Shithousery - chiefly British term for underhanded conduct or gamesmanship in a sport, with the intention of gaining an advantage. Typically refers to association football.
"fantastic shithousery from James Ward-Prowse to get Zaha sent off".
It was a tale of two penalties - one not fought hard enough for and the other was won. After yet another early goal conceded, Liverpool battled back into the game. Diogo Jota ran on to a bouncing ball played into the right hand side of the box and attempted to lift it into the danger area. The ball was blocked by Arsenal centre back Gabriel, Jota put a hand up to enquire politely if it might be a penalty. The slow motion replay showed the ball hitting the defenders outstretched forearm, Sky commentators were convinced it was going to be a penalty awarded by VAR but everyone watching was left scratching their heads when check was completed. The old saying that we've seen them given should automatically mean that it's always given. I'm a big advocate of VAR but it's far too subjective. I accept the weird looking lines that decide offside because they act as evidence of how a decision has been arrived at. Gabriel's handball has been given and not given dozens of times. That's not good enough. Why does this ref give it but this one doesn't? Just like the lines there needs to be a reason for the decisions. A database of previous decisions that an incident triggers on screen, perhaps by a key word search "hand ball", "left hand up" to help make the VAR Assistants mind up. Only then will we have consistency. Fans are able to post examples instantly on twitter so why can the premier league with all its billions of pounds not have a library of all penalty decisions on the system?
Liverpool didn't lose this game because of VAR, they lost it because Arsenal were prepared to be the bigger shithouses. Gabriel Jesus personified this. He got a smack in the mouth from Tsimikas and went down like he'd been knocked out and swallowed his tongue. Liverpool players ran from every direction to signal for the physios and medical staff to come on and then see if he was OK. It looked very serious. Some of his friends from the Brazil squad stood around concerned but then looked happy to see him sitting up. Not long after Jesus walks off the pitch being hugged by Tsimikas who was apologising for the stray arm, Alisson was whispering sweet nothings in his ear and being careful not to touch his fellow countryman's injured head. Suddenly Jesus remembered what had happened and looked disgusted that the game carried on without Tsimikas at least getting a yellow card. This was merely the first act though.
Earlier this season in Napoli, the impressive Victor Osimhen exposed us on the counter attack, drove into the box, went down under a challenge from Virgil Van Dijk and looked like he needed an ambulance after he fell awkwardly. VAR reviewed and awarded a penalty. Osimhen jumped to his feet but missed the penalty. Of course, Liverpool were absolutely hammered anyway in a stadium famous for its' players getting up to tricks. In the middle of the second half yesterday, Liverpool found themselves under sustained pressure with the game poised at 2-2. They failed to clear their lines on a number of occasions but when they finally did manage to hoof it to safety, referee Michael Oliver was standing pointing to the spot. There was some pushing and shoving, incredulous facial expressions but the slow-motion replay showed the merest of touches had sent Jesus to the ground like James Brown getting down. VAR quickly agreed with the ref and Bukayo Saka stepped up to score what would be the winner. Arsenal were the better side but they also wanted it more. Mikael Arteta got Joe Gomez booked for taking too long over a throw. We can complain about it but this was exactly the type of shithousery Liverpool have been guilty of in the past. Andy Robertson pushing Lionel Messi in the back of the head early in the epic 4-0 UCL semi final second leg in 2019 is etched in my brain as much as the goals on the night. It was a statement. "This is our house and you're not having the run of it". Luis Suarez played for Barcelona that night too and having celebrated his goal in the first leg like he'd never heard of Liverpool let alone played for us, he was subjected to 90 mins of amnesia from the Liverpool crowd who turned on one of the best players to ever pull on a red shirt. Imagine him appealing for that penalty yesterday instead of Jota - jumping up and down, pointing and shaking at his hand, leaving the referee in no doubt about what should happen next. Jesus wasn't as animated yesterday but his efforts were still enough to win the decisive penalty. Liverpool are a lot of things at the minute and one of them is we're too nice. Thiago over at the fans taking the blame for the defeat smacks of Bruno Fernandes going over to the United end week after week telling them not to blame Ole Gunnar Solksjaer. In the last minute of first half injury time, Arsenal defended a free kick played into their area, they broke up the field and very quickly it was 3 on 3 with Martinelli carrying the ball towards the reds goal. A cynical foul was required to stop him making further progress, we defend a free kick and go in 1-1 at half time. Instead, we let him continue and it's 2-1. The lessons from Napoli and every other game this season are not being learned and until they are, the least we can do is show more of a mean streak. As the king of shithousery, Jose Mourinho, put it in the Spurs All or Nothing documentary series - "Be a c*nt".
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