the appointment of Stephanie
Frappart was to be deemed a
success. So it was no surprise
to see her performance
described in review as bril-
liant, excellent and faultless.
even though we know she
got the biggest call of the
game, the penalty award to
Chelsea in extra-time, wrong;
even though adrian had both
feet in front of the line whentammy abraham took the
penalty that decided the
game; even though, by the
new interpretation of hand-
ball, surely that’s a penalty to
Liverpool, against andreas
Christensen in the first half.
that Var did not intervene
when adrian was judged to
have fouled abraham was
obediently cited as evidence
it was not a clear and obvious
mistake. But that’s just more
pretence. More likely, it was
evidence that there was noway Frappart’s support team
were going to undermine her
unless it was utterly unavoid-
able. this performance had to
be seen as a flawless triumph
and vindication.
Frappart, by and large, had
a good game. She let the play
flow, she was clear in her
instructions, she is on the
Ligue 1 roster this year and
deserves many more matches
than her two last season.
Yet experience — not
gender — matters. a moreexperienced referee would
not have fallen for abraham’s
extra-time tumble. Some
would — but they are not the
sort considered ready for
major european finals.
Still, Liverpool won, adrian
got to be the hero and
abraham, who also got off
lightly for going to ground so
cheaply, did not end the night
a winner.
So all’s well that end’s well;
but, then, it was always going
to be that way.FAULTLESS DISPLAY?
OF COURSE... IT WAS
DECIDED BEFORE
THE MATCH
Paying the penalty: Stephanie Frappart points to the spot after Tammy
Abraham tumbles over Liverpool goalkeeper Adrian (inset) GETTY IMAGES