I don't think it can be solely blamed on the referee. He is put under pressure every time the VAR referees call him to take a look, it is almost like saying we think you made a mistake and should change your decision.
Exactly - it's not VAR it's the referees. Referees are not helping themselves. VAR was correctly used in the Spain game. Goal ruled out for offside - it wasn't, decision overturned. If referees used VAR just to overturn clearly incorrect decisions it would be fine.
With the dodgy pens given to Saudi Arabia too, I'm wondering if there's been a few brown envelopes passed around.
Indeed. I would definitely be looking at the VAR (and his three assistants) more than the (on field) referee. For instance, take the time spent by the referee reviewing the TV screen. Of course he's going to take his time, looking at a few angles, because he's only seen it once. He is making the final decision, so he's going to want to see it from different angles. But the only reason why he's looking at it, is because the VAR has suggested he should. It's the VAR who is making the judgement over whether something is clear and obvious. And so if non-clear and obvious decisions are being overturned, for me it's the VAR's fault for referring them to the referee. Don't refer them, and they don't get overturned.
The problem with VAR and the problem that won’t go away is that most of the rules are open to interpretation. Simplify rules then most decisions become easier. At the moment it’s just more opinion and therefore more confusion. ^ Danny Higginbotham on Twitter
Tom, I agree we need to try it and give it time, but this is the World Cup, the biggest tournament in the world and it is being used in a farcical manner. It is supposed to improve the correct key decisions, yet too many times it’s ****ed things up and we are only half way through the competition. FIFA. Organise Brewery Piss up
But they’re being told to look again at things in slow motion which they saw clearly in real time. They are being put under pressure to reverse their own decisions. No Sunday League ref would have given that pen against Cedric, it was clearly unintentional and his arm was in a natural position. The ref didn’t give it but then the idiots in the VAR box put doubt in his mind. It wasn’t a clear and obvious error, so why did he have to review it?
Try watching that in Spain, when there are no seats, so you have to sit on a table of Spanish police, with your litre jug of sangria. Said table including one plain clothes copper that looks like he kills for fun. That was tense...!
If VAR hadn’t overruled the offside for Spain’s goal, that was them out, and me made into tomorrow’s tapas.
It is being used too early in a World Cup. Euro 2020 would have been a better target to use at a major tournament. I must admit I thought Collina would have had a better grip on things.
It’s definitely being used far too early. The refs and review team clearly need far more training with it. The amount of ridiculous and farcical decisions being made as a result of VAR which are affecting results in the WORLD CUP is far outweighing the ones that it’s getting right at the moment. But even ignoring all that, I’m sick of players calling for the ref to review VAR all the time. I’d stamp that out right away. It has become the referee and VAR penalty and stoppage time World Cup, and that’s a great shame because there’s so many colourful fans and exciting football games going on in VARS shadow.
That should have been a 1-0 to Portugal game. They’d be top of the group and playing a far easier opponent in the next round. We should all be talking about the football and the sublime goal scored by Quaresma. But we’re not, it’s all about VAR.
Pathetic to just blame VAR. That game was ruined by the players, the managers, and especially the ref. End of.
Not really. The ref, the refereeing team reviewing incidents and how VAR is being used is what ruined that game. Players are abusing it because it’s being so badly used and implemented.
The ultimate decision is with the ref, and he got it wrong...but he should never have had to review them beyond his original decision because they were not clear and obvious. The whole system is not working. The ref is wrongly called to review the ‘incident’ by a team who have had time away from the pressure of the field to review the incident from multiple angles, that’s saying to the ref your decision is wrong. It’s putting stupid pressure on the ref to change his mind and analyse things to tiny slow mo detail. The easy decision then is to go with the review team because even if it’s wrong, it’s not just on you. The system is not working. Take away VAR and the team that is using it and you would have the correct result tonight. As I said, VAR has been brought in far too early.
Not in the Spain game. There have been more correct decisions than incorrect decisions using VAR in this WC. It was used correctly in one game tonight. In the other game, it wasn't used incorrectly; there was just an abysmal, spineless ref.
