Get rid of VAR NOW! We want our game back! (...or not, some are happy)

[montpelier]

Bruno clearly jumps into the defender, seriously mate at least try and be honest

Yes, basically. Runs into him after messing up the poncy turn.

 

[Jippy]

Think maybe because it has to be a clear and obvious error from the ref to overturn, which it wasnt

That makes sense as a rationale in isolation, but when you see goals being chalked off cos the striker's toenail was offside, it's no wonder people bemoan the inconsistent application.

 

[Snow]

Could be easily fixed if the ref on the pitch was made to look at the incident himself. They don't dare to overturn each others rulings if it isn't blatantly obvious.

 

[FootballHQ]

Could be easily fixed if the ref on the pitch was made to look at the incident himself. They don't dare to overturn each others rulings if it isn't blatantly obvious.

It's a real nonsense that should be called out now given the near two minute drinks breaks in each half.

 

[LVGSdive]

VAR isn't the problem. It's the idiots using it which is the problem. If a quality car has a bad driver it's still a quality car.

I'm in favour of it but the VAR ref's need to do their jobs better. Missing something, getting conned in real time is one thing for the ref on the pitch, it's another thing entirely when they have slow motion and every angle to look at to make an informed decision and still get it wrong.

 

[WeePat]

VAR isn't the problem. It's the idiots using it is the problem. If a quality car has a bad driver it's still a quality car.

I'm in favour of it but the VAR ref's need to do their jobs better. Missing something, getting conned in real time is one thing for the ref on the pitch, it's another thing entirely when they have slow motion and every angle to look at to make an informed decision and still get it wrong.

VAR literally stands for video assisted referee, so it appears as though you're saying VAR is indeed the problem.

 

[WeePat]

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[711]

It was at least close to being a clear and obvious error, yet the VAR people didn't even consider it, they called it a pen immediately, there was just a delay while they looked at the build-up.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

VAR literally stands for video assisted referee, so it appears as though you're saying VAR is indeed the problem.

Yeah I never get this "VAR isn't the issue" stuff... VAR is literally a refere,the technology by itself is compeltely useless.

 

[Djemba-Djemba]

Bruno clearly jumps into the defender, seriously mate at least try and be honest

Are you posting on other forums about wanting Bruno Fernandes seriously injured?

 

[awop]

Yeah I never get this "VAR isn't the issue" stuff... VAR is literally a refere,the technology by itself is compeltely useless.

What should be done in your opinion ? Bin it, keep those bad referees with their mistakes on every weekend ? That was a shocking decision but one that happens anyway without VAR.
At least we got some errors overturned in this shitshow of a season. It seems like they're never going to show any sort of accountability either way.

 

[Nori-]

VAR isn't perfect, we know that but it's proven to be a lot more accurate than leaving the decision to referee.

When a decision goes against your team, naturally people are unhappy but it still doesn't change the fact it was the right the decision. It's only the first season of the technology being used in the premier league and with time it's going to get more accurate/faster.

I guarantee if we decide to scrap it and go back to awful decisions from referees that can cost teams relegation, top 4 places or even titles then people will be begging to bring back VAR.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

I thought the ref did make a clear and obvious error giving it. Bruno tries to do a 360, loses the ball while doing it, turns into the defender, steps on him and falls over taking out the defender. If I was a defender and that was called against me I would be furious. I thought for sure VAR was reversing that penalty. But I'm not complaining. Up to that point every call was going against us. The ref had a poor game. Finally gave us a call and it was a big one...

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

Make stupid challenges, get stupid calls against you.

 

[mu4c_20le]

I thought the ref did make a clear and obvious error giving it. Bruno tries to do a 360, loses the ball while doing it, turns into the defender, steps on him and falls over taking out the defender. If I was a defender and that was called against me I would be furious. I thought for sure VAR was reversing that penalty. But I'm not complaining. Up to that point every call was going against us. The ref had a poor game. Finally gave us a call and it was a big one...

Keane said the defender made a clumsy challenge, which everyone that thinks its not a pen doesn't seem to acknowledge for some reason. Ole said the same thing, he didn't lose the ball doing the move, he stopped the ball and was about to shield it when the defender came in with the leg, which he landed on. I believe the ref felt that he was in control of the ball at that point, and the defender impeded him.

 

[WeePat]

Yeah I never get this "VAR isn't the issue" stuff... VAR is literally a refere,the technology by itself is compeltely useless.

Carragher said tonight that VAR isnt the problem, it's just a replay of an incident, as if the person operating VAR watching the replay is separate from the process. I just think people need to be clear about what they're criticising.

 

[Josep Dowling]

What I find worse is the fact the Premier League are now coming out after the game to say decisions have been wrong. So why do you have professional referees, and then VAR to still get the wrong decision? It’s so bad to the point the only suggestion I can come up with is match fixing.

 

[Baneofthegame]

It’s a soft pen, actually think the defenders left leg follow through is what makes the ref give it.

Would be livid if that went against us, a bit like Bournemouth’s pen against us.

 

[cyberman]

I thought the ref did make a clear and obvious error giving it. Bruno tries to do a 360, loses the ball while doing it, turns into the defender, steps on him and falls over taking out the defender. If I was a defender and that was called against me I would be furious. I thought for sure VAR was reversing that penalty. But I'm not complaining. Up to that point every call was going against us. The ref had a poor game. Finally gave us a call and it was a big one...

Bruno didnt lose the ball.

 

[Josep Dowling]

What should be done in your opinion ? Bin it, keep those bad referees with their mistakes on every weekend ? That was a shocking decision but one that happens anyway without VAR.
At least we got some errors overturned in this shitshow of a season. It seems like they're never going to show any sort of accountability either way.

VAR should be kept but they need people with common sense rather than following the law to the absolute letter. That is the major issue in many cases, they are just following the crap law. I don’t know why the law needs changing after the entire season has been played. It was evident from about gameweek 5 what the issues were so why couldn’t it have been done already?

 

[SadlerMUFC]

Keane said the defender made a clumsy challenge, which everyone that thinks its not a pen doesn't seem to acknowledge for some reason. Ole said the same thing, he didn't lose the ball doing the move, he stopped the ball and was about to shield it when the defender came in with the leg, which he landed on. I believe the ref felt that he was in control of the ball at that point, and the defender impeded him.

He wasn't going to shield the ball. He was trying to do a little 360 and he stepped on the defender. For me, not a penalty. Not even close. But I will take it...

 

[SadlerMUFC]

Bruno didnt lose the ball.

Looked to me like he was trying to do a 360 around the defender. Put his first foot on it, turned, and about to drag it with his other foot as he turns but he missed the ball, and then stepped on the defender...

 

[awop]

VAR should be kept but they need people with common sense rather than following the law to the absolute letter. That is the major issue in many cases, they are just following the crap law. I don’t know why the law needs changing after the entire season has been played. It was evident from about gameweek 5 what the issues were so why couldn’t it have been done already?

I agree but we can clearly see that they just don't have any common sense. Just this gameweek has seen so many mistakes. The handball rules needs to be sorted out but at some point we're faced with plain idiocy, some of those mistakes have nothing to do with law interpretation. The referee union needs a massive clearout that i don't think is possible. They live in their own world.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

What should be done in your opinion ? Bin it, keep those bad referees with their mistakes on every weekend ? That was a shocking decision but one that happens anyway without VAR.
At least we got some errors overturned in this shitshow of a season. It seems like they're never going to show any sort of accountability either way.

Well for a start the on field ref needs to start going to the monitor to watch what the guy in Stockley Park is watching so they can come to a decision together.

Its compeltely bizarre that we're the only country in the world that doesn't do it this way... There's no logical reason why they shouldn't.

 

[Pink Moon]

Not seen the Southampton one yet but the Kane and Bruno calls are baffling. Bruno jumps into the defender, lands on his leg and he gets the pen? Kane has eyes on the ball, about to head from point blank range and gets fecking speared from behind and nothing? It's just mental.

I said at the start of the season that the refs were sabotaging VAR and I still believe it. Either that or they're simply too pally with each other and don't want to correct their mates. Either way it's unacceptable. Oliver's reward for such incompetence is getting the biggest game of the weekend. Brilliant.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

Here's the thing about VAR....so many people are saying "the refs are horrible". "VAR is horrible". But is it really horrible? I agree there have been a couple head scratchers, but for the most part, we can't even agree what the right call is after seeing a replay, so what's to say that the refs call was wrong?

I think our penalty today wasn't a penalty. Plenty here do and so did the official and VAR didn't over rule it. So if we can't agree, then they will never be right because we are split too.

One thing for sure, some of the laws need to be looked at. For example, handling the ball. On one hand I like the new handball rule. It takes interpretation out of the equation. It either is a handball, or it isn't. But on the other hand, we've seen some questionable ones, like the call against Chelsea recently where the only reason he handled was because he was fouled.

So this is where "spirit of the game" needs to come into play. But then again, now we are taking a black or white decision and offering it some grey area. That will open the door for more controversial calls, which VAR was supposed to get rid of and so was the new handball rule.

Then there's offside. There have been a lot of goals called back because of mere millimeters. Something that can't be seen with the naked eye. So if it can't be seen with the naked eye, is that an obvious mistake made by the AR? I lean towards no. It might have technically been offside, but it's not an obvious error. So perhaps offsides should be called that way. But then where is the cut off line? How far does he have to be offside to distinguish between "obvious error" and allowing the goal to stand?

I for one think the offside rule needs to be revised. The whole point of offside in the first place was to stop teams from "cherry picking", or to stop teams from getting a clear advantage by standing goal side of the last defender. If it were up to me, I would make two changes.

First off, I would make it so in order for there to be an offside, there needs to be clear daylight between the attacker and last defender (well, second last defender technically). This way we would be saying "he was onside by a toe" rather than "he was offside by a toe".

Another change I would make is to say that if a player starts in an offside position when the ball is kicked, but collects the ball in an onside position, then the game should play on. Offside is supposed to keep teams from getting an advantage. What advantage do you gain when you are running away from the goal you are trying to score on to collect a ball? We see it all the time. Guys coming back from an offside position and when they finally collect the ball, there are 4 guys from the other team behind him. So there was no advantage gained. For me, blowing the whistle there is just wasting time.

Bottom line is I want to see more offense in the game. Tweak the laws to promote scoring, not to take scoring away...

 

[Klopper76]

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Hilarious.

 

[Zlatan 7]

Beyond a joke. Bringing var in and ruining the joy and emotion of football is a terrible idea when most decisions it’s making are subjective anyway

 

[bleedred]

If we are going to implement VAR better next season, make the ref go to the monitor and take a decision themselves.

The it reason it was being discouraged this year was that is turned out to be a frustrating experience for the match day fans.

Now with no fans in anycase, it maybe worth a try and the process maybe gradually eased.

 

[Shane88]

If we are going to implement VAR better next season, make the ref go to the monitor and take a decision themselves.

The it reason it was being discouraged this year was that is turned out to be a frustrating experience for the match day fans.

Now with no fans in anycase, it maybe worth a try and the process maybe gradually eased.

I simply cannot understand why this isn't the first option.

The other night VAR looked at the Nketiah foul for 2-3 minutes before the ref went to the monitor and came to a decision in 5 seconds.

The ref has the power. Just take a look at the monitor and speed the whole fecking thing up.

 

[Jimmy Skitz]

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Hilarious.

all well and good but until that statement also includes something along the lines of "the refs involved have been fired for their continued incompetence" nothing will change

I simply cannot understand why this isn't the first option.

because Mike Riley decided not to and he's got that public school headmaster mentality where he refuses to change his mind

 

[Mindhunter]

VAR isn't perfect, we know that but it's proven to be a lot more accurate than leaving the decision to referee.

When a decision goes against your team, naturally people are unhappy but it still doesn't change the fact it was the right the decision. It's only the first season of the technology being used in the premier league and with time it's going to get more accurate/faster.

I guarantee if we decide to scrap it and go back to awful decisions from referees that can cost teams relegation, top 4 places or even titles then people will be begging to bring back VAR.

That's not the issue though. VAR was commissioned to rid the game of the kind of decisions we saw today. If it isn't capable of preventing it then what's the use?

Why was the penalty decision not overturned is beyond me really. The whole "clear and obvious error" angle is also arbitrary. They should simply overrule any decision they see as wrong instead of deciding whether it is bad enough to overturn the on-field referee. If we are stopping the game either way, might as well come out with the right decision.

Before VAR, you would have a legitimate grievance if decisions like these went against you. With VAR, you would be incensed as to why it wasn't overturned. Not saying that the result would have been any different but for a club battling for relegation, it is a big deal.

Millions of dollars are at stake here so the least they could do is provide a level playing field and bring in standard decision making processes. It isn't too much to ask really.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

If you want to see a really bad VAR decision, check out the penalty Southampton was given today vs Everton. No harm done as karma stepped in as Ward-Prowse hit the crossbar...

 

[Dante]

Give each team 2 challenges per 90 minutes. If either team disagrees with a ref's decision, they have 10 seconds to raise a challenge and explain the reason they're doing so. Maybe give them a flag or something, so it's a spectacle for the viewer. Possibly also mic them up.

After a challenge is raised, the VAR panel has 45 seconds max to review it. If it's a clear and obvious error, it should be clear and obvious within that 45 seconds. If the ball is still in play at the time they raise their challenge, the game carries on so the rule can't be used as disrupting tactic against the opposition.

If the decision is successful, any play conducted in that 45 seconds is dragged back and the team that raised the challenge gets its challenge back. The onfield referee then has to accept verdict whether he wants to or not.

This way, you limit VAR interruption to a minimum, whilst giving the teams a feeling of agency back, thereby quietening down their complaints post-match.

Will VAR still make mistakes? Of course. But so does the onfield ref. That's the gamble you take when you raise your challenge.

The current method is too officious and haphazard, and kills the spontaneity of the game. VAR needs to be used more sparingly but made more transparent, or else it'll remain the circus that it is today. Giving teams a sense of control gives also gives you the best chance of their buy-in.

 

[montpelier]

Limited Challenge VAR will end up a bigger farce than this is - the original idea was a greater % of correct decisions and whopper mistakes completely disappear

And why change offside so offside isn't offside - that's like saying VAR is shit so let's change the rule, cart/horse and so on

Daylight offside isn't 'reffable' by a human lino.

 

[Rafaeldagold]

Actually if you look at the Kane one I don’t think it’s a pen- Vertonghan seems to clatter into Kane first

 

[Rafaeldagold]

Also the reason for not many calls getting overturned is that I thought it had to be clear & obvious? So if we go down the route of VAR re refereeing the game In slow mo they’ll be a lot of stoppages & VAR reviews.

Which still won’t satisfy everyone as everyone has a different version of those subjective decisions- I mean Arsenal appealing Nketias red card is kinda taking the pi## but shows you that people aren’t going to agree- someone will always feel screwed over by VAR

 

[FootballHQ]

If we are going to implement VAR better next season, make the ref go to the monitor and take a decision themselves.

The it reason it was being discouraged this year was that is turned out to be a frustrating experience for the match day fans.

Now with no fans in anycase, it maybe worth a try and the process maybe gradually eased.

It's a nonsense to still be using that as an excuse when a) there's no fans in as you say and b) any watching the match has to watch two minutes of drinks breaks each halve which obviously slows the game down.

Have to credit the ref in the Arsenal-Leicester. 15 minutes to go and he thinks it's a yellow. Gets told in his ear it's probably a red and understands with 15 minutes left it's a huge call as Arsenal more likely to hang onto the 1-0 with 11 players (point could still get Leicester into top 4/5). He at least went to the monitor and had some replays to go onto rather than the word of his mate.

Needs to be far more of that next season (given up hope of anything changing this season).

 

[FootballHQ]

Also the reason for not many calls getting overturned is that I thought it had to be clear & obvious? So if we go down the route of VAR re refereeing the game In slow mo they’ll be a lot of stoppages & VAR reviews.

Which still won’t satisfy everyone as everyone has a different version of those subjective decisions- I mean Arsenal appealing Nketias red card is kinda taking the pi## but shows you that people aren’t going to agree- someone will always feel screwed over by VAR

I'd be up for giving teams two challenges per half personally so like the system in Tennis and Cricket. Can only appeal important decisions as you know someone like Mourinho would start appealing throw ins on the halfway line to disrupt games they're winning.

For last night we could've disputed the penalty and at least forced Moss to waddle over to the touchline to view the monitor.

 

[Offside]

VAR is a load of shit really. Takes them hours to come to conclusions when it’s supposed to be used for clear and obvious and a lot of the time they come to the wrong conclusion too. We have to remember it’s the same clowns making the decisions even if they are watching it 300 times.

I absolutely believe VAR has had a negative impact on the sport and people’s enjoyment of it. Long way to go. They should have tested it more in the cups before rolling it out in the Prem.