27 Dec 2023 12:06:02
VAR is a joke but very few teams are laughing! Things have to change and quickly. For too long the PGMOL have been hiding behind the cloak of ‘clear and obvious’, any time they make a gaff they spit out the old chestnut ‘it wasn’t a clear and obvious error so we stuck with the on field decision’. What does that even mean? If a handball is not given but the player handles the ball is that not a clear error? If a goal is disallowed for a foul but a foul did not occur is this not a clear error? We want correct decisions not politics!
Moving forward I would like the VAR official removed or moved to a non decision making capacity. For all VAR checks the ref should review it on the big screen in the stadium, stockley park can get the images he needs, play it for the ref and let them decide. there should be no input from VAR official other than getting the images for the refs. Let the ref explain to the captains why a decision is made! Offsides should be automated also.
27 Dec 2023 13:19:37
Problem is managers and fans only speak out when it affects them.
I’ve yet to hear a manager or fan call a ref or Var embarrassing when the decisions gone their way.
I don’t really watch other teams matches but I’ve seen clips of decisions etc on sky sports and it baffles me how some of these decisions are made throughout the league.
It doesn’t help the refs mind when these elite pros are spending a lot of the time trying to con them into making decisions.
I’ve been under pressure in work plenty of times but I’ve never had 50 thousand fans screaming at me whilst under that pressure to make a decision.
Refs and Var are footballs public enemy No 1 and I don’t see how that is going to change or how it can be improved.
27 Dec 2023 14:51:43
Dow-ney I've said it countless times. the "clear and obvious" crap is a ruse that no other league uses to make VAR-related decisions. It is a ruse the refs can hide behind whenever it suits them to back up the rank incompetence we are being afflicted with on a weekly basis. It means sweet nothing, really.
Also, did you see in the B'mouth v Fulham game yesterday before our game where an absolute stone wall pen on a foul on Patrick Kluivert was not given to the point that the commentator here was at a loss for words? I bet you it wasn't cos B'mouth already got one so even tho they deserve another one, they won't get it as if there is a quota on the no. of pens that you should get in a game.
@JK23, another thing is that even when teams win despite getting screwed by the refs, it seems like the managers are not allowed to say speak on it cos well, people will tell you to shut up cos you won so why are you complaining? That is a wretched way of seeing things as well, IMO. That's why Im happy Klopp called out the refs even tho we won cos that will keep the pressure on.
27 Dec 2023 15:21:54
I think the mid use of var is the problem our game yesterday for example
The var intervened for Elliot’s but didn’t for gakpos so my question is if it’s clear their wasn’t a foul on Taylor for gakpos why did they not advise tierney to look at the monitor for gakpos . The refs aren’t the problem it’s the var i think var needs to be revised and maybe have a bigger team but the same team covering every game week in week out to get consistency.
27 Dec 2023 19:22:05
How will they decide which incidents for the ref to review on the screen?
27 Dec 2023 20:12:37
DHFC the refs are running the VAR so surely they have to be the problem? Sure the onfield ref is not running it but have we seen the onfield ref stick w his decision? Maybe once that I seem to remember. The diving the play acting and cheating is the biggest problem in football but it seems that we have to accept it as from one game to another the bar the refs set for what's a foul, etc. seems to change drastically. No consistency and that's on the refs. The game used to be played in black and white for the most part now it's a middle shade of grey. The players take advantage of that and the refs seem to enjoy being a part of the decision making circus.
28 Dec 2023 08:58:46
Redflyer, it is up to the refs to enforce the rules to limit diving and cheating as that is what their cards are for. The problem is that even when they do that, these same pathetic pundits will come out saying, "That's harsh" and crap like that and criticise the ref for doing exactly what the same pundits said they should do to begin with so in the end, the refs can win.
Just look at the Palace game where under the rule, Ayew was rightly sent off BUT the pundits and commentators complained that the secondand/ first yellow should not have been given using flippant excuses even tho, they kept saying all season that the rules should be applied with NO exceptions. You see what I mean?
That's one of the reasons we have no consistency cos the ref is not just being put under pressure by fans in the ground and social media, the media also put pressure on them even tho, they are doing the right thing.
28 Dec 2023 18:58:27
Agree Dhfc, for me VAR refs should be separate and independent of on field referee ( if they have to be there at all) . I can’t stand clear and obvious it’s a grade A con to cover up incompetence and possibly worst. In any other sport where a 3rd party was altering a result in such a dramatic way it would be considered match fixing!
PGMOL is a defunked propaganda machine which tries to convince supports and pundits that black is white, how many decisions have there been where there has been almost a 100 consensus amongst people that a decision was wrong only to have PGMOL tell us we are all wrong, in the words of Roy Keane ‘ my eyes don’t lie to me’. Even when Mike Dean came out with his damning admission that he made decisions in games to protect his fellow referee the PGMOL came out and said that he was wrong, let’s digest that for a second…they told him that his account of his own actions were incorrect!
We are now in a catch 22, in an ideal world we scrap VAR for everything other than mistaken identity, goal line technology and offsides (using automated system) problem now being that the refs are so incompetent and getting worse so can you imagine the decisions that would be made.
Genuine question, where do we go from here? How do we tackle this issue in both the immediate and long term?
Finally can I ask anyone who watches other leagues, how is VAR received elsewhere? Is it any better, is it the focus of such attention and can any lessons be learned?