PGMOL has just released the audio of Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal made by VAR against Spurs on Saturday.
This is what happened when they finally came to the decision to chalk off Luis Diaz’s opening goal.
Embed from Getty Images“Delay the game, stop the game.” “They’ve restarted the game. Can’t do anything, can’t do anything.” “Yeah, they’ve restarted. Yeah.” “I can’t do anything. I can’t do anything. ****.”
VAR: Sport Bible
Now this is where we have a big issue, communication. Surely VAR should have told to Darren England ”Hang on a second, Look we think that Diaz might be offside, but if you stop the game and come and look at it on the monitor, will give you every angle we have, and the final decision will be yours.”
Saying that you can’t do anything is not only wrong but naive as well.
It is the Video Assistant Referee’s job to correct the clear and obvious errors made by the referee and linesman, not to re-referee the game by making naive decisions like this.
What’s the point of having the technology if we can’t define clear and obvious mistakes?
Unsurprisingly, Jurgen Klopp has asked for a replay to take place between the two clubs, as a way to serve justice to both clubs.
“Something like this never happened, so that is why I think a replay is the right thing to do,”
Klopp:BBC Sport
While that could be an option, the difficulty would be trying to fit it into a jam-packed schedule.
Perhaps the safest option could have been to award a point to each side as they do for a draw, especially when the margin of defeat was only one goal, and had Diaz’s goal stood, which it should have, then it should be changed to 2-2.
Imagine if the Reds lose the Premier League title by a point or goal difference to City or whoever, it would be like VAR has beaten them to the Title, not their rivals.
Jones Red Card
Embed from Getty ImagesAs for Curtis Jones’s red card, it’s an absolute joke that the FA hasn’t overturned their decision to give the 22-year-old a three-match ban.
When you see someone go in for a tackle, the aim is to clearly take the ball away from the player, which Jones does, but it’s just that the followthrough of his foot slipping on the ball, makes it look like he’s actually trying to break Yves Bissouma’s ankle.
it’s like VAR is now sending people off for accidentally hurting another player, which is just not right.
Football has always been a contact sport, and people who are challenging each other to win the ball will always get hurt, there’s nothing you can do about it, that’s why we love the game.
What some people also don’t get is because the ball is rolling at pace, when you try to touch the top of the ball with your foot while you are tackling another player, the foot slides over the top of the ball, therefore giving a red card for that is very harsh indeed.
The other issue with VAR is that it takes so much time to make the decision, that referees are now adding more time at the end of matches, which can cause more injuries to players.
Solutions for Fixing VAR
Even though most people are against VAR, there are some possible solutions that may help improve it.
Why not play the footage on the big screen where everyone can see and at the same time, listen to the conversation between the on-field referee and VAR referee?
Sometimes watching a replay on a bigger screen makes the incident clearer to see than on a small screen because of a bigger viewing space.
More importantly, it would help if everyone could hear the conversation between the on-field referee and VAR official so that they know what they are discussing and why.
That way we know the reason as to why the decision has been made.
This is the biggest problem with VAR, it’s not just the lack of consistency but the lack of communication between the VAR, the referee, and the players.
What we don’t want is the system to start re-refereeing the match, which would then cause chaos, as it would mean that the referee is no longer in charge of the game.
That is why PGMOL needs to either scrap VAR or tweak the system in such a way that the technology becomes more consistent and reliable to use.