VAR provided more confusion in Southampton’s draw at Brighton and left us begging for semi-automated offsides to come to the Premier League.
Cameron Archer’s goal and Southampton limbs in the Brighton away end were all for nothing because Adam Armstrong was offside from Ryan Fraser’s cross and was ‘deemed to be impacting Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen’s ability to play the ball’. There is a reason the Premier League Match Centre X account does not allow comments on their posts. What a load of s**t.
Four minutes and 27 seconds it took for the offside to be decided by those at Stockley Park. At that point, the nothing phrase ‘clear and obvious’ simply goes out of the window. Injured Saints goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale was not happy, posting on social media: ‘You can not be serious’.
The wait benefits literally nobody and the more time ticks on, the more sweat drips from the poor and inept official responsible for drawing those pesky lines.
Semi-automated offsides cannot come soon enough and should help turn the tide with more people against VAR now than when it was first introduced in 2019. Games will flow better as fans and players will not have to anxiously wait for the outcome of sometimes blatant offside decisions for several minutes. It will be a blessing for the Premier League just as it has been for the Champions League.
Johnny Nic is obviously one person who is completely against the technology and you would struggle to blame him these days – there are lots of negatives. But there are also positives, and I for one think getting rid of VAR altogether would be very silly.
Semi-automated offsides will take away the most scrutinised aspect of VAR, making life smoother for the officials, players and fans. Offside will become the black and white rule it is designed to be. We need it and we need it now.
Away from that tiresome debate, a football match took place and lots of things happened. Let’s move on to Tyler Dibling. We are in awe.
The boy is special, giving Kaoru Mitoma his latest lesson in dribbling. He thought learning more of the literal ins and outs were beneath him but that was a masterclass from the Southampton teenager, who is the latest to break onto the scene from the Saints’ youth academy.
Dibling has been a shining light in a miserable campaign for Southampton, making a name for himself by winning a penalty against Manchester United and kicking on from there. He won another penalty against ‘Big Six’ opposition in Liverpool on Sunday and probably had his best performance of the season against Brighton on Friday.
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His tantalising display was not enough to inspire his side’s first away win of the season but he is getting better each game and will be the reason Southampton are not dead and buried by Christmas, should they get a few big results in December.
If the opening 13 matches are anything to go by, Southampton will go down but Dibling won’t be going down with them.
There are rumours that the 18-year-old gets homesick, which is why his time at Chelsea lasted from July 2022 to September 2022. It was probably for the best anyway and there is no doubt that the Blues will move for him again at the end of the season.
Dibling’s ability to get out of tight spaces, carry the ball, nutmeg his humiliated opponents and push the Saints up the pitch is remarkable for a player of his experience. He is playing with a lack of fear characteristic of a low-socked teenager and we do not want that to change.
Southampton have a very clear philosophy centred on patience and keeping the ball but much-criticised manager Russell Martin has allowed Dibling to express himself. The minute a flair player has tactical shackles on him is when the game is not worth watching.
For all of the 18-year-old’s hard work, Southampton remain rooted to the bottom of the Premier League.
Such teams need an X-factor in attack to survive, like Leeds United had with Raphinha and Wolves now have with Matheus Cunha. Dibling might not be on that level yet and the supporting cast might be a level below Leeds and Wolves’, but he gives them a fighting chance and will put smiles on faces at St Mary’s even when their annual 9-0 defeat arrives.
Brighton, meanwhile, did not create enough in front of goal. They had a wonderful opportunity when Yukinari Sugawara lost possession on the edge of his box with goalkeeper Joe Lumley out of position. Thankfully for the visitors, Mitoma took it on early and shot wide.
There was not enough creativity on a night most expected to be comfortable but these dropped points will go under the radar because of one big negative in VAR and one glowing positive in Tyler Dibling.
