Main and biggest problem beside the handball rule (which is more of a rule problem than it is a VAR one) is the fact that it is not used for ''Clear and Obvious'' mistakes. It's actually quite the opposite, it is being used on every little mistake. Mistakes that are not clear and obvious, in some cases they would've not been perceptible even to the person watching on TV. Of course when you replay everything, zoomed in x7 and in slow motion 23 times then everything looks ''clear and obvious''.
I thought that making the ref go to the monitor would make things better but it changed nothing at all if not made it worse. What we see happening is a process in which the ref is pressured into taking a specific decision.
Var stops the game for 3 minutes during which the ref is just standing there with a crowd of players shouting at him and pressuring him. Also, the longer it takes, the longer it is obvious for the ref that he might've made a mistake and that there is a close call. Then they call him to the screen and show him the isolated action in a 10x zoom and in slow motion over and over again with no context whatsoever. After all that pressure, there is 1 chance out of 10 that he comes ups with any other decision than to allow the free-kick/penalty/give the red card, etc.
Even the offside, which was supposed to be the easiest thing of em all, they managed to make it worse. They call it a black or white decision. Fair enough but you proceed to draw lines one time from the leg, one time from the knee, one time from the armpit, another from the shoulder, another from the head, etc. If it is black or white then you should draw the line from the same body part every time so the players can get a clue on how to beat an offside instead just tailoring each check to each individual situation.
You can't do that. No two offside decisions are the same situation. The ref going to the monitor gives him the chance to see what he missed, as many times as he needs to see it, to make a decision.
There is no little mistake. They cost teams points, titles, trophies, revenue, jobs. The less mistakes there are, on and off the pitch, the better the game is.
It's getting to a stage in the Premier league something needs to be done. I'm all for a straight red when it's 100% certain like in Coady's case.
Something was done. VAR was used. I don't want to sound triumphalistic, but if the league paid attention to the noise from the protestors and flip floppers last week and all season, nothing could be done, and the conman would have been rewarded.
Defenders get yellow cards every week, it's not exactly a deterrent. But overturning his penalty will hurt him far more than a yellow card ever could.
Why did they bring it in anyway? footy was fine as it was.. I used to relish the opportunity to debate my interpretation of a particular "hand ball" or "just over the line" decision with friends and colleagues, now we all just get pissed off about how VAR is screwing us over and making us feel like cheap whores every week
If it's a choice between having debates and having points, I'll take the points every time, and debate something else.
We see from the challenge against VVD, what happens when VAR is not used. Mayhem. Threats. Uproar. When we get a call our way, I breathe a sigh of relief that the EPL won't budge an inch to the protesters and the campaigners. We see from the penalty overturned v Wolves why it is needed. It's killing cheating, not our game.
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