Chelsea v Manchester United: The day corners and common sense died

Anthony Taylor decided to take a day off with the help of the VAR that was not. Chelsea and Manchester United have forever changed the game as a result.

Chelsea has a habit of being involved in terrible refereeing performances that change the game. Frank Lampard’s ghost goal led to the introduction of goal line technology. Tom Henning Ovrebo arguably opened the door for the earliest discussions of VAR. And now, with VAR, Anthony Taylor and his crew have eliminated the use of corners and common sense in the game.

To say Taylor had control of the game would be a misuse of the word so strong that a dictionary writer would have to add a new word. Sure, he attempted to regain control by throwing yellows at random intervals for his report to look good, but it was clear that the game was lost early and often.

Take for instance, one Harry Maguire. Slabhead as he is sometimes known. Apparently he is allowed to kick out where the sun does not shine, in full view and as clear and obvious as anything, and continue on in the game. Taylor either did not see it or did not care, but for the VAR to have claimed to “check” it is ludicrous. Maguire continued on a scored as a reward for the ineptitude of the referees.

But of course, one event does not a controversy make. Chelsea managed to equalize off of a Kurt Zouma (!) volley. Beautiful, game back on and some justice served. But not so fast! Apparently it is permissible for a defender to shove an attacker into another defender, thus triggering a foul.

Think of the sheer precedence that sets. Now every corner routine in the world is rendered obsolete because the defending team can simply shove the attackers into a defending player. Corners, for all intents and purposes, are now obsolete.

Perhaps sensing that things were getting a little too revolutionary, Taylor and company opted to make one correct call on the night with Olivier Giroud’s foot being offside for his goal. One correct call in a game with several VAR incidents is apparent an amazing success rate for the technology in England and Taylor is likely to be knighted for his service to the Football Association.

Spattered throughout were yellows given for the softest of fouls as Taylor did as previously mentioned; filling out a match report and pretending to have control over the game.

Mind, none of this is an excuse on Chelsea’s end. The Blues were lethargic at best. A few players played as if they had not spent the last two weeks ordering take out and binging TV shows, but the rest looked like they just rolled off the couch from under their pizza box forts. Injury ravaged as they were throughout, the Blues still only managed one lone shot on target. Out of 17.

There should not be an inquest against Lampard and Chelsea because of this match however. The result was decided the second Maguire walked away from a violent conduct red without even a warning. It was decided when perfectly fine goal was chalked off for a ridiculous loophole. It was decided the moment Taylor and his staff decided they were going to be the kind of refs they were.