At times this season, the famous Bill Shankly quote has never felt more appropriate: "Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that."
The legendary Liverpool manager's words still resonate today when you look at Unai Emery's furious reaction after Aston Villa's defeat to Nottingham Forest and THAT Elliot Anderson challenge on Ollie Watkins. Mikel Arteta was "incredibly fuming" after a farcical penalty decision in Arsenal's draw at Atletico Madrid. Closer to home, you had to feel sorry for David Moyes after a bizarre decision not to give a penalty after Everton's defeat at West Ham.
West Ham midfielder Mateus Fernandes was practically juggling the ball in the box. No wonder Everton have decided to raise concerns with the PGMO. The farcical decisions during Newcastle's FA Cup tie at Aston Villa were a decent advert for VAR. The decisions in the Champions League and Europa League provided a timely reminder that it is not just the Premier League; everyone makes mistakes.
Except they cannot now. Not during the Premier League run-in. We cannot afford a team to be relegated on the basis of a referee mistake or a bad VAR call. Details matter, as do standards. Or a team could win the title because of a controversy in the final few games. We will never hear the end of it. Arteta already bookmarked one complaint, claiming Manchester City defender Abdukodir Khusanov should have seen red in Arsenal's game at the Etihad.
We cannot allow managers the licence to even have a complaint about the officials. It is vital that both ends of the table are decided on the pitch. Can you imagine if Villa go out with Anderson scoring a crucial goal? Or Tottenham go down by a point and the review panel deem that actually it should have been an Everton penalty at West Ham?
Whoever wins the title will have deserved it. But this one is particularly nip and tuck. Arsenal have four games left, City have a game in hand; they are virtually neck and neck. It is really hard to understand why the Premier League did not reschedule City's game with Crystal Palace long before the run-in. There were opportunities and slots, and that is the point. Why did they not rearrange? It is odd. That was City's main beef, and it will be a travesty if they miss out on a trophy because of a tight turnaround which, quite frankly, was unnecessary. If they had done that, there would be no issue over flipping Palace with the Bournemouth game.
Trophies should be decided on the pitch. If Arsenal go out to Atletico, we will never hear the end of the complaints, and rightly so, over that penalty decision being overturned by VAR. We cannot have the same in the Premier League. Games are always decided by moments of brilliance and skill, or mistakes. But let the mistake come from the hapless full back or the striker missing a sitter. Then that is just life. The managers will have no one else to blame.
In reality, more managers should stop moaning about refs and focus on their own shortcomings. But, equally, do not give them anything to complain about. The Premier League's best referees are among the best, so make sure they are on the key games. That is why we have to have consistency now. The best referees making the right decisions for the sake of the game, no big errors. Or we will always be wondering.
