13 February 2023 , 16:00
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This weekend saw another set of baffling and straight-up wrong decisions from the VARs in the Premier League.
Premier League referees have been called to a meeting on Tuesday by their boss Howard Webb after two incorrect offside calls by VARs on Saturday.
The official involved in the error at the Crystal Palace vs Brighton match, John Brooks, has already been replaced as VAR for two Premier League matches he was due to officiate this week, with appointments for the next round of top-flight games to be confirmed on Tuesday.
Mirror Football's reporters give us their opinions on the dreaded video review system, AKA VAR...
Andy Dunn
It is not the system getting things wrong, it is the people operating the system, the people watching the pictures in the Stockley Park bunker.
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And if they made mistakes when they were refereeing in real time, they will make mistakes when they are refereeing by TV replay.
The difference SHOULD be that they make fewer and despite the hoop-la over a few ricks on Saturday, that has been the case since VAR’s introduction.
No-one has ever claimed VAR would be free of all human error – it was just unfortunate more than one cock-up was made on the same day.
VAR Lee Mason failed to draw lines on Ivan Toney's equaliser against Arsenal (Sky Sports)It does not get a mention when it gets everything right. But you know what? Arsenal did not drop two points because of VAR – they dropped them because Brentford were better.
Chelsea did not drop two points because of VAR – they dropped them because their lavishly expensive squad again misfired.
And if VAR means at least some of the legion of players whose first thought is to try and con the referee get their comeuppance, then I’m all for it, however many mistakes it makes.
John Cross
It was a disastrous weekend for the three letters in football that we all dread. VAR.
But we need to move away from blaming the technology and start understanding that the equipment will only ever be as good as the people who use it.
This might not be a popular opinion at the Premier League or PGMOL but the standard of referees and officials is the issue here. Not VAR.
There are obvious exceptions. Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor for a start. There are other good examples of refs who are improving and letting the game flow. But I don’t understand why Paul Tierney is suddenly getting the big Sunday games.
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Here’s two things which will help. Howard Webb’s appointment as the PGMOL’s referees’ chief. They have been crying out for a leader who will back the officials, give them confidence and not be weak like Mike Riley in the past.
Semi automated offsides were used at the World Cup, they take away the “human error” from the weekend and will be brought in asap in the Premier League.
John Brooks got the offside call in Crystal Palace vs Brighton badly wrong on Saturday (Twitter)But it’s worth remembering, if you scrap VAR it will be a backward step. The human eye would have missed way more offsides than the two high-profile gaffes last weekend.
You are kidding yourself if you believe in the “it evens out over the course of a season.” The sense of injustice doesn’t. Stick with VAR, let Webb improve the officials and it will get better.
Mike Walters
Transparency is an admirable virtue, but the scourge that is VAR has simply replaced one layer of human errors with another.
When the worst invention in football since diving in the box was introduced by the Premier League four years ago, it came with a mandate to correct clear and obvious mistakes by referees on the pitch.
But it has been hijacked by jobsworths who draw more lines than a barcode to try and prove a player’s eyelashes are offside.
And on Saturday’s grim evidence, where VAR clowns John Brooks (at Crystal Palace ) and Lee Mason (at Arsenal) either drew the lines in the wrong place or not at all, it is abundantly clear: The biggest problem is not the technology itself but the humans operating it.
I have long been an advocate of binning VAR and all its worthless junk altogether. Real football fans would prefer to debate borderline calls, and all the joy and despair that comes with them, down the pub instead of being hostages to clots in a bunker.
If we must persist with VAR, put ex-professionals who have played the game, and know all the tricks, in charge.
Or, better still, replace it with a cricket-style system where coaches can lodge an appeal from the touchlines if they feel aggrieved by a decision, and referees can review incidents on a pitchside monitor – with fans following their deliberations in real time on the giant screens. It’s called transparency. In other words, any other solution would be better than the current mess.
Darren Lewis
The goal against Arsenal could cost them the Premier League title (Arsenal FC via Getty Images)VAR has never been the issue. The issue is the officials operating it. Time and again human error has been cited for the reason for goals missed, goals disallowed, penalties not given and more.
Honest mistakes they clearly are. But for too long those making them have been protected by a culture of intransigence when a rash of examples have made clear that they are simply not alert enough.
Some decisions take too long, others smack of older people using technology they haven’t quite got to grips with. The answer could lie with younger, more tech-savvy Video Assistants, aided by older officials sitting alongside them to advise.
Also accountability. It is lunacy that in an industry where everyone else taking part in games answers for events on the field, officials still do not. They should be explaining key match incidents to us after games. Or at the very least be mic'd up. No more excuses.
A day like last Saturday, where poor VAR decisions affected crucial results in four games, is horrific for the PGMOL. It cannot happen again.
Arsenal should be five points clear at the top, Brighton should be two points closer to a shock, top-four challenge, Graham Potter should have celebrated a much-needed second win in seven for Chelsea and Leicester’s win over Spurs should have been even more emphatic.
Pre-season talks between referees chiefs, clubs and players are pointless if VARs are then having to send grovelling emails of apology after shocking decisions rob clubs of priceless points. It is time to end this farce.