By AllezKev.
Is VAR failing?
Not for me, not when UEFA and FIFA are in charge, which is surprising given the track record of those organisations, but in general it’s been quick and accurate.
And then we have the VAR officiated by PGMOL.
VAR has hit the headlines here yet again. Well, there’s been a few mutterings. The match between Toots and Watford raised a few eyebrows as did the Utd v Liverpool fixture on Sunday afternoon, no doubt the biggest match of the weekend.
In north London, Watford were leading 1-0 when Deulofeu was fouled b6 Vertonghen after the latter went to ground. Nothing given by Kavanagh and although there appeared to be contact on Deulofeu, VAR backed up the onfield referee. Had the correct decision been made and the penalty converted, Watford would almost certainly won the game. Instead, Alli levelled late in the game with VAR once again being called into action. Confirming whether or not the goal stood was a mess up.
There were problems at Villa Park too which left VAR being labelled ‘embarrassing’ by Villa manager Dean Smith – quite rightly too apparently.
Brazilian forward Wesley was deemed to have obstructed Brighton goalkeeper Matt Ryan before Conor Hourihane scored. Referee David Coote thought he challenge was fair, VAR decided otherwise yet there was little to suggest they were right to do so according to reports.
‘For that to be the first subjective decision I’ve seen just threw me totally. The criteria is clear and obvious and that wasn’t clear and obvious and unless I missed a memo over the international break then nothing has changed.’ – Dean Smith.
The subjective decisions won’t change because those who were/are making errors on the pitch are now making them away from the pitch. What’s worse is they are afforded more time yet still they make errors. Or certainly decisions which others in the game disagree with.
Sunday afternoon at Old Trafford. Utd needed a win, as did Liverpool to maintain their unbeaten run but neither got what they hoped for. Utd opened the scoring through Rashford but a foul on a Liverpool player in the buildup was reviewed. Then ignored and goal given. By the letter of the law though, it shouldn’t have. Liverpool equalised but again, VAR was called for as the ball struck the arm of Mane as he controlled it. Goal disallowed and rightly so. Klopp was not a happy man. Liverpool finally got their equaliser but should it have been the only legitimatel goal of the game and therefore the winner?
Then there was the Sokratis incident which VAR simply ignored.
Is the VAR which we see in the EPL every week about accuracy and the correct decisions or is it more about trying to prove that our domestic officials are as good as Mike Riley has claimed they are, for all the time that he’s been in charge?
Don’t forget, it was Mike Riley who stated a couple of years ago that our referees got most of their decisions right, even though the evidence didn’t back up that view, something which Keith Hackett has reiterated:
“Let’s look at last season’s stats. Mike Riley came out and said we are 82 per cent accurate on the big decisions, which is saying literally one in five of the big decisions we are getting wrong. So we have now got VAR and we’re going to improve, we’re going to get these big decisions and we’re going to be better at it.
“He then comes out and says we’ve had a review and we’ve only made four errors – and everybody in the game must have fell over laughing, because who is he kidding? Four errors? How many does he agree to this week that he’s made? None?
“Let’s be real – we are dealing with human beings and human beings will always make mistakes. VAR is there for us to see a game with less errors and hopefully move the decision-making process, accuracy, into the high 90 per cents. We are not achieving that, anywhere near.”
I come from a point of being very positive about the use of technology to aid refereeing decisions. I have supported VAR and I’ll continue to support VAR.”
“However, putting it mildly, I think Mr Riley needs, along with others, to review how the system is operating and ask why are we doing it different to other countries, and to how it operated in the World Cup.
“Why have they decided not to use the pitchside monitor? Its been used in other competitions around the world and it’s part of the criteria of the International Football Association Board.
“Let us get the officials together and let us understand we are going to use the pitchside monitor. Let everybody be aware that it’s going to delay the process, but the outcome has to be a more accurate decision than we are getting at the moment.”
“Errors are not being corrected because the match referee is not reviewing the pitchside monitor to see for himself what has taken place.
“And there needs to be work with a sports psychologist to get over the relationship between the referee and the VAR, so the VAR has the confidence to tell his colleague ‘you’re wrong – have a look’, not this happy, patty, nicey nicey ‘yeah, I’m OK, it wasn’t a foul mate, you got it right, brilliant, well done.’ They are kidding each other.
“So that’s the second point – the relationship between the referee and the VAR, and it’s got to be stronger, firmer, and to have some form of team accountability that says ‘I want to get every decision right, I don’t want to leave anybody in any doubt.”‘
Then there was the scandal of no English officials being invited to officiate in the last World Cup, for the first time ever in living memory, all under the stewardship of Riley.
Meanwhile our media say nothing…
When did anyone read a piece by any of our neutered sports journalists about the state of our referees or how Riley has run the show since he took over?
It all seems a bit like there is a news blackout when it comes to our referees and their standard of officiating…
Of course it would take a brave journalist to put his head over the parapet and criticise the ‘Greatest Show on Earth’ – sometimes called the Premier League – and risk the wrath of all those who make millions out of it.
But for me, as popular as our football is around the world, I can’t escape from the rotting stink at the heart of it and the PGMOL are a large part of of that…
If memory serves me right, prior to the weekend, VAR and Arsenal have only come together once which was at Old Trafford. Ridiculous that it was needed really as Aubameyang was miles onside before he scored our equaliser. We all know what Riley and his yes men think of us and as Kev and I were agreeing yesterday, if we’re involved in a big game where the points matter and VAR is called on, neither one of us believe the decision will go our way when it should.
Not the glaringly obvious of course as that would show them for being what they are but goal similar to the one Alli scored would probably be disallowed. The tackle Vertonghen made would no doubt end up with the referee pointing to the penalty spot or the goal Rashford scored would be ruled out because of the foul during the buildup.
VAR isn’t the problem, surely it’s more about those who operate it..
Thanks for that Rico, a great piece of editing.
I have to agree with a lot of what Hackett said, although I remember him not being the greatest referee in the world.
Morning all.
It’s not the technology that’s failing, it’s the way it’s used.
Same as League here in Oz.
Let the technology be used where it’s totally accurate else what’s the point?
No Kev, thank you. Lol
Hackett wasn’t the best I agree but I guess credit where it’s due a# he’s the only one prepared to say it as it is right now. The bit directed at Riley is spot on and long overdue. Our officials are appalling and it’s being run by a guy who seems to have an agenda.
Hi Rico
I agree with you (and it seems everyone else) that it’s the PL implimentation thats wrong, not VAR itself.
The problem is with penalty decisions, where the ‘high bar’ is translated as ‘ the ref is always right’. What should happen, and does with FIFA and UEFA is that the instruction from the remote ref should be either ‘ yes you are definitely right’ or ‘you need to take another look’, and he does on the monitor. The current system will never eliminate mistakes.
Brian
The solution is simple.The ref & var should make their comments audible as in rugby union when a replay of an incident or contentious decision is reqd.Allowing the ref to EXPLAIN his decision based on var evidence & feedback.Replayed on the big screen for all fans to see & understand.until this is introduced people will still feel “ Ferguson” is running the var.
Hi Brian.
Perhaps a way forward would be to have a team of people who have no connection with English clubs making the decisions – imo, each ref/official has a natural bias towards his/her own club despite what they might say.
Uwot, very good idea.
Hi All, Great stuff Rico and Kev !
Uwot , I’m sooo pleased you mentioned Rugby Union. It works so well and everybody knows whats going on all the time. I like the conversation between the two refs and between them they make the right decision. They are not afraid to disagree either and ultimately the ref on the pitch makes the final decision.
Even as Kev says the ref looks at a monitor , he can see if he has missed something and change his decision accordingly. As long as the fans know whats happening, who can get upset?
To be fair to refs these days,some little things that go on in the penalty box are so hard to judge……..Players fall over with a breath of wind and our pundits say ‘ that was very clever , he felt the touch and went down’.. No, in my view it was cheating! But Hey I’m a miserable old git.
I totally agree, it’s the biased Muppets implementing VAR who are the problem.You watch games in other countries,the whole standard of officiating is much better,it shouldn’t be that way round really,with all the Premier League money.
If Mike Riley thinks he’s being fair and above board then I’d like to hear his explanantionas to why we’re just ten games into the season and we’ve had Mike Dean twice and will have Atkinson for the fourth time this weekend. How can anyone justify that. It’s no wonder that in the top five European Leagues only six clubs have had more cards than us………………………….despite the fact that 84 have committed more fouls. Try looking at facts, cos unsubstantiated opinions are just that. This is what the media should be talking about but they don’t want to. It’s just one big biased gravy train.
The PGMOL are like secret society never criticised or investigated and whose inner workings are never publicised ,they feel that they are omnipotent,untouchable beyond any form of scrutiny.Riley sees himself as judge and jury above reproach and answering to no-one and until he is removed it will remain so
Hackett is critical and so has been Halsey but the rest keep quiet take their severance go into the media and never say anything out of turn .
VAR is seen by Riley as a tool to maintain his group’s hold on the game not as a means to improve decisions but to prove his view that referees are right in all meaningful circumstances he doesn’t want change he wants to keep his control .
Thanks Mike.
Welcome GoonerMikey, sorry you were stuck in moderation. Another good point made. It might take a while but I’ll look to see how we compare to the rest in the league, or at least the top six.
Riley has always been overly defensive of referees and rarely admits that they could possibly make mistakes.
He’s set VAR up with that in mind. Clear and obvious seems to mean unless you are 100% sure don’t go against the man in the middles opinion.
Add to that the fact that the number of top qualified refs has been decreasing means that the VAR ref is often a lower ‘rank’ or experience than the man in the middle. We need to increase the number of refs so there is more variation in both refs and VARs.
I personally can’t see the problem in having retired refs come back to do the reviews, after all they don’t need to sprint and be super fit to watch the game on a screen!
Having said all of this I also wonder why Riley is so defensive. I have seen two games in my life when I have been convinced of outside coercion. Riley was the ref for one of them.
Potter, I bet that’s why Clattenburg left the PL.
Hobart, that is a brilliant idea, bring in the, fairly, recent retirees to run the VAR. They will be still in touch with the current game and laws and should be entirely independent of the PGMOL. That way there can be no old boy network where the VAR officials are too closely connected to the ones on-field. In fact the whole scheme is just too cosy or comfort.
However good, or bad, the on-field ref is there will always be the temptation for him to ignore the VAR advice rather than openly admitting that he had got it wrong in the first place.
Mike, I only ever watch Rugby on the box and it appears that the VAR system they use, in Union, works very well. Since the commentators have learned to keep their traps shut whilst the officials are talking to each other the decisions and the reasons for them have been much clearer. Do those comments get broadcast to the crowd, or is it only the TV audience that can hear them?
Hobart, some are too busy working for Sky or Bt etc with their live analysis on decisions being made..
Cicero , No the comments don’t get broadcast to the crowd . The screens tell you what’s going on and replay the incident for the crowd to see though.So what you see on the TV the crowd see in the ground.
That’s why in rugby they don’t need monitors. It’s up for all to see.
Hobart , Cicero I agree with using retired refs and maybe players to help with VAR. Seems like a great idea.
Or ex rugby officials who don’t like football.
I would love to know what rugby officials think of the standard of refereeing and VAR . I wonder if they think it’s as poor as we do?
You had a good point earlier Rico Why not get officials from other countries to , if you like police our refs ?
Removing Riley would be a start Mike, he’s the leader of the dreadful gang..
I would agree about ex refs if I didn’t believe that they were still part and in the pay of the old boys protection unit.
Morning all. Nice to know that we are more competitive since Unai arrived.
Morning Adam, I’m amazed at the lack of comments on here following the claims from Emery in yesterday’s press conference.
A man stuck in the maelstrom of his own making talking absolute gibberish.
It doesn’t say a lot about the quality of his coaches either.
Where’s the improvement on last season?
I used to think that Wenger was indecisive, a ditherer who avoided the difficult decisions.
But Arsene knew who his most effective players were and usually relied on them in periods of stress, not so this bloke.
I guess that even at this stage, he can still save himself from the ignominy of being sacked before the Christmas decorations go up, but he needs to make changes, bring in Tierney, Holding and Bellerin asap, never mind hurting anyone’s feelings, and bring back Torrieira.
What’s the point of being stubborn, he’s gonna get his cards anyway, it’s shit or bust from here on I reckon.
Hi Kev. I’ve been watching Arsenal for many, many years as you know and I don’t think I have ever seen support for a manager evaporate so quickly as it has for Unai. We must surely have been conditioned by the frustration of Arsene and perhaps we are fearful that the powers that be are walking into the same old trap. Even when Wenger left there were plenty who thought it was the wrong decision, believe it or not.
We can only comment based on what we see and what we are seeing is completely unacceptable and suggests to me that this job is a step too far for Unai. I heard someone this morning say that we quite easily could have lost all our PL games this season. I didn’t believe it at first but, on reflection, it is certainly true. When was the last PL game we won comfortably through a superior performance.
Why should we throw this season away through inaction?
Miserable buggers 😂😂
New post up now.
I’ve joined the miserable club… lol