Nine out of 10 pundits want to keep VAR but with changes in the way it is used
Tuesday 4 February 2020 22:14, UK
After YouGov's survey on how VAR has been received by Premier League fans this season, we put the same questions to our Sky Sports pundits.
Only one in 25 football fans think VAR has 'worked very well' in the Premier League, according to an exclusive study.
The results, part of a YouGov survey with 1,419 adults across Great Britain who watch matches regularly, revealed just four per cent of fans believe VAR has worked 'very well' and one in four thinks the technology has 'worked well'.
We asked 10 of our pundits for their views on VAR, with only Stephen Warnock insisting we should stop using VAR entirely.
In terms of tweaks and solutions, Jamie Carragher, Gary Neville and Jamie Redknapp were the only pundits to oppose a time limit on how long decisions take, while all but one of the Sky Sports pundits and presenters supported being able to hear the conversations referees are having with the VAR.
What would be your preference on the future use of VAR in football?
If the following changes were made to VAR, would you support them or oppose them?
A time limit on how long it can take for decisions to be made:
Being able to see the video footage the referees are being shown:
Being able to hear the conversation the referees are having regarding the decision:
"VAR has been a success in respect to the accuracy of decisions, particularly with offside and penalties. My feeling, however, is that they need to think more about the fan experience in the ground.
"I don't understand the issue with offside. There has to be a point from which an offside is measured, every single time. The line comes down, and you're either on or off. People ask: 'How can you be so accurate?' When the same methodology and principle is being used each time, you have consistency.
"I might be living in a parallel universe where, for the last five years, I've heard managers complain that when an opposition player is slightly offside, and it hasn't been given as offside. Now it's going against them for inches the other way, and it's being proven by technology, and there is all of a sudden a furore over it. I don't get it at all.
"This idea that VAR ruining football? It's not. What's happening is that VAR is experiencing some turbulence."
"I think the crowd have to be more involved, and I think we almost need to make it more like theatre. Try to flip it on its head. I wouldn't say it has been a massive success, but there were always going to be teething problems.
"I'm probably split on it now; I was massively for technology at the start of the season, and I think we've got to tweak it.
The big thing that frustrates people is not to do with VAR, but with the handball rule - it has to be changed.
"But also those really tight offsides - I was always of the opinion that offside is offside, but now when I see how tight it can be, we're actually losing what is considered 'level'.
"Before the 1990 World Cup, you had to be behind the last defender, then it went to being 'level'. Goals that are being disallowed nowadays are what we used to call 'level'. That was introduced to bring the game forward and bring more goals, but now we're actually going the other way. We're losing that advantage that was given.
"I have to hold my hand up, I was massively for technology. But it feels like we've gone in fully with everything, and there were always going to be problems. But we're not going back, it won't be taken away.
"We have to come up with solutions as to how it can be improved, because we all love the game."
"It has been a shocker! All they had to do was have a meeting a couple of months later and change the rules! Tweak it, you would have thought the rules were written in stone. For the offside rule, draw a line and if there is any part of your body on the other side of the line, you are onside. It is so simple.
"I thought when it was introduced that there would be goals galore. All VAR is for now is to stop a goal, not to give a goal.
"It should be common sense just to make some small tweaks…"
"It hasn't been a success. Are we in a better place now? No. I was a big fan of the introduction of goal line technology, but that was matter of fact, this is still subjective, it's still a matter of opinion.
"If we had the time again, would we have introduced it? The fans don't like it, and for me that's the biggest thing, so it hasn't been a success for me."
"Has it been a success? No.
"I went to the VAR training originally, and I was really for it. I thought it was a great idea, and we want the right decisions to be made, but the more it's going on, week after week, the decisions seem to be spoiling the emotion of the game.
"You see players go to celebrate and then they don't, because they're not sure if it's a goal! And it's the same for fans and pundits. The emotion is being taken away.
"I do think VAR are getting the right decisions, but I often think it's the rulings that need changing. When it's an armpit, that probably has to change."
"It depends how you define success. It has been a success because there are more correct decisions than last season, but in terms of the fan experience, then it probably hasn't been a success.
"I think it has made the game fairer. However, I think it needs tweaks to make it a better experience for the fans inside the stadium."
"No, I don't think it has been a success, but I still support it. The delays, the refusal to go to the pitch-side monitor... I simply asked them in the seminars we attended in the summer: 'Have all the clubs, managers and players agreed to it?' and they said: 'Yes.'
"I then asked them if it would be the referee's final decision, and they said: 'Yes'. That hasn't been the case, so it has failed in that capacity. But I am still a supporter of VAR, and think it could be useful in the game.
"I never thought it would be a 100 per cent success, but it has been far less successful than I anticipated. I wholeheartedly support modern technology in this sport, but the supporters are now going against it, and we can't afford that. The crowd must get on side, and we must take their grievances and ideas into consideration."
"For me, I like VAR because you're getting an honest opinion. If one of the big clubs score a goal, and it's technically not a goal, before VAR that would go down as a goal! Once they sort out what is offside and what isn't, it will be a lot clearer.
"I support them using the audio from the referee's because that would also cut out swearing at the officials, too. In Australia, some conversations between referee and VAR have been revealed, and the reaction has been positive.
"Has it been a success here? I would say yes because the goals that have rightly been disallowed because of offside or a handball. But I do believe there should be some rule changes around certain handballs and offside.
"So I support VAR in that it makes many right decisions, but a refining of the rules is needed. Players and managers have only ever wanted consistency."
"I think it has been mixed. It's difficult because the handball rule is wrong. If the handball rule is different, then VAR works in a way. The offside rule, as marginal as it is, I think that needs changing as well.
"And I think there needs to be a bit of leeway in the decisions given by VAR. Overall I am not a fan of it, and I think it's ruining the game.
"I know we're getting talking points now with VAR, but they are from marginal decisions. We're going back to debating things, and our game is so quick and fast that we don't want to take that away from it."
"No, the use of VAR this season not been a success - not at all. Some things could have been successful but the way we operate VAR in this country is not the correct way."
