There's a remarkably easy way to solve the VAR ****ups which, of course, neither The FA nor Premier League will ever consider: don't have Premier League refs on VAR duties Plenty of people could see the obvious issue that would cause, as at best whoever is on VAR duty would want to cover the backsides of their colleagues/superiors and at worst have been instructed to make sure the ref's decision is final no matter how patently wrong that decision was, yet they pressed ahead regardless In comparison, look at the World Cup: the VAR ref was not from the same association as the match officials so they had no qualms in overruling the ref if they ****ed up - which certainly begs the question as to why neither the Champions League nor Europa League follow this approach, given they too have access to a wider pool of referees than the Premier League/La Liga/Bundesliga etc do So realistically for VAR to work what it needs is somebody who isn't in the Premier League refs pool to make it work, since this season the implementation has mainly been a case of "If I cover for your obvious ****up, you can cover for mine" - which may as well be placed on a plaque above the VAR room at Anfield, frankly
I’d rather just eradicate VAR. I don’t think it matters who sits in the box to judge it, we’re ultimately asking someone to look at potentially impossible to determine sequences and make a decision one way or another where in reality benefit of the doubt/ common sense should just prevail. I think it will forever remain inconsistent because it’ll always be at the discretion of one person who at that specific time, may or may not spot the right/ wrong call or may or may not choose to allow common sense to prevail. If we take some of the recent calls for and against us with regards to ‘handball goals’, I think it shows that ridiculous level of inconsistency: Llorente’s goal vs City - given (despite Llorente ‘handball’). Jesus’ goal against us - not given (Laporte ‘handball’). Soucek’s OG for us - given (despite Sanchez ‘handball’). Kane’s goal vs Sheff - not given (Lucas ‘handball’). All four of those goals should have stood with common sense. At the time, not one player on the defending team complained of a handball nor did a referee blow for it not to be given. To think that’s just one element of wrong VAR calls too. You’ve got the ridiculous offsides where players have been ‘off’ because of an armpit or toenail... the whole “clear and obvious” phrase is a load of bollocks because most of the ridiculous VAR rulings haven’t been clear and obvious. Sooner it’s gone the better for me. I’d rather suck up a potential poor spot by a lineo or ref than be told by some prick in a box who even with technology still can’t make the right call.
There were no English referees at the 2018 World Cup because none of them were considered up to the standard required. Perhaps we should employ overseas refs to officiate the Premier League
Llorente's goal was before they changed the rule so was rightly allowed. The West Ham own goal was rightly allowed under the current rule which doesn't cover the particular circumstance of an arm deflection causing an own goal. The City goal should have stood under the then current rule but wouldn't under next season's rule which is supposed to be just a clarification. The Kane goal should clearly stand in this season's rule but possibly not on next season's rule. I still don't actually know which rule is in effect for the matches currently being played as 1 June is usually the date the new rules have effect. I don't think the problem is VaR....it is the stupid way the Laws are written. I would be happy for VaR to judge on matters of fact and then show the pictures to the ref like they do in Rugby. Given that many matches are decided by a single goal it is crazy to allow that to depend on referees. There is no way of writing the offside rule that will improve the situation. The only choices are: Have no offsides at all Call them in real time and get half the close ones wrong Review them with technology. The clear and obvious error criteria never applied to offside and line decisions. It was only for judgement calls.
The letter of the law is irrelevant in those circumstances though because without the interference of VAR all four goals would’ve rightfully stood thanks to common sense or benefit of the doubt. It’s not crazy to allow it to depend on refs, it’s been like this for decades and whilst teams will suffer and benefit from poor judgement calls from time to time, the enjoyment was still there. There’s no enjoyment with the current use of VAR. Fans second guess whether to celebrate nowadays and then we’re subjected to some of the most ridiculous decision making possible. Football will die a painful death if VAR continues.
Or just have less Northerners. There are 17 Select Group refs this season. They have more representatives from Yorkshire than the Premier League. No refs are from London and none are non-white. There are more Australians on the VAR than Londoners. I wonder if the lack of non-white match officials is due to discrimination or a lack of interest, probably caused by discrimination? Officials at all levels get a ton of stick. I imagine this is amplified by some if you're outwardly different in some way. Sian Massey is the only exception that I can think of. Uriah Rennie is the only previous black ref that springs to mind.
https://www.skysports.com/football/...ut-why-no-free-kick-dermot-gallagher-analyses "The law is set up now that if it strikes the arm and leads directly to a goalscoring opportunity, which it does, the goal should be disallowed." It didn't lead directly to a goalscoring opportunity. It lead to a clearance by a defender that hit Moura. That lead to a goalscoring opportunity. They're clearly making this **** up as they go along.
This is so infuriating to watch. I'm generally quite a fan of Davies from a defensive angle but what an earth is he doing there?! Dier isn't paying any attention either, he could also be better positioned to deal with the pass whilst Aurier/ Sissoko are just far too slow at reacting to the runner. Absolute shambles.
There is nothing fundamentaly wrong with the offside law that a slight change to wording would not resolve. An attacking player should only be deemed offside if no part of his body is level or in line with the last defender. You will still get very close calls but at least the player will 'look' offside; and the close calls would be more acceptable than these forensically studied mm calls that we get now with the way VAR is used in the premier league, where players are effectively level and lets not forget benefit of the doubt should be given to the atttacking team.
It shows how Mr Jose is getting it right not many score 4 goals against Sheffield Wednesday this season, you should be proud people this day.
Just because we played most of the game like a 2nd Division team,there's no need to upset Sheffield Wednesday's fans........!