We have seen the occasional example of VAR working well and helping a ref reach the correct decision, but it really does feel like it’s caused more problems than it solved.
When it was introduced it was meant to prevent clear and obvious errors from happening – Think of an incident like Zidane’s headbutt in the World Cup Final if that was missed, rather than drawing lines on a screen to arrive at some questionable offside calls.
Leeds saw the prefect example of this tonight as Patrick Bamford saw a late equaliser chalked off for offside against Wolves, and the images that were used don’t really seem to clear anything up.
In many ways you can understand the process that led to the decision standing because the linesman initially flagged for offside, but the replays and stills are too close to call so it can’t fall under the “clear and obvious” category to have it overturned.
The problem here is the images don’t seem capable of identifying the exact frame when the ball is played forward, while the lines are drawn at a different angle to the play so they don’t get to view the incident right along the line.
Bamford is obviously furious about this after the game, but you have to fear he might face some repercussions for this tweet:
The problem for Bamford is the FA would much rather silence criticism rather than dealing with the actual problem, so expect some kind of charge for “bringing the game into disrepute” to follow in the next few days