Clubs like us are between a rock and a hard place imo. We all hanker to attain premiership football again, but I for one fear the dreaded VAR. Club's going up walk straight from having to accept the Refs decision, be it right or wrong, into an utter farce which has now become the world of VAR. It's sucked all the excitement out of the game with the ludicrous times taken to come to a decision, never mind God forbid they actually get that decision right. Refs at the highest level know they don't have to worry about getting it wrong cos there's an office full of clowns getting decisions wrong for them. Rant over.
Agree. VAR was supposedly intended for the 'clear and obvious error', and by that I took it to mean the one or two times a season when the whole stadium knows the ref got it wrong. So just do it it where the refs ask the VAR for help if they are stuck, not the other way around.
Its not just VAR though is it. Lots of other sports use a version of VAR, with a lot less hassle than football. Its how it is administrated, not helped by inane laws. In the Manchester debt, no way was Rashford not interfering with play. Similarly with some of the handball decisions which defy common football sense. Only football can fcuk up a process that most other sports do not have a problem with.
Right, and the one of the problems for the recent updates to both handball and offside is they tried to give exact criteria, beyond 'in the opinion of the referee'. But there are so many situations that you just can't write it all down. Like the Rashford one yesterday, he is on by the letter of the current law, as he didn't meet the current exact wording for interfering, but in the sprit of the game he is obviously offside. So they can try to write down a new modification and call it the Marcus Rashford law, or just give it back to the refs on what is offside and what isn't. The AR in the game got the call 'right' too, but was overruled.
Football does not have the humility to learn from other sports. And it does not gave a game which lends itself to regular, quite long stoppages. VAR is killing the game instead of improving it.
It'll be different next week anyway. All sorts of decisions are now given in a ridiculously inconsistent manner. VAR has done the opposite of its purpose. It has made things less clear, just as uncertain, took away the goal moment and reduced the ref's effectiveness.
