VAR

[The Edge]

I think people forget how angry we got about wrong decisions before VAR.

In theory, it should be a check and measure against a ref having a stinker or worse...   Notwithstanding that I think they are implementing it terribly and also that we have had some incredibly poor decisons against us, I suspect that overall they are still getting more decisions right than they used to.

I remain an advocate of the principal of VAR, but fuck me they are trying their best to kill it with incompetence.

People got angry, and they're still getting angry.

It's human nature to think technology will solve our problems. It doesn't. VAR will not make anything better, watching football is diminished by it.

Absolutely and the one thing above all else is that you can't celebrate a goal properly any more. No amount of technology can make up for that. The unbridled joy of celebrating a goal for your club has been taken away. Reason numer 1 of 350 to fuck it in the bin. Also I heard a suggestion a long time ago that the reason the officials are making such an unholy mess of it is they dont want it. It questions their authority and it questions their competence and it dents their precious egos.There could be some truth in that.

[tomd2103]

I still maintain that VAR is not the problem, it's the way it is implemented that is.  It's the throbbers sat watching the screen at Stockley Park, just dying to get involved and hear their name on the TV that are the issue and they clearly haven't grasped the concept of "clear and obvious error". 

Instead of having the mindset that it's a goal and it should only be ruled out if an exceptional mistake has been made, it goes straight away into looking for a reason to rule it out.

As in rugby and cricket, the question should be framed "is there a clear and obvious reason why that decision should be overturned?".  Cutting it down to the act of scoring and the immediate phase before that would also help. 

[London Villan]

Is the player that scored offside would be a start.

[Axl Rose]

Mike Dean on VAR this Saturday.

[Risso]

Mike Dean on VAR this Saturday.

Jesus H Fucking Christ.

Even the Bluenose I play football with on a Tuesday night* said that the decision last night was a farce.


*I scored an absolute screamer past him tonight

[RamboandBruno]

Whether its the technology, the human implementation or a bit of both, i judge VAR on this. My 11 year old has been going to the Villa since he was around 5, the relegation season onwards, in the last two and a bit seasons, he doesn’t know whether to let himself go and celebrate when we score a goal. That for me says it all, a kid not wanting to immediately and instinctively celebrate each and every goal that his team scores, just in case.

[algy]

I've said it before, but in this, the most rigged of all possible worlds, where everything is set up for the always-already winners to prosper and the perpetual losers to suffer, we are asked to believe that football refereeing is the one great oasis of objective truth in this post-apolyptic desertscape. Like fuck it is.

I think the better sides do get more penalties because they're making more chances, I think that's fine. But we're not really talking about more or fewer here - we're talking about the self-evident double standards on display. Remember the insane Pogba tripping over himself, fouling our player and getting a penalty? Something like this happens once every two weeks to favour one of six clubs (though in practice one of four - maybe the norf Landaners have misplaced their brown envelopes). Every time there's a marginal - and sometimes they're not even that marginal - you know which way it's going to go.

I made a glib allusion there to bribery, but I don't think it's that. I don't even think it's anything particular that the clubs themselves do behind the scenes or on the pitch. I just think it's craven starfuckery, power-worship from the type of people who see the glorious chaos on a football pitch and instinctively wish to control it. Most referees are, of course, totally fine, but someone like Elleray, who always wanted to be the centre of attention, is naturally drawn to fame and the glamour of association with the powerful. You don't need to corrupt people who corrupt themselves with such relish.

Well said, Monty. Agree with every word.

[Drummond]

Me too.

[ChicagoLion]

I would not write off the idea of largesse, once they gone with the idea that a little help (cheating) is the natural order of things.

[Scott Nielsen]

Well put, Monty.

[The Edge]

I've said it before, but in this, the most rigged of all possible worlds, where everything is set up for the always-already winners to prosper and the perpetual losers to suffer, we are asked to believe that football refereeing is the one great oasis of objective truth in this post-apolyptic desertscape. Like fuck it is.

I think the better sides do get more penalties because they're making more chances, I think that's fine. But we're not really talking about more or fewer here - we're talking about the self-evident double standards on display. Remember the insane Pogba tripping over himself, fouling our player and getting a penalty? Something like this happens once every two weeks to favour one of six clubs (though in practice one of four - maybe the norf Landaners have misplaced their brown envelopes). Every time there's a marginal - and sometimes they're not even that marginal - you know which way it's going to go.

I made a glib allusion there to bribery, but I don't think it's that. I don't even think it's anything particular that the clubs themselves do behind the scenes or on the pitch. I just think it's craven starfuckery, power-worship from the type of people who see the glorious chaos on a football pitch and instinctively wish to control it. Most referees are, of course, totally fine, but someone like Elleray, who always wanted to be the centre of attention, is naturally drawn to fame and the glamour of association with the powerful. You don't need to corrupt people who corrupt themselves with such relish.

Well said, Monty. Agree with every word.

Great post Monty. Superbly put.

[sickbeggar]

*puts tinfoil hat on*
 
Watched the referee performance last night in the Spurs vs Chelsea game. Now I know Mariner is bobbins but if you wanted to engineer a situation where you could demonstrate the advantages of VAR after a period of bad criticism then some ref giving frankly barmy penalty decisions and goals for you to overturn would do it.

[luke95]

*puts tinfoil hat on*
 
Watched the referee performance last night in the Spurs vs Chelsea game. Now I know Mariner is bobbins but if you wanted to engineer a situation where you could demonstrate the advantages of VAR after a period of bad criticism then some ref giving frankly barmy penalty decisions and goals for you to overturn would do it.

I thought exactly that watching last night

[sickbeggar]

Cool. Thought it may just be me.

*passes tinfoil hat to Luke*

[chrisw1]

The Spurs Chelsea game last night is exactly why we need VAR

There's a long way to go in getting the implementation right, but incompetence like that should not be allowed to stand.