VAR in the EUROS

[Achilles McCool]

After watching the Euro finals, I have to ask...why isn’t there more VAR checks in the competition?
If the England v. Italy match was played in a “Premier League” setting, there would’ve been multiple checks with VAR, right?

I’m the last person that would support VAR, but again, why wasn’t the Chiellini tug checked, or the foul on Grealish? Not a single VAR check when in a normal Manchester United game there seems to be 4-5 VAR checks?
Just curious...

 

[Mike Smalling]

After watching the Euro finals, I have to ask...why isn’t there more VAR checks in the competition?
If the England v. Italy match was played in a “Premier League” setting, there would’ve been multiple checks with VAR, right?

I’m the last person that would support VAR, but again, why wasn’t the Chiellini tug checked, or the foul on Grealish? Not a single VAR check when in a normal Manchester United game there seems to be 4-5 VAR checks?
Just curious...

What exactly should have been checked with Chiellini's shirt pull? Do you honestly think that was an obvious goal scoring chance? Have you ever seen a red card given for something similar?

Yellow card all day long.

 

[Achilles McCool]

What exactly should have been checked with Chiellini's shirt pull? Do you honestly think that was an obvious goal scoring chance? Have you ever seen a red card given for something similar?

Yellow card all day long.

Violent conduct? That wasn’t your typical “shirt pull”

 

[Achilles McCool]

It just seemed strange after a full Premier League season where VAR checked everything, that in such an important match, VAR wasn’t used once

 

[arnie_ni]

Sterling dive and the Jorginho red. Can't believe neither were looked at.

Send the ref to the screen and let him watch again.

 

[Jev]

Thought VAR was used perfectly at the Euros, for the first time I could actually see how it might improve the game.

Very few of those silly, pedantic reversals (Lukaku offside vs Belgium being an exception to the rule); instead they actually seemed to take the 'clear and obvious' instruction seriously and let the on-pitch call stand unless replays showed a clear mistake. Exactly as it should be. I can point to surprisingly few times where VAR annoyed me.

(Although of course I would have liked the ref to review the Sterling dive vs Denmark because I think he would have overturned it but I'll have to be consistent with my own argument and can't say definitively that it was a clear and obvious mistake).

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

How was the Sweden red reviewed after the initial yellow decision but not Jorginho’s by the way? At least the Swede’s was accidental, Jorginho’s was looking right at him, utterly horrendous tackle.

 

[Achilles McCool]

Sterling dive and the Jorginho red. Can't believe neither were looked at.

Send the ref to the screen and let him watch again.

Agreed! I’m not blaming the outcome of the match on the lack of VAR; I’m just saying that it was incredible that VAR wasn’t used once in this match

 

[sullydnl]

They were overly hands-off when it came to intervening on subjective calls. Getting the balance right there is the tricky thing with VAR, really. Too lenient and people complain about bad decisions slipping through, too strict and people complain about too many stoppages. In the end I wasn't at all surprised that the Sterling and Jorginho calls weren't looked at by the ref but they really should have been, imo.

The offside calls were great though. Very quick and with a margin of error on marginal calls too, barely noticed them happening. Hopefully we'll see some of that improvement in the PL next season as they should be using the same procedures.

 

[Mike Smalling]

Violent conduct? That wasn’t your typical “shirt pull”

No, it was executed much better than the typical shirt pull. If you are gonna make a cynical foul to stop an attack, make sure the players goes down. Well done by Chiellini.

 

[Anustart89]

Sterling dive and the Jorginho red. Can't believe neither were looked at.

Send the ref to the screen and let him watch again.

Just because the ref didn't stand around looking like an idiot with his hand to his ear for three minutes doesn't mean it wasn't checked. There was an extended delay for Grealish's injury during which I'm sure that VAR looked at it (and probably judged that Jorginho rolled over the ball into Grealish's studs) and deemed it not clearly and obviously wrong. I personally think it was more of a red than a yellow but they've gone with the high standard of overturning so once the yellow came out it's very hard to get it overturned.

 

[Achilles McCool]

Thought VAR was used perfectly at the Euros, for the first time I could actually see how it might improve the game.

Very of those silly, pedantic reversals (Lukaku offside vs Belgium being an exception to the rule); instead they actually seemed to take the 'clear and obvious' instruction seriously and let the on-pitch call stand unless replays showed a clear mistake. Exactly as it should be. I can point to surprisingly few times where VAR annoyed me.

I agree! If anything, I’d rather have this “hands off” approach for VAR used in the league, but what I’m asking is why the sudden change from May to July?

 

[arnie_ni]

Just because the ref didn't stand around looking like an idiot with his hand to his ear for three minutes doesn't mean it wasn't checked. There was an extended delay for Grealish's injury during which I'm sure that VAR looked at it (and probably judged that Jorginho rolled over the ball into Grealish's studs) and deemed it not clearly and obviously wrong. I personally think it was more of a red than a yellow but they've gone with the high standard of overturning so once the yellow came out it's very hard to get it overturned.

The commentators said it wasn't checked, unless they are wrong.

 

[Steamboat Willy]

If VAR was used correctly, you would nerver had reached the final…..

 

[Jev]

I agree! If anything, I’d rather have this “hands off” approach for VAR used in the league, but what I’m asking is why the sudden change from May to July?

It did look like a very conscious decision to apply it more lenient at the Euros. It's a work in progress so the approach is gonna change over time. In this case I thought it was for the better.

 

[Achilles McCool]

How was the Sweden red reviewed after the initial yellow decision but not Jorginho’s by the way? At least the Swede’s was accidental, Jorginho’s was looking right at him, utterly horrendous tackle.

Exactly! Not a single second of contemplation over the Jorginho tackle? In England, that tackle would’ve taken 5 minutes in the VAR booth and then the ref would’ve run over to view it 10x on the monitor. There’s no rhyme or reason

 

[Anustart89]

The commentators said it wasn't checked, unless they are wrong.

Genuine question: During the time that Grealish was injured, what do you think the VAR official was doing? Did he go for a brew or a shit? He was obviously looking at the footage of the incident (just like all of us).

 

[arnie_ni]

Genuine question: During the time that Grealish was injured, what do you think the VAR official was doing? Did he go for a brew or a shit? He was obviously looking at the footage of the incident (just like all of us).

I have no idea. The commentator said VAR didn't check it.

I'm assuming they are told that.

 

[Achilles McCool]

No, it was executed much better than the typical shirt pull. If you are gonna make a cynical foul to stop an attack, make sure the players goes down. Well done by Chiellini.

So there’s no line on shirt pulling going from a yellow card offense to a red card offense?

 

[Nick7]

How was the Sweden red reviewed after the initial yellow decision but not Jorginho’s by the way? At least the Swede’s was accidental, Jorginho’s was looking right at him, utterly horrendous tackle.

Ref had a great view of the Jorginho tackle. I don’t think the ref did for the Sweden red.

not saying it was the right decision, though.

 

[Dave Smith]

Thought VAR was used perfectly at the Euros, for the first time I could actually see how it might improve the game.

Very few of those silly, pedantic reversals (Lukaku offside vs Belgium being an exception to the rule); instead they actually seemed to take the 'clear and obvious' instruction seriously and let the on-pitch call stand unless replays showed a clear mistake. Exactly as it should be. I can point to surprisingly few times where VAR annoyed me.

(Although of course I would have liked the ref to review the Sterling dive vs Denmark because I think he would have overturned it but I'll have to be consistent with my own argument and can't say definitively that it was a clear and obvious mistake).

This. Fecking this.

 

[arnie_ni]

So there’s no line on shirt pulling going from a yellow card offense to a red card offense?

Ah cmon. That's a yellow card.

Your picking the wrong decision to be incensed about.

Jorginho's is a red all day long

 

[Mike Smalling]

So there’s no line on shirt pulling going from a yellow card offense to a red card offense?

Well again, have you ever seen a red card given for shirt pulling, where it wasn't a last man type foul? I haven't. The fact that Chiellini is much larger than Saka doesn't make it a red.

 

[Achilles McCool]

It did look like a very conscious decision to apply it more lenient at the Euros. It's a work in progress so the approach is gonna change over time. In this case I thought it was for the better.

Very reasoned response! I would rather VAR take this approach, but after 10 months of watching League Football, I’ve become accustomed to VAR checking everything, which made me ask the original question...why such a sudden change?

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Ref had a great view of the Jorginho tackle. I don’t think the ref did for the Sweden red.

Had a great view for the Sweden one too, that’s why the yellow came out. But VaR saw it was nastier than it first looked and reviewed it, but not this? Makes no sense.

 

[Nick7]

Had a great view for the Sweden one too, that’s why the yellow came out. But VaR saw it was nastier than it first looked and reviewed it, but not this? Makes no sense.

Oh really? I’m mistaken then. Dunno, ref bottled it.

 

[Zlatan 7]

Violent conduct? That wasn’t your typical “shirt pull”

 

[Achilles McCool]

This. Fecking this.

Again, I agree, but why such a change from May til now?

 

[Anustart89]

I have no idea. The commentator said VAR didn't check it.

I'm assuming they are told that.

I get that that's what the commentators said, but that means that their assumption is that VAR was actively looking away while all the replays were rolling? They check everything, but they don't act on everything. Since play was stopped for the injury there was no need to halt the resumption of the game and flash the "VAR check" sign across the screen. One can only assume that the VAR official was looking at the footage of the match, which included replays.

So if the commentators are correct and VAR didn't check the incident, the VAR official either a) went to do something else while replays were rolling (and then must've thought that Grealish got injured with nobody around, or nobody told him there was an incident that led to the injury once he came back from his short break), or b) forgot what his job description was for a few minutes. It just sounds very unfeasible to me. The more reasonable assumption is that VAR was there and watched the incident, he knew what his job description entails and that he checked the incident and found that it fell short of the high (clear and obvious) threshold that they've used for the entire tournament.

 

[Dave Smith]

Very reasoned response! I would rather VAR take this approach, but after 10 months of watching League Football, I’ve become accustomed to VAR checking everything, which made me ask the original question...why such a sudden change?

Because it wasn't the pendantic PL refs in charge?

 

[Achilles McCool]

That was more of a horse collar than a shirt pull. If a defender had done that to me in my playing days, I would’ve been furious. No way was that a “normal” tug

 

[Nick7]

Again, I agree, but why such a change from May til now?

The Premier League implement their own way of using VAR if I remember correctly. There’s no one specific way of using it, so UEFA could use a different approach to the PL. See the difference in how offsides have been handled throughout the tournament.

 

[DickDastardly]

Shambles. Hope it fecks off sooner then later.

Almost as bad as the ABBA pens.

 

[Achilles McCool]

Because it wasn't the pendantic PL refs in charge?

I can accept this. So how does this affect the PL VAR? I hope the PL takes a less “hands on” approach in the upcoming season but I doubt it

 

[sullydnl]

When the commentators said it wasn't checked they probably meant it was skipped past quickly, as opposed to VAR looking at it and then sending the ref to review it.

All those incidents get looked at. They just weren't inclined to do more than that very often in this tournament.

 

[Achilles McCool]

The Premier League implement their own way of using VAR if I remember correctly. There’s no one specific way of using it, so UEFA could use a different approach to the PL. See the difference in how offsides have been handled throughout the tournament.

I understand. But that would be like each league judging offsides differently. That will just cause confusion and chaos

 

[Zlatan 7]

That was more of a horse collar than a shirt pull. If a defender had done that to me in my playing days, I would’ve been furious. No way was that a “normal” tug

But it wasn’t violent conduct or anywhere near a red.

sorry, it’s just the mass of new threads on everything popping up at the moment about the slightest little things I laughed at more.

As for VAR, I absolutely prefer it being used sparingly instead of dissecting every little thing

 

[Achilles McCool]

When the commentators said it wasn't checked they probably meant it was skipped past quickly, as opposed to VAR looking at it and then sending the ref to review it.

All those incidents get looked at. They just weren't inclined to do more than that very often in this tournament.

I guess what I’m really saying is that I want a uniform way of using VAR full stop

 

[Achilles McCool]

As for VAR, I absolutely prefer it being used sparingly instead of dissecting every little thing

I completely agree with this!

 

[sullydnl]

I guess what I’m really saying is that I want a uniform way of using VAR full stop

Yeah, I'd prefer that too. Though I suppose inconsistency between competitions is nothing new, really. There was always the idea the fouls in the CL were judged differently than they would be in the PL, for example.