It will not work well in its current format and it won't be long until fans have had enough.

The introduction was to prevent 'clear and obvious' errors, such as the Henry handball against Ireland and the Freddie Sears phantom goal, which in fairness don't happen too often, as fouls and handballs are usually subjective. Goal line technology is great as there is no grey area.

For the rare occasion there is a 'clear and obvious' error, a VAR system would be effective with a review system - 1 per review per captain per game.

The saddest part is that we will reach a point where we can't celebrate the goal because we're waiting for a confirmation 10 seconds later, by which point the moment of euphoria has passed.

People can live with minor refereeing errors, they tend to even themselves out over a course of a season anyway. I don't buy into the nonsense that bigger clubs get preferential treatment.

From what I've seen so far, there have been some horrendous refereeing decisions going against what everyone else can see - e.g. the handball decision given against PSG last season against United.

It works better in other sports due to the stop/start nature. Checking every goal/penalty decision is killing it for the fans.

Upend football

I have to say that I am a bit uncomfortable with the offside aspect of VAR whereby one can be given offside by the length of a toe.

In cricket, if an umpire in a LBW situation gives 'Not out' because he believes the ball is missing the stumps but technology reveals it would have just brushed the stumps, the 'Not out' stands'. I think that over half the ball needs to touch the stumps for the decision to be overturned.

Perhaps there should be a similar stance with VAR under the umbrella of a 'Clear and obvious error'.It cannot be a 'clear and obvious error' if the assistant deems a player is onside and it is revealed that he was offside by a hair's breadth.

Edited by Willo (13 Aug 2019 11.07am)