Paul Merson absolutely LOSES IT as he clashes with Mike Dean over ‘the laws of the game’

Paul Merson absolutely LOSES IT as he clashes with Mike Dean over ‘the laws of the game’ when talking on Sky Sports Soccer Saturday.

Paul Merson and Mike Dean had it out over why Tottenham vs Liverpool could not be stopped after the VAR mistake which wrongly disallowed Luis Diaz’s goal.

Fair to say footage of this moment went viral with it getting hundreds of thousands of views with both Paul Merson and Mike Dean trending on Twitter…

“What’s the point in having it then if it’s the wrong decision?”

The Soccer Saturday panel debate VAR protocol 💬 pic.twitter.com/b7mZsOm7Ah

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 7, 2023

Paul Merson and Mike Dean clash over ‘the laws of the game’ 😬 pic.twitter.com/lil10ERvne

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 7, 2023

Mike Dean: I think the way forward is to train them better with the process.

Simon Thomas: Is the training not good enough at the moment?

MD: It’s an ongoing process.

ST: What does that mean?

MD: It’s like not they always have stuff emails through and things to go through certain clips within, where they have to press the button on side offside. So they press that and that goes through to the PGMO. So they’re always doing online training. They’ve been in this week. Again, I know, doing certain things to try and get the communication better, but I don’t know the way forward. I mean, do you get X players in for me?No, because I just don’t think if you get all their players in, half of them don’t know the laws of the games, full stop. As you can tell by what you’ve just said about restarting game for the sake of it. So people…

Paul Merson: For the sake of it? For the sake of it? What do you mean?

MD: But you don’t know the law!

PM: You’re playing Liverpool against Tottenham, one of the biggest games, for the sake of it?

MD: Come on.

PM: No, there’s no law’s, no one is going to die, so stop the game. Nothing’s going to happen. You’re all scared. You’re all like, oh my God, I’m going to get in trouble. Stop the game. Stop the game and then take the circumstances. Seriously. Typical.

MD: That is the law…

PM: Because you know the rules.

MD: That’s different. You can’t change the law. You can’t change the law. You can’t change the law. Simple as you cannot change the law. I’m staying nice and calm because I know you cannot change the law. And if you want to blow off like a bowl of pop, that’s fine by me.

ST: Well, I just want to offer a few apologies to the sound department after that outburst for Paul Merson, passions are running high, but…

You have to say, it made for an extraordinary watch.

Fans on Twitter reacted as Paul Merson absolutely LOSES IT as he clashes with Mike Dean over ‘the laws of the game’…

@idich19: Mike Dean is right here. Protocol was followed as usual, you can’t change the law. If the rules say you can’t you can’t.

@LongJeff_: Paul Merson got absolutely livid at that ‘for the sake of it’ comment. I love it. Mike Dean still carries the pride these EPL refs always feel they have

@jfunnell_lfc: Paul Merson speaking absolute sense, what is going on here.. The fact Mike Dean says “for the sake of it” shows how fucking clueless these refs are.

@jasonhume: I know Paul Merson antics on Soccer Saturday split opinions but the only one I have is imagine getting rid of Charlie Nicholas and keeping Merse. #SoccerSaturday

@KeithPhillimore: Paul merson is on one today. Smoking some weird shit. ‘Contact with the ball means no red cards’

@We_Stand_Alone_: Mike Dean having an absolute nightmare on sky sports there. He is a great example of what is wrong with the referring system. It’s them vs the world instead of them working for the clubs. Paul Merson absolutely hammered the cunt.

@Joshua_Upton: Paul Merson is bang on.

@FrostyTurk: Paul Merson has lost the plot, balling and shouting over that Liverpool disallowed goal. He won’t listen that the protocol can’t be changed. Move on gobshite. You’d be a nightmare on VAR and make your own rules up as you go along

@OneTouch73: #paulmerson coming across like a bit of an arse. Going off at an ex ref because he said most ex players don’t know the laws whilst trying to explain them to him. Not like he has never made a mistake is it ? 🤔 He cant even pronounce half the players names let alone know the rules

@Memz_AFC: Mike Dean “Ex players shouldn’t ref because they don’t know the laws and rules of the game” – Paul Merson was bang on to pull him up. #SoccerSaturday

@sickboydub: Paul Merson and Mike Dean going at it, good referees, you don’t even notice them on the pitch , referees now want to be center of attention, no one pays to see referees, they pay to see the actual talent on display, VAR was brought in to protect referees, not to better the game

@Puds5ie: Mike Dean deliberately saying “it’s the Laws” every time Paul Merson rants about the “rules”. Problem is Merson regularly shows he knows very little about the laws of the game!

@Brettmorseoly: Merse is right, Mike Dean is a melt

@rachbaII: Absolutely nothing worse than watching a grown man have such a childish and aggressive outburst like the one Paul Merson just had on Soccer Saturday 😳

@mattyd128: That was utterly embarrassing from Paul Merson @SkyFootball. You can have a debate about VAR but behaviour like that is just OTT

@JRT0809: Still can’t believe they have Mike Dean on that show, guys a fraud

@rik_curtis: Watching the debate on sky, Paul Merson is fucking brilliant, for a change, fantastic debate about last weeks debacle at spurs, this is going to on for weeks/months!!!!

@calummcclurkin: Paul Merson going in two-footed on Mike Dean on Soccer Saturday over VAR. Like opening a small window of insight into a broken player v referee dynamic. Obvious both parties view the game through completely different prisms. Quite alarming state of affairs tbh.

@Stemc26293: Cause Mike Dean is gonna protect his friends and kiss their asses. Paul Merson is gobshite but he’s spitting facts here. And why is the presenter telling off Merson? All siding with these currupted Officals and Mike Dean is the biggest fraud going!

@jtok93: Merse spot on here, refs need to use their common sense more (if they have it) when reffing games, last weekends issue could have been avoided had they just used common sense and stopped the game.

@KParmeternew: Dean has always been an arrogant cnut and he’ll never change

@KieranMoss16: Merse hit the nail on the head, typical from someone who’s never stepped foot on the pitch a played. These refs haven’t got a clue and are now hiding by this ‘law’ 😂

@PopeyTHFC: said this for a while. bringing ex players in will help no matter. i’m sorry but some of the handballs given and not given are ridiculous. bring in a ex defender and a ex attacker so it can be even and choices can be made easily. mike dean is just a tart tbf