Robbie Savage responds to Neil Warnock's radical five-point plan to save VAR

17 November 2023 , 17:40

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Robbie Savage responds to Neil Warnock's radical five-point plan to save VAR

Neil Warnock published his five-point plan to save VAR this week – and I agree with much of his logic.

Personally, I would scrap it altogether and let football fans go back to debating key decisions in the pub because they are fed up with officials studying big incidents again and again, getting the big calls wrong and having to apologise for them. But in the week Mikel Arteta was charged for his outburst following Arsenal's controversial defeat at Newcastle, and referees' chief Howard Webb released the audio of the officials' conversation while deliberating the winning goal, VAR is still centre stage in the game.

And Warnock, who has crossed swords with a few referees in his 1,600-plus games as a League manager in all four divisions, deserves credit for putting his vast experience to good use with some constructive suggestions. If we must persist with VAR football needs to see the best of it – so here's my take on Warnock's take on the game's biggest source of controversy.

USE EX-PLAYERS AND MANAGERS AS VAR OFFICIALS

Couldn't agree more. Referees may know the laws of the game, but players understand the differences between a fair tackle and excessive force, or being tripped at full speed and a dive. And managers understand the pressures of the modern game, the intensity behind a genuine 50-50 challenge or a cynical foul.

If a VAR and ex-player/manager following the game on a TV screen cannot agree on the outcome of an incident, the on-field referee's decision should stay.

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Warnock suggested that ex-players and managers could be involved in the VAR process (Getty Images)

IMPLEMENT A 30-SECOND TIME LIMIT TO MAKE DECISIONS

I disagree with Warnock on this one – we don't need VAR to rush decisions, we need to get them right.

There is no way you could sift through all the various factors involved in Newcastle's winner against Arsenal – whether the ball was out of play, whether Joelinton fouled Gabriel, whether Anthony Gordon was offside – in 30 seconds.

STOP THE USE OF SLOW-MOTION REPLAYS

I can see where Neil is coming from here, but a blanket ban on using freeze-frame or slo-mo replays is not the answer. Still photographs ultimately show whether players are offside, just as they are used in goal-line technology.

Where I agree with him is the use of slow-motion replays to determine whether a tackle is worthy of a red card. They will often camouflage the true force or recklessness of a tackle, and we have seen too many miscarriages of justice – like Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister being sent off against Bournemouth for an innocuous challenge – because tackles often look worse when they are slowed down.

Referees on the pitch have to judge the severity of a tackle in real time, so VAR officials should do the same.

Alexis Mac Allister's red card against Bournemouth in August was overturned (PETER POWELL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

BRING IN 'DAYLIGHT' RULE FOR OFFSIDE

That would involve re-writing the laws governing offside and implementing them worldwide. I concur with Warnock in principle, but semi-automated offside technology seemed to work well at the World Cup and I believe it's coming in here soon.

ALLOW OFFICIALS TO USE COMMON SENSE

That should be taken as read, not applied as an afterthought. If VAR officials got it right more often, we wouldn't need ex-players or managers to help them reach correct decisions.

But, yes, let's apply more intuition and sense – then we wouldn't get the nonsense of West Brom's goalkeeper being booked for timewasting four minutes from the end of a game at Stoke when his team was losing.

Neil Warnock thinks he has the solution to recent VAR woes (John Early/Getty Images)

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In addition to Warnock's points, I would go further – starting with an urgent reset of the handball laws. We need to go back to deliberate handball as the acid test for awarding a penalty, none of this nonsense about arms being in an “unnatural position” and players being penalised when they are not even looking at the ball or it hits their arms at point-blank range.

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Handball is Diego Maradona's 'Hand of God', Thierry Henry playing basketball in that France-Ireland World Cup play-off or punching the ball into the net. It's also high time fans could hear the audio when VAR officials are debating incidents with on-field referees, just as they do in rugby and cricket. The technology is there, so let's use it in the name of transparency.

When refs are advised to review an incident on the pitchside monitor, we all know the outcome – the on-field decision will be overturned – so let fans listen to the dialogue. Personally, I would only send the ref to the monitor if the VAR and ex-player/manager watching the game at Stockley Park agree it's necessary.

But we can't go on like this. When a manager of Neil Warnock's experience is making urgent calls for reform of VAR standards, football needs to listen.

Robbie Savage