Row Z: VAR-induced meltdowns, Infantino’s bold claims and players thrown under the bus

Welcome to Row Z, The Athletic’s weekly column that shines a light on the bonkers side of the game.

From clubs to managers, players to organisations, every week we’ll bring you the absurdities, the greed, the contradictions, the preposterousness and the oddities of the sport we all love…

A clear and obvious error… from VAR?

So VAR decided the fate of the Premier League title (as well as the race for survival) and everybody reacted really calmly about the situation.

VARcical shouted Mail Online, VARCICAL screamed The Sun, which went full caps lock for extra faux outrage (they also queried TOO VAR GONE?), while even Auntie Beeb asked: Biggest VAR call ever?

West Ham United fans took it really well…

Disappointing opportunity missed to use the word ‘VARCE’ at the end there.

Anyway, whatever your take on the decision, it’s clear VAR definitely does exactly what the Premier League says it was brought in for.

VAR will be used only for “clear and obvious errors” or “serious missed incidents”, the league stated. And referee Chris Kavanagh was, of course, looking directly at the Pablo/David Raya incident when it happened.

“There is a high bar for the VARs to intervene on subjective decisions, to maintain the pace and intensity of matches,” the league also says.

The amount of time it took VAR official Darren England to review the footage? Almost three minutes. And then Kavanagh was at the screen for? Yes, one minute and 15 seconds.

And as PGMOL chief Howard Webb said at the start of the season, grappling in the box will be clamped down on and more penalties given for players being pulled back or blocked.

Number of penalties conceded by Arsenal this season? None. They clearly just don’t grapple, pull or block any opposition players in the penalty area.

Infantino’s hype versus cold, hard reality

Gianni Infantino is not known for understatement (Ton Molina/Getty Images)

“One month to go! The greatest and most inclusive FIFA World Cup ever kicks off on June 11!”

Understated FIFA president Gianni Infantino there, cautiously predicting the 2026 edition will be the best World Cup ever.

Pretty bold claim, to be fair. What did he say about Russia 2018, out of interest? “It is the best World Cup ever.”

Interesting. Did he make any modest claims about how good Qatar 2022 would be? “It will be the best World Cup ever, of course.”

And then what were his humble thoughts after Qatar? “The best World Cup ever.”

Gianni, did you enjoy your slice of toast for breakfast this morning? “It was the best toast ever.”

Curious, then, that for a tournament set to unequivocally be the greatest football spectacle ever held, the equivalent to 104 Super Bowls, etc, that tickets are still being sold with only a few weeks to go until it starts.

In January, FIFA stated global demand had reached “unprecedented levels”, with more than 500,000,000 ticket requests, working out at around 15 million requests per day in the 33-day application window. Wow! For a tournament that has only around seven million tickets on sale, that’s impressive. Should sell out in seconds!

Also in January, here’s the notoriously subtle Infantino on ticket demand: “In almost 100 years of World Cup history, FIFA sold around 50 million tickets in total. Now, for this World Cup, in four weeks we have the request for 1,000 years of World Cups at once. This is unique. It’s incredible.”

And then in February: All of the 104 matches are “sold out“.

Fair play, the best World Cup ever deserves sold-out stadiums for every match. Nice work, Gianni!

Also FIFA, promoting “last-minute” sales of tickets which can only be sold on a first-come, first-served basis at the start of April.

And also also FIFA, another round of “limited” tickets last week “while supplies last”. Meanwhile, resale prices continue to drop.

Perhaps it’s something to do with the astronomical prices? But then, as Infantino says (and he meant this as a positive): “We have 25 per cent of the group-stage tickets which can be bought for less than $300.”

As President Donald Trump said himself when informed of $1,000 tickets to watch USMNT against Paraguay next month: “I would certainly like to be there, but I wouldn’t pay it either, to be honest with you.”

What do you reckon Gianni? Best line from Trump ever?

Some questionable managerial messaging

Another miserable defeat for Wolverhampton Wanderers at Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday left the players, the fans and certainly the head coach wishing for the season to end ASAP.

Rob Edwards, who left a Championship promotion race with Middlesbrough to join the Wolves sinking ship, slammed his players as not being good enough to compete in the Championship, let alone the Premier League. Blimey.

The head coach also, somewhat bravely given the fanbase are foaming at the mouth with pitchforks in hand as the club heads for its worst season in terms of points gained, declared on Friday it wasn’t his fault Wolves are in the mess they find themselves in.

It all represents a bit of a change in tack from the Premier League’s most handsome manager (for another two weeks).

November 13 after being appointed: “There’s an opportunity here for us to do something really special and that appeals to me. We want to achieve something incredible.”

March 3 after beating Liverpool: “At the moment we look a good team. There’s a stark difference to the level and fight the lads are showing. Everyone’s in it together. There’s a good energy around and a belief we’re going in the right direction.”

May 8 with relegation having long since been confirmed: “It’s not my fault.”

May 9, 19 points from safety with two games to go: “I don’t think the group we’ve got would be able to compete in the Championship. We’re looking forward to being able to end the charade of this season. The more change the better.”

All for one and one for all, eh? Spirit of the Dambusters and all that.

To be fair to Edwards, whose Premier League win percentage from 63 matches with Luton Town and Wolves now stands at 14 per cent (an average of 0.67 points per game), he arrived with Wolves having taken just two points from their opening 11 matches, so to solely blame him for relegation is clearly unfair.

That hasn’t stopped Wolves fans replying to the official club account with sarcastic “it’s not his fault” posts, of which this was the clear highlight…