Not watching this, but in the games I have watched VAR seems to be working well in these Euros, at least in comparison with the PL. Certainly not so obtrusive, with the Ref getting the decisions on his earphone and in line with the Ref.
Generally I agree Os, but it's the handball law that's the problem, VAR is just implementing it but still seems that it's intent is to deny goals..........
Posted at 20:4320:43 Post update Italy 1-0 Switzerland Having won each of their last nine games in a row without conceding before tonight, Manuel Locatelli's opener is the 29th goal in a row Italy have scored without reply. Some record that.
Italy do look frightenly good, be interesting to see how they are against some of the stronger teams in the later stages
Have to say I like the look of the Italians, super going forward and typically Italian at the back, closing down the opposition so quickly working so hard without the ball. They could go far..........
RTE co commentator Ronnie Whelan complaining about the ridiculous length of time taken for linesman to flag for offside......play went on for 20 to 30 seconds from when player was offside to whistle being blown......... Have to say I agree........
Italy looked good again tonight, they play a fast pressing game and don’t look likely to compromise on this. Will be fun to see them against stronger opposition.
Italy are looking good, and their runto the next round from a relatively weak group will give them a lot of confidence. There are a number of good teams showing their ability now. But Italy's defence is looking particularly good...true in this tournament only against Switzerland and Turkey.. I wonder if they will play squad players against Wales?
It does seem a long time, but if this is just the time it takes to get a VAR opinion before flagging, then maybe it is worth it. Certainly better than the minutes taken in the PL drawing lines before a goal ruled out by a boot tip. They have got important offside decisions correct too, ruling out Hungary's goal against Portugal when it was still 0-0, and allowing Ramsey's goal for Wales last night.
Well, Ronnie Whelan doesn’t understand what they are trying to do then, does he? The linesman deliberately does not flag even if he is sure it’s offside. They allow the phase of play to be completed, then he flags. If the team score, VAR checks it to make sure the Lino got it right. If the Lino is wrong the goal stands and is not wrongly disallowed. If he’s right, presumably the lost time is added to ‘injury’ time, but at least an ‘injustice’ (and after all it’s only ****ing football) has not been done. Now, if you and Ronnie would prefer, like me on balance, for VAR to be dumped (excepting goal line tech) and for us to return to the old days when we accept that officials make mistakes, fine. But the delay in flagging is deliberate, not slow. One thing that VAR was meant to stop and obviously hasn’t is managers/coaches moaning endlessly about decisions made.
Oh I get that Stan but what if a player gets seriously injured in the mean time while allowing the phase of play to continue as described ....... just throwing that out there. Personally I'd prefer the lino to make a decision in clear cut cases like last night when it was obvious the attacker was offside at the very outset......they can then use the scenario described in the less obvious cases where there might be a toe offside.......
If there’s a serious injury the ref would be expected to stop play anyway. Like with Eriksen the other day. In the clear cut v less obvious scenario how do you define the line between them? It’s easier, and less contentious, to have a one size fits all scenario. As I say I’d prefer a return to the fallibility of officials where we can say ‘yeah, bad decision out of the hundreds he (or she) took during the match’ and move on, over the fiddly and plain daft VAR process. The coaches will whine either way. I’m all for the tech in cricket and rugby, but it’s not suited to football in my opinion. It’s a fast, simple game, which accounts for its global popularity and anything that slows and complicates it should be avoided. I think the offside rule can be clarified to make the lino’s job easier and they just need to employ common sense on hand ball. Anyone really thing Chiellini deliberately handled the ball before he scored last night ?
Think you've missed the point about a serious injury that I was making, maybe not clear enough but...... If a player is clearly offside but play continues so that phase of play can be completed but during that phase a player is unfortunately seriously injured obviously the ref will stop play, but the point I'm trying to make is that if the lino had flagged straight away the offside would have been given, play stopped, free kick to defending side, player not injured....... I'd prefer going back to the human error way as officials got most decisions correct and that is what we mostly want, none of this perfect way where every decision has to be correct even though it might take 5 minutes and countless lines on a pitch and poor pixels to come to a decision........... As I posted during the game, the hand ball against Chiellini was nonsense as had it been a defender it hit it wouldn't have been a penalty.......or a least I don't think it would be unless they've changed the interpretation again this week......
What about a scenario whereby a forward is offside, but the lino doesn't flag immediately and the play continues, resulting in a corner. The attacking team then score from the corner, but there's no VAR review because the original play didn't result in a goal? I may have got this wrong, of course.
