VAR

[garyshawsknee]

Becoming the norm now, a soulless, android decision which isn't clear and obvious.

[KRS]

Truly pathetic. Surely VAR wasn’t introduced to rule out non-offside offside goals like that.

[Neil Hawkes]

It was a foul in the box. Had it not led to a goal it still would have been a foul in the box. The fact that it led to a goal shouldn’t change the fact that it was a foul and we’ve all seen them given at corners.

But did VAR show how he was pushed? Did Ayew stumble, was he himself pushed, or tripped into the other player?  Or was he all alone and did it deliberately? Or did the player that was pushed stop running or back into Ayew?
None of which was examined on VAR and more importantly was not noticed by the Ref during his view of the incident, where do you start/stop VAR examining every alleged incident that the referee did not deem necessary?
VAR is not the referee, yet it is being used for that purpose - not what it is supposed to be instigated for. Why bother having a referee at all if you can just video the whole game and make all decisions based on video evidence alone, with the man in black announcing each and every video decision?
The use of this technology is deeply flawed and appears to still be in trial/UAT version, nowhere near the finished article and it surprises me that they chose to trial this technology in such a high stakes league at this early stage of its' development.

[brian green]

Referees have embraced VAR believing that it would enhance their status but in fact it has seriously diminished it.  Time was when games were supervised by human judgement alone that the best referees were highly regarded in the game for their personal sporting talent.  They too were elite sportsmen/women.  VAR has reduced them to whistle blowers.

Simplistically I picture football pre technology as an analogue watch.  A product of immense skill but occasionally at fault.  VAR is a digital watch accurate to a thousandth of a second but totally lacking intrinsic aesthetic value.

[Meanwood Villa]

They really need to sort out the offside stuff. I don't think anyone in their right mind believes a millimetre offside is against the rules. I think someone said it on here first and I've repeated it a load of times since and no-one disagrees; flip it on its head and make any part of the attacker's body level with the defender onside. There will be controversies where someone's toenail keeps them on but to my mind it's far better than perfectly good goals being chalked off.

[The Edge]

I'm here again repeating myself ad-nauseum. But here goes. Var has done nothing to improve the game. It's ruining the match day experience. Fans of all clubs turn up week after week for one reason. To celebrate a goal. It has reduced us to looking at a giant screen now to see if var is checking it. It has got to be binned. Just wait till the end of the season when a club scores a vital goal to avoid relegation/ win the league/ win the cup etc etc. There will be riots.

[Clampy]

Going back to that Brighton game, we won the game but we didn't score until the last kick of the game. That disallowed goal might have put us in the bottom three now.

[JUAN PABLO]

VAR has been rushed in early to help Liverpool win the Premier League.

was thinking this yesterday . . They are the jammiest team this season.

[Chris Smith]

I'm here again repeating myself ad-nauseum. But here goes. Var has done nothing to improve the game. It's ruining the match day experience. Fans of all clubs turn up week after week for one reason. To celebrate a goal. It's has reduced us to looking at a giant screen now to see if var is checking it. It has got to be binned. Just wait till the end of the season when a club scores a vital goal to avoid relegation/ win the league/ win the cup etc etc. There will be riots.

Completely agree but sadly the TV deal revenue means those of who go to matches have become secondary when VAR gives Sky etc something additional to analyse and discuss to help fill their air time. So I reckon we’re stuck with it.

[exigo]

Much as I hate VAR, it astounds me that it couldn't have ruled out Southampton's first goal yesterday. Quick free kick was taken with the ball still moving. One replay was all it would have taken to get the right decision. Rules say that VAR can't get involved.
They'll spend ten minutes working out if your armpit hair was ahead of the defender's bum fluff, but not something simple like that.

[Pete3206]

I'm here again repeating myself ad-nauseum. But here goes. Var has done nothing to improve the game. It's ruining the match day experience. Fans of all clubs turn up week after week for one reason. To celebrate a goal. It's has reduced us to looking at a giant screen now to see if var is checking it. It has got to be binned. Just wait till the end of the season when a club scores a vital goal to avoid relegation/ win the league/ win the cup etc etc. There will be riots.

Agree with this and mentioned it a few weeks ago. Something really ugly will kick off towards the end of the season and at several grounds. Fans are already seething at games and it will get worse.

[KRS]

Much as I hate VAR, it astounds me that it couldn't have ruled out Southampton's first goal yesterday. Quick free kick was taken with the ball still moving. One replay was all it would have taken to get the right decision. Rules say that VAR can't get involved.
They'll spend ten minutes working out if your armpit hair was ahead of the defender's bum fluff, but not something simple like that.

That would have been extremely harsh too as the ball was touched down and barely moving. That kind of decision would be similar to and justify these millimetre offsides.

I’ve repeatedly said it before, but some old rules of the game (including offside) have to be updated and clearly defined if new technology is introduced as they simply aren’t compatible. As an example, I would agree with the comments about reversing the offside to being any part of the body being level is onside and they have to find an agreed line to work from as a toe, knee or armpit simply isn’t good or consistent enough.

[The Edge]

I'm here again repeating myself ad-nauseum. But here goes. Var has done nothing to improve the game. It's ruining the match day experience. Fans of all clubs turn up week after week for one reason. To celebrate a goal. It has reduced us to looking at a giant screen now to see if var is checking it. It has got to be binned. Just wait till the end of the season when a club scores a vital goal to avoid relegation/ win the league/ win the cup etc etc. There will be riots.

Completely agree but sadly the TV deal revenue means those of who go to matches have become secondary when VAR gives Sky etc something additional to analyse and discuss to help fill their air time. So I reckon we’re stuck with it.

[CJ]

One thing struck me after our game against Liverpool which highlighted the inconsistencies with VAR. We were given a free kick and Sane got booked for diving. VAR then checked whether he dived or should have had a penalty.  At our game against Palace we were told VAR couldn't be used to check whether Jack had in fact dived or should have had a penalty because Friend had blown his whistle. What's the difference?

[The Edge]

One thing struck me after our game against Liverpool which highlighted the inconsistencies with VAR. We were given a free kick and Sane got booked for diving. VAR then checked whether he dived or should have had a penalty.  At our game against Palace we were told VAR couldn't be used to check whether Jack had in fact dived or should have had a penalty because Friend had blown his whistle. What's the difference?

One was Liverpool. The other was Aston Villa.