Phil McNulty Q&A – VAR overhaul needed?published at 15:29 13 May
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Coley: Hi Phil. Absolutely loving your Monday Q and A. Either of Arsenal or Man City will be very worthy champions after another thrilling Premier League season. I think Liverpool’s challenge was severely dented by two crucial VAR decisions in critical matches at Anfield, Doku’s ‘chest high’ boot and Odegard’s ‘handball’.
I think the potential points swings and momentum from those games were hugely significant, definitely for LFC and could have been for the other challengers. VAR didn’t point the referee to the TV monitor in either case. I think the way our beautiful game is officiated overall, interpretation of rules, refereeing and VAR and its interpreters, needs reviewing and overhauling ASAP, do you agree?
Thanks for you kind words, Coley. I was at both of those Liverpool games against Arsenal and Manchester City and was astonished those penalties were not awarded. You can add Luis Diaz’s “goal” against Spurs to that list.
As for VAR, I’ve made my feelings very clear on this. I think it has been used very badly in this country. It lacks communication, takes too long, is too invasive and now it seems they are almost looking for reasons to disallow goals. It has sucked the joy out of the game, with no-one even sure whether to celebrate a goal any more.
It needs seriously looking at. I’d be happy with goal-line technology and automated offside while this is done.
Other opinions are available – but that’s mine.