The 2024/25 Premier League curtain closers were all about one thing only, the battle for the available European places for the coming campaign and the access to the varying financial riches each of the three competitions can bring to sides.
Those following football today had long known that Liverpool would be lifting the title at Anfield after Arne Slot’s fabulous first season in charge at the club, with Arsenal taking the runners up spot and equally the relegation places had also been long decided with Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton all consigned for the drop and life in the Championship as shown by football livescore.
The main football news focus for the vast majority of fans, particularly neutrals maybe, was how the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League places would fall given only three points separated the five sides as we went into the final days action. Given how the games played out, ultimately Manchester City, Newcastle United and Chelsea took the Champions League spots with Aston Villa falling to the Europa League, and livescore showing that Nottingham Forest secured their first Conference League qualification.
However, it was the match at Old Trafford between Manchester United and Aston Villa that took almost all of the headlines on Sunday evening as the game featured a number of contentious talking points. United ultimately ran out as 2-0 winners on the afternoon and nobody could really decry them the three points as they were worthy winners and even hit the woodwork three odd times with the Villa keeper beaten, although it is fair to say that the obligatory penalty they were handed for their second was one of the softest you will ever see.
We can in some ways also skip over the fact that Villa were reduced to ten men as goalkeeper Emi Martinez had a rush of blood and collided with Rasmus Hoijlund outside of the box and saw a straight red card – discussions about covering defenders and whether a yellow card was more appropriate are irrelevant – as the main issue is with about 20 minutes remaining on the clock and the scores tied at zero, Morgan Rogers capitalised on a Altay Bayindir error and subsequently opened the scoring…or so everyone thought.
The referee Thomas Bramall had other ideas and instead of waiting until the ball had hit the net so everything could be reviewed by the Video Assistant Referee technology, he immediately blew his whistle for what he thought was a foul on the goalkeeper and in getting his little toot out before the ball crossed the line, it was ruled out and the game was called dead, meaning VAR could then not intervene.
It should be noted that not a single United player, including the goalkeeper, appealed for a foul and they looked as confused as the rest of us when play was pulled up. The referee was apparently the only person on earth who felt that Bayindir was in control of the ball in the moment, everyone else saw that he was not but the goal was ruled out.
Villa’s heads went with the decision and moments later they were 1-0 behind, and whilst nobody knows what the final score would have been had they pulled off the smash and grab with little time remaining on the clock, they only needed a draw to qualify for the Champions League and missing out via goal difference alone is a blow that will cost the club millions given the differing money available in the Europa League.
Whilst the fall out continues and the referee’s experience is questioned, the whole issue turns on seconds of a blown whistle. Why not just change the rules?