IF as is extremely likely VAR is here to stay its parameters of use need to be reset. Where the use of technology gives us a definitive answer, as with offside it would seem to be of some value. But even here with the drawn on lines etc. it's not possible to be 100% all of the time. Is it always clear when exactly the ball left the player making the pass, or what part of the body was in front, or behind a covering defender? I don't think so. To get it more accurate they would need multiple cameras recording at 60 frames per second, and they would be prohibitively expensive. Better just bin the whole experiment and rely real time judgement of refs and linesmen/women...Who we can acknowledge and accept, get some calls wrong.
Unfortunately that's not good enough, with all that is at stake in this league. Take a look at the hair pull case at the weekend. Nobody accepts the ref got it wrong, they just question his competence, someone else called for foreign refs, and the team manager involved demands that he stay away from their games. That's what happens, nobody accepts refereeing mistakes, either on or off the pitch. I'm still bitter about decisions against us by referees from 10-20-30 years ago, and never once did I excuse them for getting it wrong.
The offside flags are delayed for obvious reasons, which most people should understand by now. While there is an injury risk, the actual amount of injuries as a result of delayed flags, is miniscule. In any case, you play to the whistle, not the flag. It's the referee who has the authority to stop a game, not the linesman. So even if he puts the flag up, the ref still has the right to ignore him.
Var is not an experiment to be got rid of, it's a permanent feature of elite level football in this league, and many others. So you either like it or live with it, and I feel much safer with it overseeing things in our games, than taking our chances without it. Either way, it's going nowhere.
Logged