VAR is still way off(side) the mark

Last week I accidentally stumbled across some football-loving friends having a remote, but lively, discussion about the Video Assistant Referee system.

Despite my best attempts to virtually run away (I can’t discuss this topic without ruining my day) I ended up being dragged into the conversation against my will.

But I have to admit I found it rather enlightening because one of the people in this particular conversation, John*, was actually adamant that VAR has improved football.

Yes, you read that right. John believes the game has got better since VAR was introduced, becoming “fairer with less big mistakes”.

I kid you not.

I can only conclude that this man, who is otherwise sane and rational, has been watching different games to the rest of us. Or facing the wrong way when the TV is on.

“You are just anti-VAR whatever happens. I bet you can’t find one positive thing to say about it,” he challenged.

Of course I can, it’s, er, well, er… it has a pretty logo. Does that count?

To be fair, I did admit to John that over the course of the season there have been one or two elements of the VAR system that have improved.

For example, the nonsense we had in the first few weeks where any time the ball touched a player’s hand or arm it was automatically a penalty seems to have calmed down considerably.

That element had spiralled completely out of control to the point that I think goalkeepers were becoming afraid of making saves in case VAR decided it was handball. (Which would at least explain the Sheffield United goalkeeper).

Equally, the fact that when contentious issues are being reviewed the referee now goes over to the monitor to have a little look himself is a major improvement.

True, the refs are still getting some calls hopelessly wrong, like the atrocious – and since overruled – decision to give a red card to Southampton’s Jan Bednarek at Old Trafford last Tuesday.

But when the match official jogs over to the screen to review an incident, we at least get to see the system in action rather than having decisions imposed on us by remote control.

You see, John, I can think of nice things to say if I try hard enough.

I still passionately hate it as a system and believe it is an unnecessary evil which is damaging the soul of football, but I don’t mind admitting its performance in certain areas has improved as the season has progressed.

However, there is one area of VAR where things started off bad, got worse and have maintained themselves at a consistently farcical level – and that when it comes to offsides.

I know what the powers-that-be were trying to achieve with their ‘don’t flag unless you are certain’ instruction to the linesmen – allow the game to continue in case a wrong offside decision costs a goal.

There is no way on earth, with the technology at their disposal, that the VAR refs can tell for certain who was in front of who in these marginal decisions

But as commendable as that idea may be, as we all suspected, it isn’t working because linesmen are now afraid to flag for anything.

Unless a player is so far offside he is sitting on the goalkeeper’s shoulders when the ball is played, linesmen are keeping their flags down. They are standing there like quivering lumps of jelly, petrified the VAR gods will scream into their ears that it wasn’t offside before striking them down with a bolt of lightning.

This reluctance to wave the flag is causing all sorts of issues. Players and goalkeepers have no choice but to play on even though they know – as does the assistant referee, the referee and tens of millions of people at watching at home – that a move was offside.

How long before a player pulls a hamstring chasing a lost cause? Or a goalkeeper gets injured diving at the feet of the striker when the goal wouldn’t have counted even if it went in?

This really has got to stop.

And the problem is the situation doesn’t get any better when it is a truly marginal decision and it does go to VAR. Despite the fact that the video referee doesn’t have access to cameras with fast enough frame rates for what they are doing, they still falsely believe they have the visual skills to determine if a striker’s pubic hair was in front of the defender’s earlobe.

There is no way on earth, with the technology at their disposal, that the VAR refs can tell for certain who was in front of who in these marginal decisions. It’s impossible to be certain. Yet they still lay down judgement, ruling out goals that would have stood in the past 100 years of the game.

So what’s the solution to this offside conundrum?

It’s a tricky one because its painfully obvious that the current process isn’t working – not at the point when the assistant keeps his flag down nor when the technology gets involved.

In fact, the only way I can see the situation being resolved is if offside decisions are taken away from VAR entirely and left in the hands of the assistants. Yes, there will be errors and mistakes, but football can cope with that.

You see John, a balanced piece pointing out the good and the bad of VAR. Told you I could do it.

Now if you will excuse me I am off to hunt down the Loch Ness Monster and maybe a Yeti or two. Having found someone who believes VAR is improving football, those other things should be a piece of cake to find.

* John’s name has been changed. He said he didn’t mind me using it, but I wanted to protect him from being recruited by the Flat Earth Society.

Hope springs eternal

Up until a couple of weeks ago Sheffield United were hurtling towards the Championship at breakneck speed. They couldn’t win, they couldn’t score a goal and they couldn’t string two passes together.

The consistency of their performances and the regularity of their defeats meant I could quietly, if reluctantly, resign myself to relegation.

But then they decided to throw a spanner in the works by starting to play well and, unbelievably, win games – first Newcastle United, then Manchester United and now West Bromwich Albion.

Suddenly safety is only 12 points away. Still an almost impossible task with just 16 games left to go, but not entirely beyond the realms of possibility.

So instead of watching those remaining games with the calm, relaxed air of a man who knows his goose is cooked, now I will be bursting with tension, match after match, until the mathematical chance of survival has evaporated completely.

It’s going to be cup final after cup final for the next few weeks. I almost wish – from a stress level point of view – they hadn’t bothered with this mini-revival.

Because with football, it’s the hope that can drive you crazy.

email: james@quizando.com
twitter: @maltablade