Premier League Gameweek 27: Overreaction Monday ft Tottenham, the Offside Rule and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s Ballon d’Or

BySiddhant Lazar, SportsCafe Editor

02/24/2020

Overthinking and over-reacting to situations is the human way but when it comes to football something clicks in a person that makes things comical, ludicrous and rarely sensible. That being said after a packed weekend of hysterical fans in England, there were bound to be a few hare-brained ideas.

Trent Alexander Arnold will win the Ballon d’Or one day

After legendary full-back Cafu commented that Trent Alexander-Arnold could win a Ballon d’Or one day, Glenn Johnson chimed in and admitted that it is possible.

SC Take: Now the fact that Cafu himself, Paolo Maldini, Dani Alves, Bixente Lizarazu, Ashley Cole and even Roberto Carlos amongst many others never came close to a Ballon d’Or says everything. Take nothing away from young Alexander-Arnold because he’s having a sensational season but to say that the Liverpudlian will win the award that allows him to make the claim that he is the greatest player in the world, is ridiculous.

To do it when Jadon Sancho, Kylian Mbappe and even young Erling Haaland are doing things we’d never thought we’d ever see anyone do, makes the argument even worse. But to hand Alexander-Arnold the Ballon d’Or in a world where the award is dominantly given to attackers is quite simply chucklesome.

Jose Mourinho is making Tottenham a mid-table club again

An interview on talkSPORT saw Danny Kelly claim that Jose Mourinho isn’t making Tottenham any better but is instead moving them towards mid-table mediocrity.

SC Take: Tottenham knew exactly what they were getting when they brought in Jose Mourinho. A man well past his powers but someone with enough in the tank to trouble teams and maybe win the odd trophy or so. But over the last few weeks or so, the North Londoners are running down a road that does represent Burnley and Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace more than a top four contender.

The losses to Chelsea (twice), Liverpool and even RB Leipzig in the Champions League has brought about concerns to everybody but Arsenal fans. It’s caused serious problems at Tottenham, with Dele Alli already turning into something other than a €100 million player, Tanguy Ndombele looking irritated with Mourinho’s claims and Mourinho himself reverting back to his Machiavellian’s ways. But more importantly, it's slowly demolishing Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham and taking it back to the days of Juande Ramos.

Arsene Wenger’s suggestion to change the offside rule is a terrible idea

Arsene Wenger revealed his plans to transform the offside rule to help VAR and change the way the game works, which has seen tactician Michael Cox call it a terrible idea that does nothing.

SC Take: It’s a terrible idea. It’s genuinely a terrible idea because not only does it completely transform the way defenders will have to defend but it doesn’t change anything. Either way, a line will still have to be drawn, it will still see images of toes and various other tiny parts of the body pop on the internet and more importantly, it will still see the world complain.

That’s what football fans need, to blame something other than their team for the fact that they lost over the weekend and changing the rule doesn’t help. And changing it the way Wenger suggests, ignoring the fact that it’s someone trying to do something, will only cause a lot more issues. Definitely not an overreaction but the fact that the Frenchman is making some moves, should hopefully see someone change something.

VAR needs to be binned or controlled by real robots

The list of genuine errors grows and grows with the world finally asking the FA to either scrap the VAR or give it a break and wait for someone objective to walk into the picture.

SC Take: There’s something about the VAR that has seen fans from across the borders link hands and walk against the FA, with it truly uniting everyone with a stake in a Premier League club. That’s especially true after the weekend of truly farcical decisions that the world saw the VAR make, with the errors getting worse game after game. Now, the question arises, wherein lies the problem? Is it with the referees, the rules or is the system simply broken?

Or has football transformed so much that the word clear and obvious, no longer means clear and obvious? Because one thing is clear, if five referees and a system that helps them make decisions can no longer make them, then it’s just more evidence that using said system, isn’t helping anybody, let alone help the officials make their decision. What makes it even worse, is that decisions have now become subjective and no longer objective, which is exactly what the VAR was brought in to remove.