We'll still have games being stopped for interminable checks, we'll still have goals not being celebrated as much as they would have been due to their provisional nature, we'll still have incorrect decisions, and we'll still have an uneven playing field depending on what tier a team plays in.
The personnel watching the screens won't change any of that.
I have no basis for this theory, but I still believe that the FA and/or PGMOL deliberately fucked up the implementation and use of VAR as much as they could, so that after a few seasons it would be scrapped.
Well, when you implement something in a terrible way, this happens.
In the States, the NFL rolled out possibly the worst video review system ever three decades ago and the cultural memory has persisted to the point where American leagues appear to avoid the worst mistakes.
Agreed, but it's not just the implementation IMO. Football ⚽ just isn't suited to this sort of thing, it's much too free-flowing. It's not like tennis or cricket or football 🏈 which stop frequently anyway.
I don't think VAR was ever, nor is ever, going to work, at least not to a degree where it's worth the downsides it brings.
Soccer stops after goals for people to dance around, mug for photos, put the ball under their shirt and suck their thumb, taunt the opposing supporters, etc.
Soccer stops after fouls for people to roll around and act like they have a compound hip fracture, and for the teammates to surround the ref and scream at him.
I'm not opposed to these things except the ref-crowding.
It's also a nice coincidence that these happen to be prime situations for a video official to check things.
The offsides hair splitting and angel pinhead dancing done in PL VAR is ridiculous though.
This was a problem created by the refs in the PL, not by VAR. When La Liga is able to have a mostly non-controversial VAR with the likes of Hernandez Hernandez (who's so bad you have to say his name twice), then it isn't due to the quality of the refs. Even games in CONCACAF, which has to deal with CONCACAF refs AND players, is able to handle VAR fine. It's weird how the biggest issues are from one league.
This is so dumb... the only reason I even watch football is the malicious glee I get when a dumb celebration is cancelled after VAR clearly shows it was an invalid goal.
The Premier League’s figures show the number of correct decisions in matches has increased from 82% before VAR was introduced to 96% currently. With semi-automated offside technology due to be introduced early next season, it is felt that figure will increase even further.
So these people want to have 1/5 of the decisions be wrong again in order to win. How amazingly convenient.