Has VAR ruined football?

Today's PL match between Manchester City & West ham was largely interrupted by VAR It was no less used Three times to make the 'absolute correct decision'.

We know this was the brainstorm from FIFA and we saw first hand in Russia how much of a problem it could be.

I haven't seen any of the incidents today where VAR was used, but on 606 tonight a Man City fan was not happy with VAR it took away the enjoyment of football 'inside the stadium' and 'VAR has been brought in for the armchair fan'. was he right?

Should VAR be used more like a challenge in tennis - but that challenge can only come from the coach on the side lines and not by any player on the field of play?
I'm sure there was a rule brought in where players are not allowed to pressure referees to use VAR or they will be booked.

I would like to know your opinions on this before I add my own

Early days for the Premier League. The World Cup or Euros etc was a whole different ball game.(excuse the pun) I think give it a few months and then see how thing are with it-look how long it took to get those special watches that alert referees when the ball crosses the line, but now everyone accepts the decision made by the technology. What they do need to do with VAR is show what happened on a big screen so the crowd know what has been going on-like they do with Cricket and Rugby.

It's right that it's here. The decisions have to be correct and this ensures that. My opinion on this hasn't changed. There were so many refereeing mistakes and it was needed to correct those. Looking at it in a few months isn't going to change anything, it's here to stay and that's that - we're all going to have to get used to it. I was under the impression that they already do show it on the big screen - they did today at the matches I watched on television and it was shown on the big screen at Wembley last season in the FA Cup Semi Final?

VAR is all about the TV audience and needs fucking off as soon as..

The game is supposedly about the players on the pitch and the fans in the ground.

No, the mistakes need to be "fucked off", as you put it. It is about the players and the fans - that's why it's there. There were so many complaints because the decisions were atrocious. This for me is the way to combat those complaints and mistakes.

I get that not everyone has to like it, but we have to accept it. It's not going to go away.

I really like VAR it will stop a lot of the con's which the big teams get advantages from that is the point of it anyway let's be honest , yeah sometimes VAR does make mistakes but if used probably it will the best thing that has ever happened to Football and it is an even playing field between the Big Teams and the Small Teams.

I agree with Regenerated. The decisions need to be right. I don't buy this "mistakes are part of the game" line people spout out either, there is so much money in the game now and it's feasible that some of these decisions may be the difference between winning/losing, promotion/relegation etc.

I saw the Jesus disallowed goal today (didn't see the other incidents) and for me the problem isn't with VAR. That decision was correct by the letter of the law. The problem is the offside rule.

I also don't like the idea of a set number of challenges. What if a team needs a goal in the dying seconds to avoid relegation, they are denied a penalty, or they score and it's wrongly disallowed but they've used their challenges up? I think that would be extremely unfair.

I think it's a good thing that it's been introduced, and I reckon it'll lead to more correct decisions than incorrect decisions, but its controversies will be talked about much more than the successes. Maybe it could do with some tweaking, but on the whole I support it being used myself.

(11-08-2019 01:33 )DarthFootman Wrote:  I also don't like the idea of a set number of challenges. What if a team needs a goal in the dying seconds to avoid relegation, they are denied a penalty, or they score and it's wrongly disallowed but they've used their challenges up? I think that would be extremely unfair.

The argument in favour of a set number of challenges I suppose is that if the challenges are used wisely then teams will still have them available near the end.
This on the assumption that if a challenge is successful the team in play does not lose the availability of that challenge. They only lose the availability of a challenge if it is unsuccessful. This is what happens in cricket.
I'm not saying that I necessarily agree or disagree with the argument though .

(10-08-2019 22:18 )GMach1 Wrote:  What they do need to do with VAR is show what happened on a big screen

This is the procedure laid down by the Premier League. When a VAR check is being carried out a message is to be shown on the big screen to inform the spectators of the check. If the VAR check results in a changed decision then a video replay of the incident is to be shown on the screen to demonstrate why the decision was changed. This procedure does not apply to Liverpool and Man Utd as Anfield and Old Trafford aren't equipped with the big screens.

I wasn't aware of that and I saw a still of the screen at one game which said "red card check" so it seems people do know. Perhaps Anfield and Old Trafford should consider getting a screen, it's not as if they can't afford it.