VAR decisions

This is because of the thickos that don't understand how it works and the media spinning it that way. For example, Giroud was a foot offside against Man Utd. Had the linesman made the call, not a peep, because it was a VAR referral - 'controversy'.

Like I've said all season, the referees and assistants must have loved this season as they've got away with making terrible decisions and hidden behind a media driven personification of a system.

David Coote and Michael Oliver got little criticism yesterday for the non-red card yesterday, 'VAR' did. Clever.

 

I think you're being overly kind by describing Premier League referees as humans. They are mutants made up from the human gene pool.

 

Good but obvious points about ‘VAR’ being blamed rather than actual individuals.

VAR is just CCTV, it’s inanimate, it captures the cold hard truth. Unfortunately that cold hard truth is then left to be interpreted by incompetent individuals. As everything is being captured there are more opportunities for incorrect decisions to be made by incompetent individuals. Nothing wrong with VAR itself.

 

Would it not be better if the VAR official simply suggests to the referee that he should consult the pitchside monitor if the referee appears to have missed an incident and then the referee himself makes the final decision? Some people on this forum have already suggested this procedure (which is the one recommended by FIFA and used in other countries). The referee's authority will not be undermined and players are more likely to accept the decision. It will not prevent all errors, but the final responsibility will rest with the on-field match officials. Michael Oliver did this during an F.A. Cup game, but it would appear that Mike Riley has directed referees not to use the pitchside monitor during Premier League games. The rationale is to avoid unnecessary delays during the game, but referring incidents to VAR officials in Stockley Park has still resulted in delays.

 

It stands for Video Assisted Referee, doesn't it? It is the individual that should be blamed for not using and/or interpreting the video correctly.

 

Oooops! You’ve forgotten again. No incidents are “referred to VAR”.

 

Temped fate there zz.

 

Obviously, as predicted, if we handle the ball it will be spotted, when it's the other way around. "oops sorry, missed that". Too much is stacked against us. We cannot possibly fight against the officials. White flag time. Well done referees, VAR etc.....you've won.

 

Still think that their 2nd was offside, but havn't seen a proper replay.

 

VAR isn't the reason we're going down. VAR isn't responsible for a poor transfer policy. VAR isn't responsible for hiring Flores.

 

Actually we were going to hire Pardew, but Stockley park intervened.

 

Thought the same, but no he was on side.


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Arsenal fan so hardly a neutral. Probably a season ticket holder in the family stand.

 

What surprised me about it, given how tight it was, was how quickly VAR was able to look at it and make a decision. I dont think VARS been that quick all season and most games I've seen they have spent ages on incidents that were far more obvious and clear cut

 

It was quick because it was in United's favour. Had it been the other way around, more time would have been taken and a reason to disallow it would have been created. These are the facts. It's going on all the time. It's clear that officials are biased and untrustworthy. This manifests itself virtually every week. The level of incompetence is clear as VAR has shown them up.

If you're a favoured club, you get the decisions. If you're one of the other teams, they you get the bad decisions, and it becomes another "hard luck" story.

Watford are not very good, but it's all compounded with key decisions going against you constantly over a season. It takes its toll.

 

Thankfully next season we won't have to worry. We can just go back to general incompetence in the Championship. Which we can also complain about.

 

Its ludicrous how corrupt our officials are and how they are not accountable for their actions. Before VAR we were told they were honest mistakes and that they needed technology to correct them with replays. Now they blatantly favour the team who are presumably good for business for the Premier League. For example Man Utd have been average in the last two years yet they are top of the league for penalties awarded not just this season but last season as well! So VAR is just a continuation of bias refs but instead of one bias ref there are now two.

Why was our goal disallowed for handball today when Ali's goal for Tottenham clearly hit the top of his arm ( review said goal). Simultaneously Kane's foul in the buildup to the goal on one of our players was ignored. That decision cost us two points.

Yet a very less obvious foul prevented Chelsea's equaliser against Man Utd in the week! Guess what - the ref and VAR ' expert' were both from Manchester and I suspect they are Man Utd fans. No sending off for Maguire either for an obvious sending off. Our officials are useless and get away with giving us poor decisions because they know they will get zero criticism from the media and their bosses. They probably laugh at decisions against Watford and could not care less.

Martin Atkinson did not give a clear yellow to Aston Villa's Mings for a clear handball that stopped a counter attack. That game and that decision was the moment our season changed. We almost certainly would of won away to Aston Villa if the correct decision had been made in that game.

Bias is rife by those in charge and VAR has all but confirmed this for me. Its absolutely outrageous and the media and football fans should be shaming these officials rather than moaning about technology which is just the tool that these incompetents dont use for good and just decisions ( which is their job) but to get the decision that will generate the least amount criticism for themselves.

 

The quicker you learn that the Premier League is just the top 6 teams, the quicker you'll enjoy the Championship more.

 

I dont want us to get relegated at all. The main joy from being in the Championship is the race for promotion so we get the rewards of being in the Premier League. Far better just to not get relegated this season in my opinion.

 

But you've given a long list of reasons why it's not a level playing field, why would you want to continue that?

The big 6 at home once a season?

 

Airbrushed from history by the Motd2 day team... No discussion of the tight call on the 2nd goal and no reference at all the the validity of the penalty

 

* Laughs in Troy Deeney

 

It's the laddiest footballiest thing to get wound up about in the whole world.

It's like only ever listening to talksport and only watching SSN. Proper football banter.

 

Why would they bother? There was nothing controversial about either decision. Unless you're the team on the receiving end and you're trying to avoid the reality that the team are **** and can't attack or defend and want to avoid owner criticism at all costs.

 

VAR has made things so much worse as it's ruthlessly exposed how terrible this crop of Premier League officials are. I think most fans could tolerate them missing stuff from their one vantage point with their one opportunity to spot it real time. We moaned a bit about poor positioning or ineptitude but you could understand it's a difficult job.

What VAR has done is expose that some referees exercise judgement and competence that is worse than that of fans. Failing to spot handballs, not overruling for obvious penalties or red cards, overruling when it's not a clear and obvious error.

And it's all compounded by the arrogant way that it's been implemented. We're the "best in the world" so we don't need to follow the international process of adding the ref to look at a monitor. And then they continually tell us that it's working well and ludicrously give themselves 7/10 for its implementation. And that's before we even start on the VAR for offsides is accurate to a millimetre nonsense.

It's not VAR that's the problem (although it fundamentally alters the experience for a match going fan), it's the worst bunch of referees in living memory.

 

I totally agree. I said the same to a journo on Twitter at the start of the season and he scoffed, saying they are amongst the best in the world. The truth is they just aren't very good. And putting a not very good ref in front of a TV doesn't take away from the fact that he simply isn't very good. Couple that with the Premier League culture of normalising cheating and it makes for a cesspit of football.

 

The underlying pressures remain the same. Rule out a goal for one of the big 6 and if there is even a slither of margin for doubt, you will be hauled through the media for days and weeks. Send off a Watford player softly, rule out one of their goals, allow a mistaken goal against them and nobody, apart from 10k nomarks in SW Herts will ever give a toss.

Even here, on this thread a lot of the examples being brought to bear are from the games involving the glamour teams. They are the ones where a global audience scrutinises and discusses every subjective decision.

Nobody is watching when Watford get screwed and nobody mentions it afterwards. Referees and VAR officials are human and will always take the path of least resistance.

VAR should be a no brainer. Allow referees to get more decisions correct and miss fewer incidents, however, the way things have gone, it's been an absolute *********** of an implementation. Interpretation and opinion will always be a factor, but there needs to be as little tolerance for such things for the VAR officials as possible as at present they are making far too many marginal calls, rather than spotting clear and obvious mistakes.

 

I don’t think they did say the bit in bold though. The justification for avoiding the monitors was all about the Premier League waving its willy about and saying it didn’t want the delays and palaver that comes with going over to the screen. I don’t know if it came from the chairmen or the managers but I’m sure views have changed now. I think they thought it would avoid fan unrest and it’s done the opposite.

 

Looking at the potential offside on Martial before his second goal, it does appear marginal. It's certainly not obvious either way whether he is or is not offside.

This should have been scrutinised and we all know how long that check takes. This clearly did not happened on Saturday. There may have been a cursory check (at best) but there was no delay for a VAR check before the kick-off. I cannot see how they could have possibly checked the offside in super quick time, and there was no evidence from commentators or announcements over the loud- speakers to say that a check was being made.

It's just another example of glossing over key events in favour of the other team. Big team bias, or a can't care-less attitude towards us, be it what you like. But VAR, for me, has underlined what I've always suspected about officials and how they treat clubs like Watford. It's of course not 100%, you can always find the odd "irrelevant" decision that's gone our way over the season, but by and large, these decisions are heavily weighted against us.

From memory, the only decisions that have gone our way is the penalty awarded against Chelsea, the trip by Mapps on Vardy at Leicester (although the referee made amends by awarding the softest penalty in history against us in the second half), and the disallowed Liverpool goal at Anfield. I cannot think of anything else that's gone our way at all.

Again, just from memory, these are the things that have gone against us. 4 handball goals scored against us at crucial times at Newcastle, Spurs, Southampton and home to Everton, a Burnley penalty after a VAR review at VR (although that was a correct decision), the ridiculous red cards for Mariappa, Kabasele and Pererya (which was later overturned), the disallowed goal against United (again a correct call), the rushed checking for offside on Marital, the non-penalty award after a VAR check at Spurs, the non-penalty award at Everton after a clear foul on Geri. The non-penalty award against Brighton at home after Murray handled.

I've included correct calls just to emphasise, that things are spotted when it goes against us, but are often missed when it's the other way around. Only one honest conclusion can be drawn from this. Ok, maybe I'm rose-tinted, but the evidence is there for all who care to see.

 

To be fair, they check every goal, he was clearly onside and just because we didn't see a check, doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

I agree with you on a lot of this, although I don't on the number of points we've missed out on and some of your less than objective views of incidents.

Other teams seem to take the VAR 'hits' and get on with it and do well, Sheffield United most obviously, we just use these decisions as a deflection for disgraceful recruitment and management at the highest levels.

VAR isn't sending us down. Giraldi is.

 

Sorry, that's just rubbish. Chris Wilder has been one of the prime complainants regarding VAR, including having a top premier League official discuss VAR in a meeting at their place just last week. In contrast, it is comparatively rare for either Pearson or any other Watford official to make a big issue of VAR.

 

He was not CLEARLY onside, it was very much borderline. If we'd have scored that goal (use your imagination) then I'm pretty sure there would have been a long drawn out check, using the crosses and lines to check to the millimetre for an infringement. As it was a United goal, they gave them the benefit of the doubt. There's no way they examined it as forensically as they should have based on previous VAR calls this season.