It also means a return to the soul-sapping world of VAR, the supposedly revolutionary tool that was supposed to all-but eliminate glaringly obvious officiating errors from our game. Sigh, how naive we all were.
Normally I don’t like to focus on officials’ decisions, opting to steer well away from the never-ending circus of critiquing every last decision a referee makes. It’s boring and achieves nothing.
The critics and the nay-sayers will say I’m only writing this piece because Burnley were robbed of a potential match-winning goal 15 minutes from time, but that’s not the case at all. You win some, you lose some and all that.
I’m sure an opposition side will be on the receiving end of a similarly brazen and bizarre call at some point this season and in the balance of fairness, it’s only right we point that out if and when that occurs.
We’re only five games into the season, four in Burnley’s case, and yet we’ve already witnessed numerous examples of how VAR has achieved the exact opposite of its intended purpose.
I’m broadly supportive of referees, who need all the help they can get in dealing with the lightning-quick pace of top flight football, as well as the 22 players often looking to con, dupe and trick them at every corner.
I can’t help but yawn when the pundits and the shock-jocks bemoan the ‘lowest standard of refereeing we’ve ever witnessed’, as if leagues in other countries aren’t experiencing the exact same problems. No, it’s just really hard and the scrutiny that comes with it is often exhausting.
But let’s be blunt here, VAR isn’t helping, is it? It’s only hindering. Whether accurate or not, it comes across as a fun-loathing tool that is hellbent on ruling goals out, almost as if its sole intention is to find the smallest of faults. Is this really what we signed up for?
Not one Nottingham Forest player appealed when Sander Berge surged past Scott McKenna before pulling the ball back for Lyle Foster to restore Burnley’s lead.
Running the ‘goal’ back with the aid of a slow-motion replay, VAR official Darren England spotted the ball barely grazing the sleeve of Berge’s shirt. The man in the middle, Robert Jones, was called over to the monitor and as soon as that happens, you just know what the result will be. Goal ruled out.
A deliberate handball? Absolute nonsense. Was it even a clear and obvious error to begin with? Of course not. But this is the world we live in now, where every minute detail has to be analysed and in many cases over-analysed to drain the game of its very soul and emotion.
It’s a crying shame we’re having to focus so heavily on this incident – unfortunately it’s unavoidable – because instead we should be praising Burnley for their best display of the season to date.
Vincent Kompany will be encouraged to pick up his first point of the season but he’ll have known, like the rest of us, it ought to have been three.
After a slow and sloppy opening 20 minutes or so, the Clarets were the better side for the vast majority of this affair as they chased a second victory at the City Ground in as many months, having emerged victorious in the Carabao Cup in August.
On that occasion it was Zeki Amdouni who struck a late winner and the Swiss forward was back among the goals here too, dispatching a low effort on his weaker left foot with aplomb just four minutes before the break.
The goal though owed so much to the wizardry and artistry of Luca Koleosho, who rinsed Joe Worrall with ease before pulling the ball back into the danger area.
While the recently turned 19-year-old isn’t the finished article yet, he’s still a little rough around the edges, it’s clear to see he possesses star quality.
He wasn’t the only impressive performer on the night though. Jordan Beyer defended resolutely and helped set up attacks with his trademark run-outs from the back, Amdouni was integral in much of the build-up play and Berge made a real difference off the bench. As did Mike Tresor, who showed his quality in a fleeting appearance.
Foster also ran himself in the ground, as he often does, only for his night to end on a sour note when he was sent off for a needless elbow.
Bringing the balance
But the star man has to be the returning Charlie Taylor, who settled straight back into the back four and brought a much-needed calming influence and experience to a backline that had shipped 11 goals in its first three outings.
Had it not been for Callum Hudson-Odoi’s worldie of a strike, which James Trafford could do nothing about, the Clarets would have deservedly claimed a clean sheet.
While Forest had their moments and did put Burnley under pressure in spells, clear-cut chances were hard to come by and Kompany’s men defended the box well.
Against Man City, Aston Villa and Tottenham, Burnley looked a little top-heavy, opting to focus on chance creation rather than keeping goals out at the other end.
At the City Ground, Kompany struck the right balance between the two, retaining that threat in the final third while protecting Trafford and giving the keeper a relatively quiet night in terms of shot-stopping.
This, against a side that are expected to be in and around Burnley in the table, bodes well for the remainder of the campaign.
Continue to perform like this and the points, plus that first win, are likely to follow. Not even VAR will stop them.
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