VAR Had One Damn Job over 90 Minutes ... and Blew It
How does the highlight of the Premiership's return to action become a legitimately scored goal that no one who's paid to keep count never noticed?
Not referee Michael Oliver, who's one of the best in the business. Usually.
Not his linesmen, either.
And most incredibly, not even the Virtual Assistant Referee that's been installed for the very purpose of being the ultimate judge of goal line fate.
After this match, though, it's possible Sheffield United is ready to return to the 20th century.
While fellow promoted sides Aston Villa and Norwich City are in immediate danger of returning to the Championship after only one sorry season in the big time, the Blades are knocking on Europe's door. A victory on this day at Villa Park would've vaulted them into fifth place.
Instead, they settled for a point in a 0-0 draw that wasn't. Not that the struggling Villlains minded.
With the thunderclouds giving way to rays of sunlight at kickoff, perhaps Villa saw an omen in it. Manager Dean Smith had spoken of the Covid-19 interruption as a time to refocus and resettle. His crew did a decent job of it, too. All things considered, if they keep up this sorta showing, they could survive.
Still, this was United's match to win. That this didn't happen was a tribute to the inevitability of fallacy in every form.
First of all, it must be said that Ollie Norwood's corner was vanilla-harmless, to say the least. That the Villains managed to parlay it into a goal is the stuff of certain relegation.
And yet, they cheated fate:
A precious point awarded to the home side when all was said and done, that's what.
Other than that, the most poignant moment came right before kickoff, as both sides did a Kaepernick, as will all Premiership clubs in this first match of the restart:
Football's suffered more than its share of racist morons over the years, which is why some clubs in Europe are unfortunately accustomed to playing behind closed doors.
It's yet another reason why players across the continent were quick to share their support of #BlackLivesMatter.
On a much lesser scale, so does competence.
While United had 89:50 to score another one that surely woulda counted, if they miss an invitation to Europe by a point or two, this goal that shoulda been will be foremost in their minds.
And if Villa survives the drop by a mere point, they'll share that thought.