VAR Discussion Thread | 2024/25

[TheBeautifulGame]

So that's.
it then same as last years FA cup final, City get cheated out of a win, but it is good for football, the old VAR ref double tag that has been going on all season. On average the ref waves play on 4 times for City a match, it does not matter if there is an advantage, just that the ball has gone to a City player, he does this for the opposition every other game, the same applies for bookings, with the ref 40x more likely to book a player if he stops the game.
This formula has served the PL well as the chance % over 38 games makes any complaint expensive, as a charge of bringing the game into disrespect could well be bigger.
This is the FA cup final, the most prestigious domestic competition in the world, and as such we can expect the best refs and VAR, so now we should demand the immediate, sacking of all officials at the match and VAR s personnel, not the suspension, this is gross negligence on the appliance of the laws and communication, it is unlikely that PGMOL will accept this, but this is a case of clear and obvious red card, this being a one off match with the opposition playing without their first choice keeper, and down to 10 men, for a long period of time raises the chance % to around 75%,, 10s of £ millions in prize money for club and staff
Which is why if PGMOL do not sack their staff, City should sue PGMOL, unlike last year City do have them by the bollocks.

I'll do you one better. The match officials don't just need sacking. VAR itself needs sacking and the whole of it need to be rocketed out of earth's atmosphere into space.

 

[TheBeautifulGame]

there are a lot of people calling for VAR to be scrapped, but they are the ones blaming VAR and not it`s operators, if it goes then there is no one putting right those mistakes, deliberate or otherwise, how about we just get rid of the people making the mistakes with VAR

The operators and VAR itself are one in the same. The system's poor design has led to their incompetence and their inability to correct even basic errors.

 

[TheBeautifulGame]

Can’t believe the club haven’t said anything publicly. I hope they have at least bothered to ring Red Howard up and give him a bollocking

Because presumably of potential negative consequences of calling out VAR's ineptitude. That's what we're here for. We fans are not under an effective gag order like the PL clubs are.

 

[TheBeautifulGame]

For me its not the operators it is VAR. Just it's presence has changed the game, and refereeing for the worse.

Doesn't matter who they have operating it we will still not know what handball is, we will still have micro analysis of every little decision point. We will still get VAR making errors. That's because it's human nature.

So get rid of VAR and all the politics around it and let the ref get back to doing what he is supposed to.... because even that has changed.

Football is an art not a science.

I am predicting they will never ever get it right.

When do you think we will be at the point where it works and the public are happy with it?

Precisely. Excellent post my friend.

 

[TheBeautifulGame]

Completely agree.
For match going fans it's awful.
It's been the final thing for me.

Death before VAR!!

 

[TheBeautifulGame]

I've been twice this season.
I can't imagine going again really.
No var and lower prices I would.
definitely

Don't forget, the prices have increased due to the costs of VAR!! Not only is it spoiling the sport but it's coming out of our pockets!!

 

[Churchlawtonblue]

Uh . . .

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GrKkhcZWUAAeMnW?format=jpg&name=large

Foot was stepping on the line, arm and hand was across, rest of his body was in. Lets get that straight at least.


No, he intentionally swatted it. My argument was that he *may* not have been sure exactly where he was because his eyes were focused on the ball and the attacker, not precisely where he was. He made a considerable effort to try to retreat back into the box before making the action, and he did get his body back in. The arm movement to swat at it there was largely instinctual. Football isn't played in slow motion. Such things happen quickly.


I understand that. Clearly he hand balled it and it should have resulted in a free kick. Yet for one reason or another, VAR was unable to correct that simple problem.

Sorry you're defending the indefensible. It was a a red card all day every day except when it's a player against us. Clear bias in the decision making.

 

[Andy TheCatalyst Morrison]

Uh . . .

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GrKkhcZWUAAeMnW?format=jpg&name=large

Foot was stepping on the line, arm and hand was across, rest of his body was in. Lets get that straight at least.


No, he intentionally swatted it. My argument was that he *may* not have been sure exactly where he was because his eyes were focused on the ball and the attacker, not precisely where he was. He made a considerable effort to try to retreat back into the box before making the action, and he did get his body back in. The arm movement to swat at it there was largely instinctual. Football isn't played in slow motion. Such things happen quickly.


I understand that. Clearly he hand balled it and it should have resulted in a free kick. Yet for one reason or another, VAR was unable to correct that simple problem.

Give it up already man. You’re making yourself sound stupid

 

[Trevor Morley's Tache]

Uh . . .

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GrKkhcZWUAAeMnW?format=jpg&name=large

Foot was stepping on the line, arm and hand was across, rest of his body was in. Lets get that straight at least.


No, he intentionally swatted it. My argument was that he *may* not have been sure exactly where he was because his eyes were focused on the ball and the attacker, not precisely where he was. He made a considerable effort to try to retreat back into the box before making the action, and he did get his body back in. The arm movement to swat at it there was largely instinctual. Football isn't played in slow motion. Such things happen quickly.


I understand that. Clearly he hand balled it and it should have resulted in a free kick. Yet for one reason or another, VAR was unable to correct that simple problem.

The moment VAR decided no DGSO when it clearly was is where their job ended i that situation.

They can't (by their own rules) advise a referee to award a free kick other than for a foul inside the penalty area resulting in a penalty kick.

 

[HypnoticBlue]

It was all very simple,
1. Was the keeper out of his area- yes
2. Did he handle the ball-yes
3. Was it deliberate -yes
4. Was it going away from goal before he touched it - No
Straight forward Red
His intentions were to knock the ball away from Haaland, you can’t say he didn’t mean to do it, because he fückin well did it, what he meant to do was to not get caught!
VAR is there to assist the officials who obviously missed it, so show it on the screen and talk through the process, mic them up so everybody in the ground and on tv can hear and see what is going on.
There’s nothing wrong with VAR except the bent/inept cünts operating it.

One other point, would it have been given at the other end?

If City don’t take this all the way, then they are just as bad as the perpetrators, even if they are going to use it as a lever against 115.
Personally I’d rather we went to town on the whole shit show, we were robbed of a trophy/day out/justice, it fucking stinks!!!!

 

[halfcenturyup]

I can't believe we are still discussing these two incidents.

We all agree it was a handball. He doesn't get a red card for the handball offence. He gets a red card for the DOGSO. It's perfectly simple. It was 100 pages ago and it is now.

The penalty is subjective. But whether the defender got a slight (or any other) touch on the ball or not and when he got it isn't definitive in the determination of the offence. It just isn't, although it is taken into account. Personally, I think it was soft but a levelling up.

For the love of God, can we stop now.

 

[halfcenturyup]

And for the love of God, can we get away from the idea that there is some sort of distinction between VAR and the people operating "it".

The clue is in the name: Video Assistant Referee; and in the description of VAR in the IFAB protocol:

"A video assistant referee (VAR) is a match official, with independent access to match footage, who may assist the referee only in the event of a ‘clear and obvious error’ or ‘serious missed incident’ in relation to .....": blah, blah, blah.

They can use specialist technology like SAOT but the decision is always with a person, the VAR, and then, finally, the actual referee (according to IFAB at least).

The problems are with the relevance of the protocol to the fundamentals of the game, the quality of the VARs themselves and the pros/cons of the whole mess, especially the effect on the matchday experience.

It's hard to see how they could get it more wrong. I am available to advise how to scrap it and start it from scratch :)

 

[richardtheref]

Interesting that the guy on var on Saturday, trained most of the current var staff as he was used to it, having previously used it in Australia. Pity no one explained to him the actual laws of the game.

 

[salfordbluetrue]

For me its not the operators it is VAR. Just it's presence has changed the game, and refereeing for the worse.

Doesn't matter who they have operating it we will still not know what handball is, we will still have micro analysis of every little decision point. We will still get VAR making errors. That's because it's human nature.

So get rid of VAR and all the politics around it and let the ref get back to doing what he is supposed to.... because even that has changed.

Football is an art not a science.

I am predicting they will never ever get it right.

When do you think we will be at the point where it works and the public are happy with it?

VAR was not developed to put right every tiny mistake, it was developed to put a stop to dubious decisions, PGMOL gave it irrelevant decisions to make, lets take offsides for example, last season the linesman raised his flag 4 times wrongly, the ref blew so carrying on the City player would have received a card, this season the linesman is not allowed to raise his flag for obvious offsides, resulting in City conceding 4 corners, as they are considered 2nd stage. It is not VAR that chose to do this, it is the parameters set by PGMOL.

 

[salfordbluetrue]

The operators and VAR itself are one in the same. The system's poor design has led to their incompetence and their inability to correct even basic errors.

No mate VAR is a tool, how you use the tool changes the results, just like the semi automated offside, which was delayed until liverpool had virtually won the league.

 

[salfordbluetrue]

Interesting that the guy on var on Saturday, trained most of the current var staff as he was used to it, having previously used it in Australia. Pity no one explained to him the actual laws of the game.

Which is why City should sue VAR and PGMOL because it is not just a mistake.

 

[wolviedinho]

Did the FA ever explain why they fucked city over? I might have missed it.

I will forever remember it as the cup that was robbed. Right next to the pissed up rag cup.

 

[The Light Was Yellow Sir]

I can't believe we are still discussing these two incidents.

We all agree it was a handball. He doesn't get a red card for the handball offence. He gets a red card for the DOGSO. It's perfectly simple. It was 100 pages ago and it is now.

The penalty is subjective. But whether the defender got a slight (or any other) touch on the ball or not and when he got it isn't definitive in the determination of the offence. It just isn't, although it is taken into account. Personally, I think it was soft but a levelling up.

For the love of God, can we stop now.

I still can’t believe he didn’t send Atwell to the monitor as he’d obviously not even realised it was handball. If Atwell had then decided to do nothing, book Henderson or send him off, it would have sat better than with some faceless official watching planes at Heathrow…

 

[Xhavenjoe]

My gripe with VAR is that the result is usually not the correct decision that should have been made .
e.g.
The Haaland/ keeper Cup final incident.
VAR are looking to a possible red card decision.

The first thing they should be checking is did the keeper touch it outside the box.
The next decision is to decide the punishment.
If they feel that is not a straight red offence, then it is at least a free kick and a yellow card to the keeper.
VAR does not allow this eventuality. Madness.
The decision they eventually took was no decision.

I have seen several cases where a player has been checked for a red but it is not deemed worthy of one but a yellow is not given either.

 

[salfordbluetrue]

I can't believe we are still discussing these two incidents.

We all agree it was a handball. He doesn't get a red card for the handball offence. He gets a red card for the DOGSO. It's perfectly simple. It was 100 pages ago and it is now.

The penalty is subjective. But whether the defender got a slight (or any other) touch on the ball or not and when he got it isn't definitive in the determination of the offence. It just isn't, although it is taken into account. Personally, I think it was soft but a levelling up.

For the love of God, can we stop now.

NO, the handball changed the game, the Club and staff have missed out on 10`s of £ millions, and should go after it. on the penalty, the ref did not give it, it went out for a throw deep in City`s half, which he gave Palace, before changing his mind and giving it to City, he them gave the penalty after a long discussion with VAR staff, and then Palace players, the penalty was taken and replays show, the keeper off his line long before the kick taken. This took nearly 5 minutes, put that alongside the injury, the substitution, the goal and the offside checked by VAR, the ref gave3 minutes.
This is a one of match, and as such it makes it City`s best chance of showing corruption