The Video Assistant Referee (VAR)

[villa4europe]

Again VAR used and to the letter of the law no offside given but if you think the wolves player 5 yards from the keeper isnt impacting the keeper or interfering with play or however its written now you're kidding yourself

Another shit rule

[penguin]

Wolves GK looked miles off his line for that pen, selection usage for VAR by the look of it which surely defeats the whole purpose.

[Stevo985]

1 minute ago, penguin said:

Wolves GK looked miles off his line for that pen, selection usage for VAR by the look of it which surely defeats the whole purpose.

He wasn't. At all.

[penguin]

Just now, Stevo985 said:

He wasn't. At all.

Yeah just seen the replay he kept his trailing leg behind it, my mistake.

[PompeyVillan]

3 hours ago, PieFacE said:

How narrow is a narrow offside?

Where do you draw the line to what gets checked and what doesn't? What if there were two "marginal" offsides in one game but VAR only checked one of them? 

Offside is a black and white decision, like the ball crossing the line. It's a bit like asking for goals to be given when 95% of the ball crosses the line as it only "marginally" hasn't crossed.

As in don't 'review it' unless someone is two foot offside and the linesman doesn't flag. You probably wouldn't need to actually review it because it is such a clear error that everyone in the stadium can see that it is a mistake.

To me that would be a clear and obvious error. I can't understand how being mms offside is 1) a clear and obvious error or 2) gives an attacker a significant advantage. 

Linesmen have a pretty good success rate, to me an acceptable margin of human error. 

As you can tell, I am not a fan at all of VAR. I'd rather have refs make poor calls than see some things reviewed and not others. 

 

 

[Stevo985]

9 minutes ago, PompeyVillan said:

As in don't 'review it' unless someone is two foot offside and the linesman doesn't flag. You probably wouldn't need to actually review it because it is such a clear error that everyone in the stadium can see that it is a mistake.

 

But the issue there is still where do you draw the line?

How offside is so offside that you should check?

Somewhere you need to draw that line and it will go down to fine margins.

[Mic09]

57 minutes ago, PompeyVillan said:

As in don't 'review it' unless someone is two foot offside and the linesman doesn't flag. You probably wouldn't need to actually review it because it is such a clear error that everyone in the stadium can see that it is a mistake.

To me that would be a clear and obvious error. I can't understand how being mms offside is 1) a clear and obvious error or 2) gives an attacker a significant advantage. 

Linesmen have a pretty good success rate, to me an acceptable margin of human error. 

As you can tell, I am not a fan at all of VAR. I'd rather have refs make poor calls than see some things reviewed and not others. 

See and this is where I don't understand your point of view.

How can anyone blame VAR? It's just a video replay. Nothing else.

Refs still make mistakes, just like before. Bad decisions are on refs, not on VAR. Nothing has changed.

Its a bit like blaming the linesman's flag for an offside call or the 3rd officials clock when too much time is added on. Until we have AI computers making decisions, technology cannot be blamed for bad calls.

We are exactly where we were last season. The man city handball would have been allowed and they would have beaten Spurs.  It would then be reviewed on MOTD and we would all agree that it was in fact a handball. Spurs fans would be raging, rightly so. 

Refs make bad decisions. VAR does not.

Edited August 19, 2019 by Mic09

[PompeyVillan]

16 minutes ago, Mic09 said:

See and this is where I don't understand your point of view.

How can anyone blame VAR? It's just a video replay. Nothing else.

Refs still make mistakes, just like before. Bad decisions are on refs, not on VAR. Nothing has changed.

Its a bit like blaming the linesman's flag for an offside call or the 3rd officials clock when too much time is added on. Until we have AI computers making decisions, technology cannot be blamed for bad calls.

We are exactly where we were last season. The man city handball would have been allowed and they would have beaten Spurs.  It would then be reviewed on MOTD and we would all agree that it was in fact a handball. Spurs fans would be raging, rightly so. 

Refs make bad decisions. VAR does not.

I think you misunderstand. I dislike the implementation of VAR, not the concept. 

How can anyone dislike a replay? I agree, VAR can help correct decisions that are incorrect. 

At the moment we have VAR ruling on some game changing incidents and not on others. There is high sensitivity to error on some issues and not others. 

It's a mess. 

[MadridVilla]

So many awful takes on VAR floating about from pundits and to be honest some of the criticisms are borderline ridiculous. Let's debunk a few of those now:

1. "It's ruining the emotion of the game"

The argument goes that fans cannot celebrate a goal in the same way as before because a) they have no idea if it will be given, and b) if it is referred to VAR it takes too long to decide whether it is a goal or not. The first argument is completely ridiculous: so far it has not crossed my mind once when a goal goes in that VAR may rule it out and I have still celebrated goals just the same as before. If a goal is referred to VAR then I would argue it doesn't take emotion out of the game but actually adds more emotional drama - fresh from the elation of scoring comes the fear of it not counting after all. This is surely only an addition to the emotional rollercoaster of football? On the flipside, if the other team scores you can still cling onto a small shred of hope that it won't count; when it inevitably stands at least you have the comfort that it is a legal goal, and if it is overturned the sudden turn of emotion from disappointment to unexpected joy is anything but taking emotion from the game. I agree just as the next man that VAR can take too long in some cases, but this only builds tension and hope for both teams. And if the first thing you think when your team scores is whether VAR will rule it out, then I bet you're fun at parties.

2. "Football is about imperfections and mistakes"

The mistakes that make football so special are misplaced passes, that Gerrard slip, moments of madness that change a game etc. The unpredictability of what will happen next is why we all love football. But this does not extend to refereeing decisions, because nobody wants to see referees making mistakes that costs teams points, money and league positions. Referees should be the pillars on which the game is built - they should be consistent, fair and correct otherwise there is no integrity in the fairness of the game. Football should not be decided on refereeing mistakes, but on the mistakes of the players themselves. The reality is that football is big business now and sadly there is no longer the acceptability from the PL shareholders for their money to be lost because of incorrect decisions from referees which could be avoided using replays.

3. "VAR is too clinical/precise"

If you're offside, you're offside, whether it's a mile or a millimetre. There's no buffer zone where you can be offside but you're "only just so we'll let you off". Besides, not that I'm familiar with how precise the offside technology is, but I doubt the replay cameras have the resolution to measure to a millimetre whether someone is offside or not. Football is a game of fine margins in many aspects; John Stones' goal line clearance last season is the proof of that. I don't see why VAR should be any different.

I know this post might get stick but I'm not 100% on board with VAR either - I'd rather see a review system in place for teams to decide when to challenge a call. That way, it adds a new element to the game as managers or captains have to decide whether to review a decision or not. I also think that close offsides should be allowed to play through and ONLY if directly results in a goal, free kick or corner should VAR check whether it is offside or not (of course, this can be checked while play continues). The communication needs to be better to fans in the stadium - as soon as a check begins it should appear on the screen and why. But some of the comments about VAR leading to half-empty stadiums where nobody celebrates goals anymore is syptomatic of the social-media driven faux-outrage movement. Nobody really thinks that will be the case, and if you genuinely would give up supporting your team because you can't wait a minute to see whether a goal counts then you're not a proper football fan anyway. Football is still a game full of emotion with VAR - it's just a shame nobody has realised.

[DaveAV1]

23 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

But the issue there is still where do you draw the line?

How offside is so offside that you should check?

Somewhere you need to draw that line and it will go down to fine margins.

I agree with offside decisions being looked at by VAR, because as you say, where do you draw the line, offside is offside, certainly with regards to the line of the last defender. Strikers are actually trying to gain an advantage, as are defenders trying to catch people offside. Interfering with play is a whole different can of worms. 

However there’s a good argument, in my opinion, against a VAR overruling when the ball has just brushed someone’s shirt and a) wouldn’t be spotted by the referee and b) didn’t alter the direction the ball was travelling. Nobody trying to shoot for goal, tries to deliberately get a deflection. Surely a bit of common sense should prevail in circumstances such as this?

[sne]

No VAR check for the tackle on Abraham leading up to the Norwich goal.

Should have been a free kick and yellow but instead Norwich score.

Strange.

[KenjiOgiwara]

Genuinly confused as shit about VAR. How that wasn't a penalty to Chelsea I'll never know 

Edited August 24, 2019 by KenjiOgiwara

[sne]

Still don't get when VAR is and isn't used.

Some genuine horrible calls not corrected today in the build up to goals and missed penalties.

Just seem random to me.

[Chindie]

Game randomly stopped for well over a minute at Anfield while Liverpool wait to take a corner, fit basically no reason. Allegedly checking for a red card incident. Lead to nothing but a wasted chunk of time and players from both sides asking the ref what the **** was going on.

[Zatman]

11 minutes ago, Chindie said:

Game randomly stopped for well over a minute at Anfield while Liverpool wait to take a corner, fit basically no reason. Allegedly checking for a red card incident. Lead to nothing but a wasted chunk of time and players from both sides asking the ref what the **** was going on.

was no replay either. Liverpool fans booing that red card wasnt given and nobody had an idea what was going on

[mikeyp102]

24 minutes ago, Chindie said:

Game randomly stopped for well over a minute at Anfield while Liverpool wait to take a corner, fit basically no reason. Allegedly checking for a red card incident. Lead to nothing but a wasted chunk of time and players from both sides asking the ref what the **** was going on.

Yeah was very odd, not sure anyone thinks that is how VAR should be used 

[kurtsimonw]

On 19/08/2019 at 22:37, Stevo985 said:

But the issue there is still where do you draw the line?

How offside is so offside that you should check?

Somewhere you need to draw that line and it will go down to fine margins.

Exactly.

Unless you make something black and white, there will always be a grey area. The whole purpose of VAR is to remove the grey area.

I wish they would do it with handball too. If it hits your hand, it's a handball. I do think they should use indirect free kicks in the box though, for handballs that clearly aren't intentional.

[KenjiOgiwara]

I don't get VAR. 

Did anyone see the clear penalty to City earlier today? I've seen it over and over now and it's maybe one of the most blatant penalties I've ever seen. 

Why on earth aren't VAR pointing it out? 

I also saw today that VAR in the PL consists of a single referee. 

[maqroll]

Fairly obvious penalty, not given by Mike Dean, reviewed by VAR, still not given. Honestly, what's the point?

[a m ole]

I have concerns that having VAR is making referees veer towards not making a call and hoping VAR clears it up - but if they are working to a protocol that respects the on-field call in ambiguity then we might see more and more decisions most people don’t agree with.