VAR Discussion Thread | 2024/25

[skillman]

?

 

[Rammy Blue]

Not for one minute do I think it’d have changed the result, as you could easily argue about the Trafford non-sending off being an awful mistake too, but I’ve just seen ref watch and for the first time seen the penalty not being given for VDV on Bobb as it was opposite end of the ground from where I sit. I just want to know, other than the obvious plays in blue & it’s City, why VAR did not get involved and give the decision? It’s just plain wrong and this is exactly the kind of incident that we should be kicking up a fuss about and requesting an explanation.

We’ve see Arsenal get a pen for less contact, and ffs they were 4-0 up at the time.

It’s just not acceptable or good enough and I don’t understand why we don’t highlight these inconsistencies and call out the piss poor double standard refereeing.

 

[bluetonium]

Not for one minute do I think it’d have changed the result, as you could easily argue about the Trafford non-sending off being an awful mistake too, but I’ve just seen ref watch and for the first time seen the penalty not being given for VDV on Bobb as it was opposite end of the ground from where I sit. I just want to know, other than the obvious plays in blue & it’s City, why VAR did not get involved and give the decision? It’s just plain wrong and this is exactly the kind of incident that we should be kicking up a fuss about and requesting an explanation.

We’ve see Arsenal get a pen for less contact, and ffs they were 4-0 up at the time.

It’s just not acceptable or good enough and I don’t understand why we don’t highlight these inconsistencies and call out the piss poor double standard refereeing.

It's a very good question and the answer is worrying whichever way you look at it
Even taking off the blue tinted specs the only possibilities can be:

1) var saw at it and deemed it not sufficient contact to alert the referee

2) var didn't see it

Or possibly:

3) var decided not to touch it as city still had a chance from this passage of play, or because play had restarted before they realised there was a potential penalty they just kept their heads down

Any of the possibilities are just not good enough. It was contact, studs down, on the foot/ankle of Bobb. Late challenge. Foul. Penalty. Simple as. If the referee gives it is never getting overturned, so var has some explaining to do on what exactly happened from their point of view. Because this same situation will happen again.

We certainly didn't deserve anything from the game as it finished, but a penalty changes the game. We could have rallied behind it, who knows


But most of all, it's missing a key decision in a game, which wasn't even exactly hard to call or contentious. So the question should be asked, and answered by Webb and his cronies. Why? Why does that happen? Human error? Not enough eyes?

If the referee doesn't spot it, then it's exactly what VAR is there to do, but as we have said so many times before it seems to be the humans in the process, and their pliable interpretations of the rules, that undermine the whole concept.

Clearly the referee should have been sent to the screen, clearly he didn't see it in real time, and should have been given the opportunity to review. I hate the game being stopped, but for penalties, red cards, then fair enough. Get those ones right, please.

Just in the two games I watched this weekend (ok, I only half-watched the raggies) I saw several plain wrong decisions, some of which greatly altered the outcomes. Fulham similarly must be wondering what the hell is going on, because unless it is explained and efforts are made to correct it in future, all that most of us are left with is a feeling of being cheated and a funny smell of inequality.

For me, VAR is on its arse. I hate it. I hate what it has done to the game, because of how it is used and how it is not used. But I could live with it if it was transparent and fair, across all top level matches. Even the offside for their goal was a letdown, as we were told semi automated offsides were going to erase that wait. Yet despite it all, I reiterate my belief that the technology is, mostly, good enough (once they figure out how to freeze frame the millisecond the ball leaves a player's foot), and it is the cloak and dagger implementation of the rules behind closed doors, and the humans hidden in darkness making those decisions, that are putting most of the pressure on VAR and fra top often, affecting the outcome of games through incorrect implementation of the rules or just plain incorrect decisions.

 

[Rammy Blue]

It's a very good question and the answer is worrying whichever way you look at it
Even taking off the blue tinted specs the only possibilities can be:

1) var saw at it and deemed it not sufficient contact to alert the referee

2) var didn't see it

Or possibly:

3) var decided not to touch it as city still had a chance from this passage of play, or because play had restarted before they realised there was a potential penalty they just kept their heads down

Any of the possibilities are just not good enough. It was contact, studs down, on the foot/ankle of Bobb. Late challenge. Foul. Penalty. Simple as. If the referee gives it is never getting overturned, so var has some explaining to do on what exactly happened from their point of view. Because this same situation will happen again.

We certainly didn't deserve anything from the game as it finished, but a penalty changes the game. We could have rallied behind it, who knows


But most of all, it's missing a key decision in a game, which wasn't even exactly hard to call or contentious. So the question should be asked, and answered by Webb and his cronies. Why? Why does that happen? Human error? Not enough eyes?

If the referee doesn't spot it, then it's exactly what VAR is there to do, but as we have said so many times before it seems to be the humans in the process, and their pliable interpretations of the rules, that undermine the whole concept.

Clearly the referee should have been sent to the screen, clearly he didn't see it in real time, and should have been given the opportunity to review. I hate the game being stopped, but for penalties, red cards, then fair enough. Get those ones right, please.

Just in the two games I watched this weekend (ok, I only half-watched the raggies) I saw several plain wrong decisions, some of which greatly altered the outcomes. Fulham similarly must be wondering what the hell is going on, because unless it is explained and efforts are made to correct it in future, all that most of us are left with is a feeling of being cheated and a funny smell of inequality.

For me, VAR is on its arse. I hate it. I hate what it has done to the game, because of how it is used and how it is not used. But I could live with it if it was transparent and fair, across all top level matches. Even the offside for their goal was a letdown, as we were told semi automated offsides were going to erase that wait. Yet despite it all, I reiterate my belief that the technology is, mostly, good enough (once they figure out how to freeze frame the millisecond the ball leaves a player's foot), and it is the cloak and dagger implementation of the rules behind closed doors, and the humans hidden in darkness making those decisions, that are putting most of the pressure on VAR and fra top often, affecting the outcome of games through incorrect implementation of the rules or just plain incorrect decisions.

The bit that still irks me about the semi automated var is I’m still not convinced about them choosing the frame that’s used for deciding when the ball is kicked. Did we ever get the chip into the ball or have we had clarity on how this is decided?

 

[bluetonium]

The bit that still irks me about the semi automated var is I’m still not convinced about them choosing the frame that’s used for deciding when the ball is kicked. Did we ever get the chip into the ball or have we had clarity on how this is decided?

Apparently, according to the premier league website:;

Semi-automated VAR for offside uses multiple stadium cameras to track 29 points on each player and the ball's position in 3D space, feeding data into an artificial intelligence system. This technology automatically flags potential offsides and generates a 3D graphic with the offside line. The VAR then reviews the automated outcome, validates the data, and confirms or corrects the decision with the on-field referee.

Still, how that relates to a 3 minute delay on Saturday I'm not sure. Maybe a camera was down or someone spilled ice cream on the screen at stockley park.

 

[BlueHammer85]

Don’t miss the 50+ pages of outrage after every televised match.

Watched Newcastle game, Gordon would likely got away with just a yellow for that challenge- was a clear red.

Ref explained the decision to crowd which is what many on here have been crying out for. (Personally I don’t like it)

Will be some shite decision and hiccups always but as I always said, VAR will always look at ways to improve, it has and it’s rapidly getting better.

 

[super_city_si]

Seems to have become incredibly selective and used to manipulate games.

How can you watch uniteds goal and decide it’s not a push? It’s fucking pointless now if it’s also
Getting decisions wrong. Just keep the semi auto offside and scrap the fucking rest.

 

[madloaf]

?

Even ESPN VAR review said it should have been a penalty and they are usually very red leaning.

 

[madloaf]

Don’t miss the 50+ pages of outrage after every televised match.

Watched Newcastle game, Gordon would likely got away with just a yellow for that challenge- was a clear red.

Ref explained the decision to crowd which is what many on here have been crying out for. (Personally I don’t like it)

Will be some shite decision and hiccups always but as I always said, VAR will always look at ways to improve, it has and it’s rapidly getting better.

It's improvement seems to be slowing down based on errors. Unless there's another metric to measure it by?

 

[Gordyola]

Don’t miss the 50+ pages of outrage after every televised match.

Watched Newcastle game, Gordon would likely got away with just a yellow for that challenge- was a clear red.

Ref explained the decision to crowd which is what many on here have been crying out for. (Personally I don’t like it)

Will be some shite decision and hiccups always but as I always said, VAR will always look at ways to improve, it has and it’s rapidly getting better.

As they say in your part of the world “are you having a giraffe”
Just this weekend alone there has been numerous inconsistencies the rags penalty similar others this weekend not awarded, the rags goal v Fulham The non intervention Bobb foul in penalty area
We also saw the ref take ages to book two players in a City Spurs when he was chatting to VAR why?
It’s no better than week 1 and is being used to manipulate outcomes

 

[pudge]

Don’t miss the 50+ pages of outrage after every televised match.

Watched Newcastle game, Gordon would likely got away with just a yellow for that challenge- was a clear red.

Ref explained the decision to crowd which is what many on here have been crying out for. (Personally I don’t like it)

Will be some shite decision and hiccups always but as I always said, VAR will always look at ways to improve, it has and it’s rapidly getting better.

You're too far gone to even see what's right in front of you every single week. At this point you're just being devil's advocate

 

[Blue2112]

Not for one minute do I think it’d have changed the result, as you could easily argue about the Trafford non-sending off being an awful mistake too, but I’ve just seen ref watch and for the first time seen the penalty not being given for VDV on Bobb as it was opposite end of the ground from where I sit. I just want to know, other than the obvious plays in blue & it’s City, why VAR did not get involved and give the decision? It’s just plain wrong and this is exactly the kind of incident that we should be kicking up a fuss about and requesting an explanation.

We’ve see Arsenal get a pen for less contact, and ffs they were 4-0 up at the time.

It’s just not acceptable or good enough and I don’t understand why we don’t highlight these inconsistencies and call out the piss poor double standard refereeing.

I said it afrer the Palace cup final that we are just too passive as a football team. Infact as a whole club, we never speak out from the top, Pep pays more respect to every club we play every week than i can fathom out and the players rarely contest a decision. Where have the so called dark arts gone?

Maybe its down to the 115 charges but I think as a club we rarely get involved in anything publicly contentious. Unless its againsy out own fans and then it seems the gloves come off.

 

[BlueHammer85]

You're too far gone to even see what's right in front of you every single week. At this point you're just being devil's advocate

not at all, its much better for the game.

easy to have nostalgic memories of the game before VAR and think everyone could accept a refs mistake, they couldn't - it was ruining the game.

the ones that said VAR would destroy the game and fans would stop going were the ones to far gone.

 

[pudge]

not at all, its much better for the game.

easy to have nostalgic memories of the game before VAR and think everyone could accept a refs mistake, they couldn't - it was ruining the game.

the ones that said VAR would destroy the game and fans would stop going were the ones to far gone.

It's not about nostalgia and thinking everything was perfect before.

You advocate for it and thus see nothing wrong with it ever.

 

[thegoatsthegoat]

not at all, its much better for the game.

easy to have nostalgic memories of the game before VAR and think everyone could accept a refs mistake, they couldn't - it was ruining the game.

the ones that said VAR would destroy the game and fans would stop going were the ones to far gone.

You are fucking mental mate. It has destroyed the game and has gone from us all shouting refs are dodgy for missing something in live action, to people sitting in studios, rewatching incidents and still getting them wrong. You want to use VAR overturning last nights yellow to a red for example, which was the right decision but for me refs bottle them type of calls now as they know VAR will decide for sure. So that side of things is hard to judge as you don't know that without VAR would he have thought differently?

You say its improving (it isn't) look at United, they give a pen for a challenge that happens often in the area, ok if thats the new rules, why does Uniteds goal then stand? That isn't a case of improving or getting better. That is sheer deciding one rule for one and another for someone else. How do you combat that? Stop digging.

 

[The Light Was Yellow Sir]

not at all, its much better for the game.

easy to have nostalgic memories of the game before VAR and think everyone could accept a refs mistake, they couldn't - it was ruining the game.

the ones that said VAR would destroy the game and fans would stop going were the ones to far gone.

And yet, here we are.

4 minutes for semi automated VAR to overturn a linesman's decision and the missed penalty on Bobb.

We have 2 identical fouls in the area, on by a defender and one by an attacker and VAR decides penalty.
We have a bloke pushed in the back jumping up for a header and no foul is given.

An Arsenal player stubs his toe on a Leeds foot, VAR decides penalty.

All we are getting is the same bad decisions that take an age.

Sadly, referees and VAR's are manipulating the outcome of football matches and, possibly in true paranoid fashion, they seem to be favouring some sides more than others.

 

[bridgeno1]

On my YouTube feed was a video of when premier league footballers 'lose control'. It wasn't as drastic as that but I did notice a couple of things. Firstly every single time Forest were involved in a clip it was always Morgan Gibbs-White being a complete dick. Secondly, Haaland will never ever win a penalty for holding at a corner. There was one comedy clip vs the Rags when Hoijlund was basically wrestling Haaland at the corner and the ref totally ignored it. And there were some horrendous tackles by Liverpool players that led to player pile-ins but the Dipper always just got booked alongside the opponent who reacted angrily to a potential ankle-breaker.

 

[Newman Noggs]

Tonight shows exactly what would happen if we dispensed with VAR. At least with VAR there is a chance they'll be shamed into giving correct decisions when it comes to united.

 

[stonerblue]

not at all, its much better for the game.

easy to have nostalgic memories of the game before VAR and think everyone could accept a refs mistake, they couldn't - it was ruining the game.

the ones that said VAR would destroy the game and fans would stop going were the ones to far gone.

How was 'normal' refereeing 'ruining the game'?

 

[Gordyola]

Tonight shows exactly what would happen if we dispensed with VAR. At least with VAR there is a chance they'll be shamed into giving correct decisions when it comes to united.

With VAR:
Grimsby second goal would have been disallowed for handball
Grimsby offside goal would still have been disallowed as it became subjective, did Maguire play the ball deliberately or not? We all know the outcome