Pundit left fuming over Rangers v Aberdeen controversy last week
John Brown has been left fuming by Barry Robson’s controversial comments about the incident during the Rangers v Aberdeen 1-1 draw on 26 November.
Robson controversially stated that Gers are handed favourable VAR decisions more often than not – putting pressure on the officials ahead of the Viaplay Cup final next week.
Brown, a former Rangers player, did not take too kindly to these words and made his feelings clear.
He wrote in the Daily Record on 28 November, “He knows he’s got a cup final coming up and he thinks if he can get that out there, they maybe get a decision or Rangers maybe don’t get a decision.
“What I would say is: is it taking the pressure off of him? Because if he’s disciplining his players, you can’t pull jerseys or do certain things in the box otherwise it’s going to go against us.
“There’s a discipline from him to his players to say ‘block the run, but don’t pull the jersey because it will be a penalty kick.’ But if it’s a clear tug of the jersey it’s a penalty kick.
“But when I can see a jersey getting pulled in the box, that’s a penalty kick. There is no other way. He needs to sort his players out and tell them they can block a run or get up against a man in the box but you can’t pull a jersey. You can’t have that type of contact.
“For me, it’s a penalty. There’s too much getting made of these VAR issues. VAR’s fine. It’s the guys in the control room that need to understand it.
Spot on
Brown rightly emphasises that the number of penalties awarded to a team often correlates with their dominance in possession and attacking play.
Rangers, as one of the dominant forces in Scottish football, frequently find themselves in goal-scoring positions, increasing the likelihood of defensive errors and penalty incidents.
Brown’s assertion that referees make decisions based on the pressure exerted by teams is valid.
The more a team like Rangers controls the game and creates goal-scoring opportunities, the greater the chances of decisions, including penalties, going in their favour.
Robson needs to focus on addressing discipline issues within his team as if defenders are resorting to jersey pulling in the box, it reflects a lack of discipline that needs addressing internally.
In the competitive landscape of football, teams must adapt to the rules and regulations, and criticism of referees should be accompanied by introspection regarding one’s own team’s conduct so Brown is absolutely spot on here.
In other Rangers news, a player is now in a ‘Worse’ situation than before as surgery is unavoidable, according to exclusive coverage by an injury expert.