Dissent is one of the major issues bedeviling the English Premier League, and Graham Poll, a former referee, believes that managers have a role in promoting this vice. Some managers that have been adversely mentioned include Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola, and Mikel Arteta. At some point, they have been caught overstepping the line with passionate outbursts. Poll claimed in a recent interview that these managers had influenced players to adopt the vice on the pitch.
Conversely, the EPL referee suggests some measures to deal with the problem before it gets out of hand. Among them is for the League Managers Association (LMA) to apply stricter measures against managers who step out of their technical area. He notes that this regulatory body should be embarrassed for failing to tame nuisance managers. Another suggestion is that referees should take action immediately the managers step out of the technical areas. But most importantly, managers should understand that they are role models to players and regulate their conduct.
The failure of referees to take action has elicited another hot topic about Video Assistant Referee (VAR) mistakes. They are on the spot after failing to notice an encroachment act by Bournemouth players in the Arsenal half upon kick-off. The on-field referee Chris Kavanagh also failed to punish Bournemouth players, which is a bad precedence that could injure the game’s reputation.
Following a series of poor decisions and players’ dissent, online punters can take advantage of these cases to bet on the card market. In recent matches, there has been an increase in the number of players issued yellow cards. Also, players who tend to be very temperamental are more likely to be issued a red card. It is, therefore, no doubt that the card market is popular among the sports betting markets offered at betting agencies. Notably, issuing a yellow or red card to several players in a team often significantly impacts the team’s performance. Hence, punters can also explore other markets, such as the match result, correct score, and over/under.
The EPL is undoubtedly the biggest and most popular league in the world. Unfortunately, managers with such high regard are in line to water down this important establishment. Football is for the fans, who are already frustrated by the constant outbursts of managers. Players are also emboldened by their managers to undertake acts of dissent against fellow players and referees. The biggest concern is that soon there will be no game to enjoy rather than aggression on the pitch.
The introduction of VAR was meant to improve the game, but it seems the problem of dissent is far from over. Referees in charge do not perform a comprehensive review of the mistakes on the pitch, probably because they feel they would delay the game for too long. Besides, they feel that awarding too many cards will influence the game’s tempo and distort the managers’ game plan. These concerns are, however, subjective to the referees, who sometimes overlook gross mistakes to sustain the entertainment level of the game. In conclusion, despite their ranking, managers should all be held responsible for their actions. Klopp and Guardiola are the best coaches in the world today, which is probably the reason why they can easily get away with their mistakes. Going forward, they should be reprimanded for their actions and punished, including being fined and taken to the stands for sanity to prevail in the game.
