30 Jan 2021 22:56:38
Just seen Danny Ings’ disallowed goal vs villa and it’s sickening how much VAR is ruining the game right now! Personally I’d scrap it but I know that’s not going to happen because the governing bodies are too invested in it now and scrapping it would be too embarrassing for them so here’s the changes I’d make:

- I’d make all the referees and officials wear earpieces so we can all hear how and why they come to the decisions they make.

- Offside: If, on the replay of a goal, it is not a clear offside and the only way to determine if it is or isn’t is to draw those stupid lines, give the advantage to the attacking player as it has always been!

{Ed025's Note - im with you JK..

30 Jan 2021 23:06:00
VAR didn’t disallow the goal, the linesman flagged for offside, if VAR wasn’t being used the goal still wouldn’t have counted.

30 Jan 2021 23:51:56
The problem isn't VAR, the technology doesn't lie. The problem is with the people using it, their procedures and interpretation of the images.

31 Jan 2021 00:05:46
When your drawing lines from where you think somebody’s shirt sleeve ends to decide offside that should be the moment you say sod it.

31 Jan 2021 00:58:46
Tbh the cash handball is worse. The amount of rubbish handballs that get given and they don’t give the one where he dives towards the ball with his arms out?! Getting silly now.

31 Jan 2021 01:31:00
JK, Son's goal would have stood with that application of offside.

31 Jan 2021 07:36:02
Faith so would manes against Everton. It swings and roundabouts that evens up over a season.

I have got to the point where I don't even celebrate as its got every chance of being ruled out. So I'm now questioning the point of even watching a game and for me that's a big thing as football has been a big part of my life.

As for VAR it just seems so obvious but stop using those damn lines. Before VAR i don't think I ever saw anyone complain about someone being a mm offside. some you got and some you didn't, but it was marginal and you excepted it.

The reason we wanted it was when someone was two yards, either on or off and the linesman got it wrong. Clear and obvious (words they seem to have forgot) . We get told the offside system is black and white but its not, pixilated images, freeze frames on an angle, a human deciding when the ball has left a foot and now where the reference point is on either player. Hardly a perfect system.

For VAR to work it needs a very high bar to intervene, its now getting involved with anything and not helping the game at all. With how involved it is you may as well scrap the man in the middle and just play VAR's decisions over the tanoy.

31 Jan 2021 08:49:44
I don't know why they can't just make it offside if there is clear daylight between defender and attacker, no silly lines drawn at stupid angles.

31 Jan 2021 09:24:57
As I always say, VAR is working the way the authorities want it to work. No point screaming about it. No transparency, No accountability, Rules are being changed or made up according to what controversy comes up, Refs are as confused as we are etc. Brilliant!

31 Jan 2021 10:53:23
VAR isn't the problem, the vagueness of the rules are. They're too open to interpretation so VAR can give definite data (most of the time) but the rules need to be clearer and applied consistently.

As for swings and roundabouts I've never believed that. If one team is give a penalty Vs another it's not then "evened out" later by being awarded against a totally different team because all matches aren't equal.

A penalty awarded in Liverpool Vs city isn't the same as a penalty in city Vs Brighton. This evening out thing is an old wives tale that we tell ourselves to make us digest unfair decisions. Consistency is what refs should aim for.

31 Jan 2021 11:10:11
Var doesn’t make the decision. It’s the human error still at the end of it. Regardless if the official is in the middle, on the line or watching numerous replays with silly lines it’s always then decided by a subjective decision.

31 Jan 2021 12:11:10
Irrespective of the Linesman putting his flag up or not it would still be reviewed by VAR, so it is the VAR official and the silly lines that are at fault. Its beyond ridiculous.

31 Jan 2021 12:30:00
WYred - I was just referring to trying to simplify the offside rule via semantics. I'm on the side of, if it's offside then it's offside. I don't mind how long it takes tbh. But if they are going to amend something then it has to be in the variables that are at play. Too much mucking around with parts of the arm, too complicated. just make it the feet and a bit easier to know what we're looking at.

31 Jan 2021 12:11:34
WYred, wasn’t VAR introduced to mitigate against this very notion of things evening out cos teams were being screwed by. dumb ref decisions? Have things evened out for Ireland yet after they got blatantly cheated out of a potential WC qualification by the cheating Thierry Henry in 2009?

Seriously tho, we cannot keep using the same excuses for not bringing in technology (things even out over time), to explain the same incompetent mistakes being made after the technology was actually created to hugely reduce. Other leagues n the CL don’t have such recurring issues on a weekly basis so why does only the PL suffer from this?

In England, VAR is a shambles due to well documented reasons. In the CL and other leagues, it works much better. Spot the difference?

31 Jan 2021 14:32:13
Oli I mean the tight decisions even out. Obviously not literally as in 1 for but some you win, some you lose. For instance if son was called onside pre var no one would of complained as his big toe was off. The same for the mane one, if he was called onside no one would of complained.

The Henry handball is an example of why we needed var but in its current guise there using it incorrectly and ruining the spectacle whilst there at it.

The game is so quick they need help, but they are trying to fix things that aren't broken I. e. offsides with lines.

It is also correct that its the officials that are operating it that's the problem but make it easier for them and we can maybe go back to enjoying the game rather then wait for someone to rule it out for something no one has noticed.