How Many Wrongs Does It Take To Make A Right?
It was a Sunday and it was an EFL match, so naturally Aston Villa were involved in a huge talking point; this time after their ‘uncontested goal’ in the match at Leeds United earned them a point and ended Leeds United’s faintest hopes of automatic promotion. The goal was ‘given’ to them by the home team’s manager, Marcelo Bielsa, who ordered his players to let Villa equalise after his team had taken the lead in controversial fashion.
In a case of trying to make something big into something even bigger, it was reported on SBNation.com, a USA-based sports website, that it might either be the ultimate act of sportsmanship or else the dumbest decision of the year.
It was neither. The website said the EFL match had huge ramifications for both sides – it didn’t – with a win for Leeds guaranteeing promotion (it wouldn’t) to the Premier League for the first time since 2004. I’m not sure if there were any ramifications at all for Villa; already assured a play-off place after a ten-game winning streak and unable to move up or down positionally.
Many other websites also claimed that the goal cost Leeds promotion. The truth – never let it get in the way of a good story, I suppose – was that IF Leeds had won the game, they’d have still needed Sheffield United to lose next week while they won at Ipswich with a swing of twelve goals in their favour. In other words, it wasn’t going to happen and everyone – bar a few lazy journalists – knew it.
But if the outcome wasn’t quite so crucial as these websites thought, what it did highlight was an incredible number of failures (minor and major) in the build-up to the incident and beyond it. I counted at least ten.
- Whistle Stop
The least obvious, but the challenge that put Jonathon Kodjia on the ground to begin with was probably a free-kick. The referee gives that and there is no incident. We don’t want football to become non-contact but these days, any player going to ground after a touch from behind is whistled, so why not on this occasion? I bet the referee, Stuart Atwell, wished he had about 30 seconds later.
- Adding Insult to Injury
To balance it out, it might have been worthy of a free-kick, but Kodjia goes to ground as if he’s been downed by the proverbial sniper in the crowd. But because so many modern players make such a meal of any foul, it’s hard for referees to distinguish between a serious problem for a player and one who’s trying to sway the decision. Kodjia eventually went off so I’m not suggesting he was at fault, but that it makes life harder for officials. It clearly wasn’t a head injury and therefore, the rules leave any stoppage in play up to the referee – or at least it should.
- Kick It Out
Continuing that theme, the Villa players are trying to make up the referee’s mind by stopping themselves and beckoning the Leeds players to do the same. At least four or five in the camera shot cease running and point to the touchline. We are taught as kids to play to the whistle, so not doing this was unprofessional of them at least.
- Damned With Feint Praise
Tyler Roberts is the man with the ball at this stage. He could put all this to bed with a diplomatic kick into touch but after slowing to an almost halt and feinting to do just that, he passes down the wing instead. For me, this is a bit more naughty because his actions fooled the opposition; at least the others acted on instinct. If he never shows any intent to stop, then it’s Villa’s problem and the only ‘crime’ is unsporting behaviour. But to do what he did crossed a line that had a big knock on impact.
- Flagging The Problem
The pass goes to a player in an offside position. The assistant referee’s flag goes up there, as it should have, and the incident is again cut off in its infancy. This season has been littered with controversial decisions and, like this one, mistakes. It doesn’t help and not to excuse anything that followed, getting a straight-forward call right would have been enormously beneficial to everyone (other than those needing to fill column inches).
- Easier to beg forgiveness than seek permission
The ball ended up at the feet of eventual goal scorer, Mateusz Klich, who never shows any other intent than to put it in the net; cutting in from the left and bending a shot past Jed Steer into the bottom corner and he would have wheeled away in celebration had he not been jumped upon by furious Villa players. According to AV boss, Dean Smith, the scorer apologised to him later for playing on, but if he’s going to say sorry afterwards, that does make me wonder if instead of apologising, it might have been better to simply not do it in the first place.
- The Shirt Off His Back
Villa’s Conor Hourihane was clearly incensed and in the perfect position to grab Klich as the ball hit the net, almost wrestling him out of his shirt. Although booked and eventually held back while Tyrone Mings came onto the scene as peacekeeper, it wasn’t the best example to the millions watching on TV and young kids in the stadium, although at this stage all of those thoughts had well and truly left the building and a number of other post-goal melees began to form.
- Technical Area Difficulties
As unsightly as it was on the pitch, so too was the arguing off it as Dean Smith remonstrated with a disagreeing Pontus Jansson and his overtly ‘Oh come on!’ reaction whilst the usually shy and retiring John Terry had words with fellow-wallflower Bielsa and his staff as tempers reached boiling point and it looked as if they had fallen for the American website’s overblown summary of what the game meant. But it does mean that any play-off game that might happen between the two sides takes on even extra significance as Bielsa has seen – maybe even more – ways to wind them up.
- Punishing Schedule
Meanwhile, the on-field ruckus was showing no signs of abating. There was accusations, pushing, shoving, stewards and simulation aplenty with Patrick Bamford making out he’d been struck and getting a red card for Ahmed El Ghazi in the process, one that got Smith’s back up even more and that he feels will be subsequently appealed and rescinded. Whether Bamford will end up regretting his part even more with a ban of his own, just as the play-offs are upon us, remains to be seen.
- Making His Pont
Last but not least, after a bit of calm was restored and Marcelo Bielsa ordered his players to allow Villa’s Albert Adomah to walk the ball ‘uncontested’ into the net to even things up, it still wasn’t over. The loose cannon that was Jansson refused to play ball and took a wild – if admittedly slightly half-hearted – swing at Adomah as he went through; cue further remonstrations with players from both sides having a go at him for his lack of sportsmanship.
It’s probably just as well that there wasn’t as much riding on it as some thought there was. And I can only imagine what would have happened next if Jansson had connected properly and put Adomah out of the game, or into the stands.
In the end, despite all the mayhem, the right decision and result was reached. Bielsa is being congratulated for making that decision and honouring the integrity of the game, even if some of his players wouldn’t or couldn’t.
Whether, if promotion had really been resting on it, he would have done the same; well, we’ll never know. Given the mark he had in the deficit column for this season’s ‘spy-gate’ controversy then this gesture – with little to lose – made a lot of sense and I think he realised that.
Uncontested goals and incidents like this aren’t unique. Do a search on Google and you’ll find some beauties – usually after a dropped ball that is kicked back to the goalkeeper goes horribly wrong. There are ugly ones too, with a flagrant regard for fair play (yes, Adriano of Shaktar, I’m looking at you). In English football they are fairly uncommon but here are some instances you might recall…
Arsenal 2 Sheffield United 1 (1999)
Whereas it took a few minutes to put right a wrong at Leeds, this game was replayed at Arsenal’s insistence after Marc Overmars scored an FA Cup goal when the opposition thought the ball would be thrown back to them, but Kanu misinterpreted the instructions. Even home goalie, David Seaman admits he was thinking ‘what the hell are you doing?’ as his team mates bore down on goal.
Yeovil 3 Birmingham 3 (2013)
Another slightly less satisfactory example came after the Blues had kicked the ball out because of an injury and the throw-in taken and the ball kicked straight back but into their net, forcing extra-time in this Capital Cup tie. In extra time, Yeovil took a 3-2 lead but then, and only then, were overcome with guilt and let Birmingham run through uncontested to level matters again.
Nottingham Forest 2 Leicester City 3 (2007)
Another league cup tie but this time, after the first match was abandoned at half-time when Leicester’s Clive Clarke suffered a heart-attack, the home team were allowed to score an unchallenged goal from the off so that Forest regained the one goal advantage they’d held in that original game. Gary Megson was the man who orchestrated it and rightly received the acclaim for the gesture; made because the home side had graciously agreed to the postponement when they were not obliged to.
Norwich 0 Cardiff City 0 (2013)
After an injury, Norwich threw the ball to Leroy Fer to give back to the goalkeeper. Instead he kicked it into the net, but the referee disallowed it because he hadn’t blown the whistle. Tempers still flared, and an unrepentant Fer later argued it should have counted, but the quick-thinking ref had sensibly taken the heat out of a potentially awkward moment.
Argentina 2 England 1 (1986)
Possibly the most memorable uncontested goal of all time as England let Diego Maradona run virtually unchallenged from the half-way line to score his second goal in the World Cup quarter-final, having been also given the first one by the referee.
If only they’d had Pontos Jansson – and not Terry Fenwick – at centre-back then history could have been very different.
words Darren Young, D3D4 columnist