Refs MUST have TV help - ask West Ham, Spurs, Fulham, Blackburn and Derby

It's true that Mike Riley had a very poor game in the West Ham v Spurs match yesterday and video replays may have helped him to a limited extent (even though he was ultimately "right" with the Keane penalty as he was offside). However, had there been video replays it would have utterly ruined the match. The main reason that he had a bad game was his constant blowing up for petty half fouls by both teams. It was a keenly copetitive derby match which he all but ruined with his over fussy whistle blowing. The game was never allowed to flow, momentum was lost and the game suffered greatly as a result. If we had video replays as well then it would just have given him the excuse to slow down the whole thing a bit more. The game would have been even more fragmented than even his fussy refereeing had allowed. Keep the interruptions and involvement of the referee to an absolute minimum (as the very best referees do) and let the game speak for itself. An occasional error by the ref (for which video replays are ofte

IF video technology had been available yesterday then it would have proved that Robbie Keane was OFFSIDE when the ball was played through. Therefore the penalty/sending off of Robert Green would have been incidental wouldn't it ? You cannot have it BOTH ways mate

It was offside. Justice was done. Simple.

First of all, VT is not used by all major sports. Basketball and Baseball in the US do not use it. Ice hockey does, however only for "did the puck cross the line". Correct me if I'm wrong, but Cricket does NOT challenge LBW or rugby challenge offside calls...All they do is answer the question "was it a try" or "is he out".. What you are asking for in football is NOT done by other sports. I agree that goal line technology would help. I think you'll find referees would also agree with that, however, you can't have somebody sitting in a stand from 50 plus yards away deciding incidents. Spectators would soon tire of decisions being delayed as somebody attempts to decide "did he dive". Refereeing decisions since the beginning of the game have always been subject to subjective opinion..Just like all other sports.

I don't agree about video technology. Part of the appeal of live sport is the errors made and the ensuing debate. Football is a fast game now and the problem that refs face is everything they do or don't do is replayed many times from different angles and they are judged in a studio by so called experts. They won't get everything right but as we all know, everything evens itself out over a season. Do we want a game that is stopped many times throughout its course to check the video or the 4th official? What would the fans do in their leisure time if they can't debate contentious decisions with their mates over a pint, knowing that video technolgy has sanitised the game so that all decisions are correct? Its fine as it is, so don't meddle.

totally wrong imo to leave system they way it is as the Arsenals,Man u's etc always get the decisions going there way ,the smaller teams dont get a look in even if half the time its blatently obvious they should have had a penalty or watever. imo most refs are actually intimidated by the big clubs,the system is usually fine if ur a Man u ,Arsenal supporter ,but try being a Bolton,Blackburn,Derby etc supporter ,80% of the time u wont get anything at all when its plain to every1 else u should.

Agreed with TrevorH that the reason why football is so appealing is because it doesn't use video tech! Mistakes made by refs are always the main talking points, the cause of great controversies and even greater frustrations by fans. Yet, is this not why we love the game? Maybe we should just clone many Pierluigi Collina's! With video tech, it's not even necessary to have the ref around the pitch since he might interfere with play. Don't change a winning formula, just train better refs!

Less interference from FIFA/UEFA would be a start, clearer offside and above all refs using common sense and their own abilities. Howard Webb is a great example of how a good ref should operate, Clatternberg and Riley are examples of poor 'jobs worth' refs. Would like to see ex-players involved more in officiating, as they have at least played the game, whereas some of these current guys are just rule book only officials

If the ref TV replay, he would have awarded Spurs 2 penalties 1) Handball by Cole 2) Foul on Defoe The Keyne incident was a penalty and a red card but if replayed further back, Keyne would have been ruled offside. All said, Riley had a poor match and robbed Spurs. Unfortunately, Spurs always seem to be on the wrong side of luck with officiating. But Defoe should have scored to earn a deserved win! Regret Keane was not around to slot in the winner. Well played Spurs!

blatant penalty??? what are you talking about- i used to respect robbie keane as a player but the way he reacted to being clipped by green was absolutely revolting and probably caused Riley to give the penalty at the end which green saved :)