VAR (Video Assistant Referee)

[cider spurs]

Well it's coming.

Brighton's FA cup 3rd Round tie with Palace is to be the first competitive club match in England where VAR is to be used.

The powers that be had considered Spurs' tie with Wimbledon as a possible tie to use the system, but have now opted for the Brighton vs Palace fixture.

 

[cider spurs]

Too much money involved in the game now. A wrong call by the ref could be the difference between Champions league and vast income as opposed to missing out through dropped points for a goal not given to secure the win etc.

I don't think it has really slowed the Rugby and Cricket up all that much, in fact I think when decisions are displayed on big screens I think the fan interaction is quite fun.

 

[TheChosenOne]

Perhaps we wouldn't have lost to Arsenal recently and many other discrepancies down the years both for and against us
might have changed footballing history.

However, what's done is done and hopefully in future the right decisions will be made.

 

[spursfan77]

We've been done over so many times by refs that I want it now. Will be shit watching games in the stadium with it though. Can see it sapping away atmosphere.

But it's needed.

 

[cwy21]

It's been used all season in Germany, Belgium, Australia, Portugal, and most of the past MLS season in the US. It's caught a few bad decisions, but it's not going to be a perfect fix. The standard is a "clear and obvious error". If 8 out of 10 think something was a penalty, is that a clear and obvious error? I'm not even sure Mutafi's goal would have been reviewed.

It's coming and it'll be used at the World Cup and probably will be in the Premier League next year, but for every clear error (penalty/offside), there are 20 decisions that aren't so clear and some of those will be reviewed and some of them won't.

 

[sebo_sek]

I Poland it works roughly 50/50 of the time. The have been penaties given when they shouldn't have and those not given when they should. Still better than nothing.

 

[werty]

I think it's good as long as they aren't reviewing everything.

Still won't stop the conspiracy theorist though.

 

[cwy21]

I think it's good as long as they aren't reviewing everything.

Still won't stop the conspiracy theorist though.

They have been averaging about one review in every three matches in MLS, so the impact has been fairly minimal.

If anyone is curious about how it's being used in MLS, here is a video from Howard Webb (who's leading the program here).

It shows examples of where VAR can and can't be used.

 

[Gb160]

I don't think it has really slowed the Rugby and Cricket up all that much, in fact I think when decisions are displayed on big screens I think the fan interaction is quite fun.

They're completely different sports mate, they stop and start all the time anyway, whereas football is more or less continuous.
They used it in the Confederations Cup in the summer and it was almost farcical, 2-3 minute delays which still didn't always result in the correct decision.
There was a few incidents where it was used to decide if a goal should stand, and it completely killed the atmosphere, that euphoria that fans feel when a goal gets scored.

Dont get me wrong, it needs to be introduced, but in its current form its just not ready...I dont think enough thought has gone into the implementation of it.

 

[nailsy]

How the hell is Jonathan Pearce going to cope with this?

 

[cider spurs]

They're completely different sports mate, they stop and start all the time anyway, whereas football is more or less continuous.
They used it in the Confederations Cup in the summer and it was almost farcical, 2-3 minute delays which still didn't always result in the correct decision.
There was a few incidents where it was used to decide if a goal should stand, and it completely killed the atmosphere, that euphoria that fans feel when a goal gets scored.

Dont get me wrong, it needs to be introduced, but in its current form its just not ready...I dont think enough thought has gone into the implementation of it.

I'd have to agree regarding the timescale to complete the reviews. 2-3 minutes would seem far too disruptive to the flow of the game.

Would certainly need tweaking on that basis.

 

[Gb160]

I'd have to agree regarding the timescale to complete the reviews. 2-3 minutes would seem far too disruptive to the flow of the game.

Would certainly need tweaking on that basis.

It was bad mate, I have no problem with the technology being used, the way goal line technology has been implemented is perfect, but thats because no human interaction is involved so the decision is immediate.
I imagine with VAR it will be a rocky road to begin with, but will hopefully improve, just what ive seen so far wasn't great.

 

[cwy21]

Here's a couple recent examples from the Belgian league. This is the system and how it works.

http://www.belgianfootball.be/nl/nieuws/var-speeldag-17-jupiler-pro-league

 

[Sandros Shiny Head]

Any help will do, the standard of refereeing today was toilet

 

[Gb160]

Any help will do, the standard of refereeing today was toilet

It's only used for important decisions, would've made no difference to today's game, he was shit today but didn't give any goals that he should've disallowed, or disallowed any he should've let stand.

 

[cider spurs]

Have to say it has been mentioned an awful lot this weekend thus far.

I've seen a couple of handball decisions that maybe could have been reviewed.

 

[Marty]

Have to say it has been mentioned an awful lot this weekend thus far.

I've seen a couple of handball decisions that maybe could have been reviewed.

Had VAR been in place Watford wouldn't have got their 2-2 goal for starters.

When it comes to goals, red cards and penalty situations, I'm all in favour of VAR.

 

[cider spurs]

Had VAR been in place Watford wouldn't have got their 2-2 goal for starters.

When it comes to goals, red cards and penalty situations, I'm all in favour of VAR.

Saw a snippet on SSN the other morning, post VAR match evening prior.

Basically the just was that after subs, VAR use and stoppages, the game was shortened by 1 minute as the ref hadn't added enough time on to allow for all the stoppages.

My point being, even without VAR the ref's don't always add the correct amount of time IMO.

Plenty of games I've seen 5 subs and 2 goals scored in the second half.

Ref adds 2 minutes ( guidelines suggest 30 secs a substitution )

That's two and a half minutes right there, add the fouls and free kicks, injuries, Ben Foster and numerous times minutes are dropped.

I'm all for VAR if used correctly. I certainly don't buy into this idea banded around by some that ball in game time will reduce significantly, maybe the ref's need a little reminder as to what time to add more importantly

 

[Marty]

I'm all for VAR if used correctly. I certainly don't buy into this idea banded around by some that ball in game time will reduce significantly, maybe the ref's need a little reminder as to what time to add more importantly

Totally agree with you here, IMO five minutes or more added should be the rule rather than the exception, and even more so if VAR is introduced.

 

[Rocksuperstar]

Comedy.

The lines aren't square across the pitch and were apparently drawn using MSpaint. VAR could be great but bullshit like this is going to consign it straight to the bin.