VAR is doing its job - it’s highlighting how appalling the refereeing is in the this country. Why do you think FIFA don’t use them in world cups?

It must be really difficult to find a ref who has no geographic interest in any game in the PL on one day. Have to start getting them exclusively from Wales and Cornwall.

To be fair, I think we made a mistake by not having all 10 outfield players sprinting up the referee waving their arms in the air.

Just seen on Motd official s either incompetent or corrupt,probably both, certainly inconsistent and unacceptable

I doubt they are corrupt, but they were certainly incompetent.

The appalling inconsistencies with handballs against Villa and Man City are unacceptable. I can accept mistakes, but not when they occur in the same game with the same VAR official.

How anyone can look at the De-Bruyne handball and not give it, makes you wonder if they are corrupt, though I highly doubt it.

I agree with BS. The VAR technology is not the issue here. It is just highlighting the complete incompetence of those appointed to use it. As a result VAR is ruining the game that we all love.

VAR was introduced to simplify things and to eliminate all of those contentious issues like handball, penalties, offside and diving. It should also have shattered the theory that the so called big clubs get the decisions.

When it was used in the World Cup I was really impressed and I fully supported it being used in our leagues. The use of the pitch side monitor by the ref was a key part of this.

The complete shambles that we have now is not down to the technology. It’s down to the fools appointed to use it. The on field ref has to be empowered to make the final decision. Not some muppet In Stockley Park. The refs have to be given the power to view the pitch side monitor as many times as is needed. Stockley Parks role should be advisory only. The final call has to rest with the on field ref. At the minute it’s like the refs are more than happy to hide behind VAR. I understand that Mike Dean when asked by the Wolves captain why their goal against us was ruled out, replied that he had just been told. In other words, don’t blame me guv. Not my decision.

How do we fix it? Do we have to say that any time the ball strikes a hand in the box, irrespective of hand position or intent it is a penalty? This would simplify things in one way, but I guess then you’d just get players whacking the ball against opponents deliberately in order to get a penalty. Not ideal. The other idea is to give each team a fixed number of appeals per game. That way at least you could get a decision reviewed.

Until they can decide and agree on which way to go, VAR should potentially be halted. In its current form it is just infuriating.

Good points Ian. On handball we can’t go to a place of just giving handball for any contact. That would just be changing the game for the worse just so VAR is easier to implement.

I’d argue the opposite - don’t use VAR for handball until the process is correct. I fully accept that there has to be a level of interpretation for a deliberate hand ball, but when we’ve seen 3 incidents involving us and the interpretation was totally different, VAR just looks a sham.

The best argument you can have for the KDB handball not being given is that he was protecting his face. But to then give a penalty for Man City for a player jumping with his back to the ball but for his arm protecting his face is scandalous.

I’d love to know what the explanation was as to why we weren’t given that penalty against Villa. I want to see that played alongside Praet’s yesterday and someone to explain to me why one is a pen and one is not.

But what we actually need is an apology. They got it wrong and VAR didn’t work. Think they need to start admiring this so they can fix it.

* admiring = admitting

comment by Black Starr (U12353)
posted 11 hours, 55 minutes ago
VAR is doing its job - it’s highlighting how appalling the refereeing is in the this country. Why do you think FIFA don’t use them in world cups?
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Yep. VAR isn't the problem, it's the fact that it is implemented by humans, who will inevitably make mistakes and be inconsistent – it's just what humans do.
Not sure how you ever get round that?

Roboref – part cyborg, part Jon Moss...

It has failed in its current format ,it is not being used at it was designed for and has succeeded in frustrating all fans and has highlighted the incompetence and inconsistency of our appalling officials,who are allowed to get away with constant failure to do job properly without fear of investigation or accountability.
It has been a disaster under Mike Riley who should have been sacked due to his failure to operate VAR properly.
It should be scrapped and only used for offside.
It has shown that instead of one questionable official giving decisions inconsistently we now have two,who are in fact workmates.all very worrying for the long term future of game.
Yesterday we had Jon Miss as fourth official,so had to suffer three total clowns running the game,so what did we expect?

Good idea Mersey. Maybe stopping using VAR for handball disputes until they’ve come up with a consistent approach is the way to go for now.

Like Vulpes says though, it’s the human input aspect that is difficult to fix. I quite like the idea of Roboref. Hee Hee!

I think that fans in general would be less angry if they could see evidence that lessons were being learned from these mistakes. It’s the fact that the same mistakes are being repeated every week that is so costly and annoying to teams and fans alike.

Any new process or system will have teething issues, but you have to treat it like a work in progress and implement fixes whenever flaws appear. I’ve heard it said that they might review it all at the end of the season. Why do we need to wait until then? Get a team together made up of experienced refs and ex pro players, identify all of the issues, brainstorm and discuss all potential solutions, select the best ideas and trial them and implement them if successful. Surely that is something that could be done immediately?

My other annoyance with VAR is that refs have stopped making big decisions. It’s clear that they would rather let play go on than make a big call assuming VAR will intervene if needed. But then VAR have been told it has to be clear and obvious, so they don’t overturn.

As a result, you get less decisions for the attacking team and that’s wrong.

I’m with Dunge now. I’ve lost all patience with VAR and I want it removed until its fit for purpose. I would rather one incompetent ref looks after it if it stays with pitch side monitors.

Problem with VAR is that the referee's are all colleagues and scared to undermine each other. Get a neutral party in there that knows the rules of the game.

As seen somewhere else - get a women to do it they are always right...

Can we use foreign refs for VAR?
Get rid of the old boys club and no Derby or Nottingham ref used for say a Leicester vs Bournemouth game.

comment by ianbluefox (U10176)
posted 5 hours, 35 minutes ago
Good idea Mersey. Maybe stopping using VAR for handball disputes until they’ve come up with a consistent approach is the way to go for now.

Like Vulpes says though, it’s the human input aspect that is difficult to fix. I quite like the idea of Roboref. Hee Hee!

I think that fans in general would be less angry if they could see evidence that lessons were being learned from these mistakes. It’s the fact that the same mistakes are being repeated every week that is so costly and annoying to teams and fans alike.

Any new process or system will have teething issues, but you have to treat it like a work in progress and implement fixes whenever flaws appear. I’ve heard it said that they might review it all at the end of the season. Why do we need to wait until then? Get a team together made up of experienced refs and ex pro players, identify all of the issues, brainstorm and discuss all potential solutions, select the best ideas and trial them and implement them if successful. Surely that is something that could be done immediately?
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I understand there's not going to be any change until next season to ensure that all matches this season are treated the same way - even if that leaves something to be desired.

My big beef with it is the lack of communication. Apart from that I'm going against the perceived wisdom and saying we should persevere with it.