Conspiracy theories in the media are useless but based on legitimate fear | Jonathan Wilson

Aother weekends, there are many tiresome arguments about VAR and the referee. At Bournemouth, Arsenal fans called referee Robert Jones a “cheat” and chanted that the Premier League was “rotten”. On social media, the outrage was even greater. Viewers have complained about the judges, of course, but they usually called them “blind” and dismissed them as “wankers” or “bastards”. Then followed the song “You don’t deserve to be a referee”; Cries of administrative corruption, however, are relatively new.

Perhaps this is the world we live in, one of inspiration and paranoia, created by a variety of famous satirists from José Mourinho to Donald Trump, social media that fueling the conspiracy theories that sprung from the fertile soil left behind by the Covid backlash. Or maybe there’s something more complicated going on.

But before we get to that, it’s important to highlight that none of the key decisions in the weekend’s top contenders were bad or inexplicable. William Saliba was rightly sent off in Arsenal’s attack on Bournemouth; he deliberately dragged Evanilson when the Brazilian was favored by Leandro Trossard, and Ben White was about 30 meters away and it was not easy for him to recover. Was the foul obvious enough for VAR to intervene? Yes, clearly.

Although the foul itself was not the same as Tosin Adarabioyo’s on Diogo Jota in Chelsea’s match against Liverpool, the meaning was very different. The ball that Jota was chasing was moving very fast and was deflecting to the right; Levi Colwill, who was five feet away, was favored to reach it first. Therefore, Evanilson was denied the chance to score goals; Jota was not like that.

Bournemouth’s penalty was clear, when David Raya fouled Evanilson. Even Mikel Arteta, whose constant complaints about the referees did much to encourage Arsenal’s tyrannical fans, was not willing to complain, even if he did not get to accept the correct decisions.

A favorite conspiracy theory among Arsenal fans seemed to be that the VAR official, Jarred Gillett, from Australia, was a boyhood Liverpool fan, which is why he has not marked a Liverpool game in Premier League. Saliba will now be suspended for Arsenal’s game against Liverpool. But even setting aside the obvious childish notion that professional officers cannot be objective, the bottom line remains that the decision reached was correct.

When Saliba’s red card went the wrong way for Liverpool, the two biggest VAR calls at Anfield both went against them: not only Adarabioyo’s not being sent off, but also the overturning penalty when Robert Sánchez was considered enough. with the ball before Curtis Jones went over him to make it worse. The case seemed to be limited and perhaps Sánchez was saved by the fact that his progress had been reduced by the time of the collision. Whether VAR would have intervened is questionable, but the call was there; whether it was punishment or not, it would be hard to say that it was really wrong.

Manchester City’s last-minute winner against Wolves falls into the same category. It could be argued that Bernardo Silva was close to Wolves keeper José Sa when John Stones headed the ball towards the goal to obstruct him. He was close enough, after all, to collide with Sa when the corner was taken (when he wasn’t offside), and Stones’ header was headed for the right-hand post. la Sa would have passed too close to Silva. But Silva was not in his sights, and the header went into the center of the goal. When Wolves had a goal disallowed in similar circumstances against West Ham last season, their manager Gary O’Neil called it “one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen”; his vision was markedly different this time. Personally, I think that kind of thing should be offside. .

But there is no room for gray areas such as the hyper-partisan attitude of the modern fan, small space and ignorance. Everything should be part of a bigger plan. Why that shouldn’t become the norm is impossible to say for sure, but here’s a theory. Fans know that the sport is at stake; that the owners of great wealth, richer than any previous owners, have the opportunity to destroy the competition by taking repeated legal action of questionable benefits. They also know that the new owners don’t care about the culture of the game, dismissing the regular fans for occasional visitors who treat the game as a day out and indulge in merchandise and overpriced food.

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after the news release

The owners are running away and reshaping the game, pulling it away from the communities that have supported it – and been supported by it – for a century and a half. But that is too painful to accept. Against their power, the average player is helpless, therefore, in the old cases of unpleasant migration, perhaps blinded by alienation, instead, they turn to a familiar enemy: the authorities .

• This is a quote from Soccer and Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Register for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and you’ll get the best answer in the next edition.