VAR

[Snake]

VAR is growing on me, but it begs the question.... do we really need linesmen now checking for offside? Putting their flag up and the decision being wrong is just off putting for everybody. Just don't bother flagging and let VAR inform the ref. Surely that makes more sense.

Linesmen (sorry im old school) could then be proper assistant referees and solely focus on incidents they see near their line of vision.

 

[Yewsman]

There is nothing worse in sport in my view where a referee or official makes a blatantly wrong decision. Sadly particularly in football the standard of refereeing is poor, although some of that is because the players are trying to deliberately cheat by diving. Hopefully VAR will eliminate that which can only be a good thing.

The only thing I am concerned about is the "fractional" off sides. I do not believe that the technology is good enough to detect exactly "when the ball is kicked" to the point of showing if a player ahead is 10 cms off side (Olli's beard). May be there should be a similar situation to "umpires call" in cricket where for off sides if it is marginal then the decision of the on field officials should stand. I am not sure what "marginal" might be but that would be quite capable of being defined.

 

[Tony Kenworthy’s toe]

It's a pity it is not used when players are diving, Bournemouth players went down very easily something we will have to get used to in this League

You were pretty good at it last season

 

[Yewsman]

VAR is growing on me, but it begs the question.... do we really need linesmen now checking for offside? Putting their flag up and the decision being wrong is just off putting for everybody. Just don't bother flagging and let VAR inform the ref. Surely that makes more sense.

Linesmen (sorry im old school) could then be proper assistant referees and solely focus on incidents they see near their line of vision.

I am also old school but that is because in 95% of cases they still act like linesmen. How often have we seen a blatant foul right in front of the "assistant referee" and he just ignores it. They should be more like the touch judges in rugby who are an extra pair of eyes for the ref and who will, take responsibility and inform the ref if they see an infringement.

 

[YES Blade]

VAR is growing on me, but it begs the question.... do we really need linesmen now checking for offside? Putting their flag up and the decision being wrong is just off putting for everybody. Just don't bother flagging and let VAR inform the ref. Surely that makes more sense.

Linesmen (sorry im old school) could then be proper assistant referees and solely focus on incidents they see near their line of vision.

Now football is onboard with VAR, companies will no doubt see this a potential lucrative market and invest further in the technology.

Someone like hawk eye will probably be looking at tracking the players in order for real time offsides decisions to be via technology rather than linesman.

 

[Greenwich Blade]

There is nothing worse in sport in my view where a referee or official makes a blatantly wrong decision. Sadly particularly in football the standard of refereeing is poor, although some of that is because the players are trying to deliberately cheat by diving. Hopefully VAR will eliminate that which can only be a good thing.

The only thing I am concerned about is the "fractional" off sides. I do not believe that the technology is good enough to detect exactly "when the ball is kicked" to the point of showing if a player ahead is 10 cms off side (Olli's beard). May be there should be a similar situation to "umpires call" in cricket where for off sides if it is marginal then the decision of the on field officials should stand. I am not sure what "marginal" might be but that would be quite capable of being defined.

Exactly! Umpire's Call was just my thought as I watched Match of the Day last night and discovered that a loose thread from Sterling's shirt was off-side.

As for celebrating Billy's goal, I was mighty relieved when Bournemouth kicked off again, that's for sure.

 

[Wapping Blade]

Exactly! Umpire's Call was just my thought as I watched Match of the Day last night and discovered that a loose thread from Sterling's shirt was off-side.

As for celebrating Billy's goal, I was mighty relieved when Bournemouth kicked off again, that's for sure.

Same here, I was watching it on NBC and they kept showing replays and the crowd. All I wanted to know was whether Bournemouth had kicked off to rule out any VAR bollox!

 

[Large Mendonca]

I jumped out of my seat when Billy prodded it in the goal, then realised it had to be checked by VAR. Yeah, it wasn't too intrusive in our match but I still hate it.

I had flashbacks to when we thought we'd equalised at Middlesborough a couple of seasons ago - it just takes the euphoria out of a goal, not knowing whether to celebrate or not

 

[Niceguyeddie]

Some of the free kicks Kevin friend was giving yesterday ( particularly for fouls on Fraser ) were fucking ludicrous
In quite a lot of instances there was no contact at all and the one right at the end against Norwood I've watched several times and I've got no idea what it was for

Bit worrying that what I think is a foul is so far removed from what the referees and pundits think is a foul
One other thing is that Fraser went down and the ref waved play on several times before he booked him for diving which seemed a strange way of refereeing especially considering he gave so many soft free kicks in his favour

 

[Bladesman]

No review needed for this then?

 

[CrookesBlade]

Is VAR supposed to pick up obvious simulation? Fraser should have had two yellows for diving (including the free kick that led to the goal) before he eventually got booked.

Should also have had a straight red for the challenge on Norwood that went to review. Seemed like they bottled that one given it was relatively early in the game.

Got it right on the Fleck and O’Connell calls but without VAR being available surely they would never have merited a second thought.

 

[A Storm of Blades]

You were pretty good at it last season

Give it a rest FFS

 

[A Storm of Blades]

Letting Man Utd and Liverpool off having VAR this year is a disgrace in my view. We had reassemble part of our ground to meet the requirements. How on earth are 2 of the biggest and richest clubs in the world not made to accommodate it, whatever the cost or impact? It stinks.

 

[Inter_blade83]

Letting Man Utd and Liverpool off having VAR this year is a disgrace in my view. We had reassemble part of our ground to meet the requirements. How on earth are 2 of the biggest and richest clubs in the world not made to accommodate it, whatever the cost or impact? It stinks.

Because it would mean more goals against them and less for them if they had it

 

[Cerberus Blade]

Football is what it is because of the injustice. Every club has a tale of woe due to an incorrect decision. It's part of the romance and mythology around the sport. Sure, allow the refs to have the ability to go to VAR if they choose but VARing everything just ruins the moment.

Spot on!

If we’re not careful the interference of VAR is going to mean that goals aren’t cheered anymore, until VAR has confirmed it! That, to me, would be like trying to delay an orgasm, I’ve never done it and I’m not going to start now!

 

[Lee Baxter]

Letting Man Utd and Liverpool off having VAR this year is a disgrace in my view. We had reassemble part of our ground to meet the requirements. How on earth are 2 of the biggest and richest clubs in the world not made to accommodate it, whatever the cost or impact? It stinks.

They have VAR, they just don't have big screens to broadcast the angles that the assistant referee is making decisions based on. That's my understanding of it anyway.

 

[YES Blade]

Letting Man Utd and Liverpool off having VAR this year is a disgrace in my view. We had reassemble part of our ground to meet the requirements. How on earth are 2 of the biggest and richest clubs in the world not made to accommodate it, whatever the cost or impact? It stinks.

VAR is still going to be in use at Old Trafford and Anfield.

 

[A Storm of Blades]

VAR is still going to be in use at Old Trafford and Anfield.

When?

 

[YES Blade]

When?

This season

 

[A Storm of Blades]

They have VAR, they just don't have big screens to broadcast the angles that the assistant referee is making decisions based on. That's my understanding of it anyway.

My mistake if that’s true. Still seems shady, but better than no system at all. Didn’t seem to be mentioned during the Liverpool Norwich game.

 

[Niceguyeddie]

Because it would mean more goals against them and less for them if they had it

Exactly

 

[YES Blade]

Spot on!

If we’re not careful the interference of VAR is going to mean that goals aren’t cheered anymore, until VAR has confirmed it! That, to me, would be like trying to delay an orgasm, I’ve never done it and I’m not going to start now!

What a load of bollocks! Any football fan with a basic grasp of the rules will be able to make a judgment of what is likely to be reviewed and what isn’t.

Are you going to hold back from celebrating a goal scored from a shot outside the box? A free header from a corner? What could possibly be the clear and obvious error with those type of goals?

 

[Large Mendonca]

You were pretty good at it last season

You wanna know why ? as soon as we realised "La Liga" was full of cheating shitbags that we had to resort to similar to get our share of the refs decisions. One thing that i hate about modern football is that we had to start doing it ourselves.......

 

[DaleHillBlade]

VAR was pushed by the very media companies that the PL now rely on to provide the infrastructure. It’s great for soccer fans sat on the couch watching with popcorn and soda. It’s an invention for tv fans.

To be fair though, the fans in the ground don’t actually matter, the tv companies control the atmosphere on their channels with pre recordings.

 

[BladeFisher]

I think VAR is gonna help us this season. Little clubs used to get the shit decisions go against them. VAR will hopefully stop that. If we had VAR in Warnock's season, we'd have stayed up. I can't remember many dodgy decisions that went in our favor that season, whereas we had a few go against us.

It is nerve-wracking though that they may find McBurnie's beard is a few centimetres offside or something.

Like West Ham Con Merchants away

 

[Inter_blade83]

Absolute bollocks decision for wolves goal today

 

[bromtom]

Is that Fraser on Norwood tackle something that can be looked at? Because it's a shocker. Luckily his leg was where it was because that could have done some real damage in any other orientation.

When you think about it, if he'd been sent off then, he wouldn't have been "fouled" to win the free kick they scored from.

 

[PokerBlade]

I see a lot of people saying that VAR will help the smaller clubs because refs bottle big decisions and so on. The thing is, the human nature of referees adds an element of randomness to the game - will the ref spot it, will he be sure enough - and removing elements of variance from games basically always favours the better player. The less the element of chance, the more important the skill is, and the more frequently the skill wins out. Quicker players with better timing will have a bigger advantage because they'll be able to stay on side and still win the race to the ball. Slower defenders will get away with fewer clumsy challenges and shirt pulls that they might feel they needed to keep up with a striker.

Basically, game theory would suggest that VAR will benefit the top teams in the long run. That's not necessarily a bad thing in terms of fairness but reducing the luck factor doesn't always make games more exciting (see chess for how a close to zero luck game plays out, not many underdog victories at the pro level).

 

[Kop Cat]

How did Maguire get away with pulling Abraham down and Manure went right through the pitch to score 2nd goal, why no VAR, very similar for Manures 3rd when Zouma was put down with a head injury and the ref just waved the play on, even Maguire and Shaw were waving for play to stop, no VAR, its bollox.

 

[Rusty view]

No issues with VAR today! Even when it works fine people still want to have a moan!

Bit like Lundstram then