Football has changed over time but the inconsistency in rules stay the same. Back then it was referees who were always culpable for making some strange decisions that everyone frowns over and the league would always try to spin the rule just to accommodate what the referee has done. The VAR was introduced to help the referees but I think we are back to how things used to be.
A lot of people would say that it's the referee who still makes the final decision but still, the referee gets suggestions from those in the VAR, staring at 7 different screens and angles, showing what they wanted the referee to see and that's like influencing the decision to me. How can you have 7 angles to an incident and still make a terrible decision? I agree with those who said that maybe VAR should be limited to some life-threatening fouls, off-the-ball incidents and offsides because these are clean and obvious. Even with the offside, there is still a way they draw their lines to make us see what they want us to see. It's killing football more than it's helping.
This last weekend, most fans were fuming as well as the coaches after they cost their team points. It's crazy and insane how they still make bad calls despite the pieces of evidence presented to them. The foul on Christian Eriksen which led to Arsenal's goal that was ruled out, I would only say that Eriksen got bundled off the ball and shouldn't have been a foul because he was quickly closed down and challenged on the ball but seeing how the referee gave a foul for something similar on Martinelli earlier in the game, I can understand why the referee gave that foul and chalked out the goal just to stay consistent with his call during the game. It still doesn't mean the goal deserves to be ruled out, it only highlights how the rules are changing over time and it's ruining the game with soft calls for fouls.
I still can't understand how the lineman would flag for offside and the referee would blow immediately when he knows that he should allow the play to continue since it would be reviewed later and that was what chalked off Coutinho's goal against Manchester City. That goal would have won the game for Villa but it's another obvious call from the referee that ruined the game for Aston Villa.
I also cannot understand how the goal for West Ham got disallowed too when it was obvious that Mendy wouldn't have quickly gotten up to stop the ball. If that clip was watched closely, it would be seen that Mendy saw Cornet coming and he knew he wouldn't be able to react quickly and he made a mess out of the situation from a player that was about to trip over by rolling shamelessly on the pitch. They watched the screen many times and still couldn't see they were deceived by a goalkeeper that has been prone to mistakes this season.
Another decision that I cannot understand would be Newcastle's goal that was cancelled after the ball came off Crystal Palace's defender. Mitchell pushed Willock onto his goalkeeper; Guaita and the ball came off Mitchell into his own net while Willock clattered into with Guaita. How they viewed this on 7 different screens and still didn't see Mitchell was the one that pushed Willock into his own goalkeeper and still disallowed the goal is something that would remain a shock to me. What are these people viewing in the VAR room? Are they taking a nap or they are pushing a narrative of the things they want us to see because the way they justify their actions says a lot and it makes you wonder what they are seeing when everyone is clearly seeing their errors?
These are just tips of the iceberg of decisions that VAR has gotten wrong already this season and it calls for concerns if it's doing the job we all felt it should be doing. I know it has helped a lot too but when you see obvious decisions being watched on the screen getting overturned despite the clear and obvious footage, you can't help but wonder if VAR was set up just to twist decisions to favour certain teams for that time being.
Which of the games did you think the Referee and the VAR ruined over the weekend?
Thank you for your time.
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