Offside, or not offside; penalty or no penalty, these were the words that dominated the Premier League at the weekend. And they were all linked to a small three letter word that is dividing football fans across the country, V-A-R.
Yet again VAR impacted the Premier League at the weekend, Crystal Palace having their goal ruled out, McBurnie’s goal being allowed despite potential handball. All decisions that could’ve had a massive impact on the weekends results. Would Liverpool’s unbeaten run have come to an end if Tomkins goal wasn’t disallowed? VAR had many interventions at the weekend, here are some of the key decisions and talking points that I have highlighted from the weekend:
Crystal Palace 1 – 2 Liverpool
In the 42nd Minute James Tomkins scored for Palace to give them the lead against a Liverpool side who were far from their best, however the goal got overturned after a VAR review ruled that Lovren had been pushed by Jordan Ayew moments before Tomkins headed into the net. Personally I believe it is a foul, the highlights of the incident clearly show that Lovren was shoved by Ayew who made no attempt to get the ball and therefore deserved the booking he received as well as Tomkins goal being disallowed. Some people do believe differently however. There is the argument that even if Lovren hadn’t been pushed, that he would never have reached the ball anyway as the cross was way above him, therefore the shove didn’t affect play. I can vaguely understand this argument because it is very clear that unless Lovren suddenly became 9ft tall, he would never have reached the ball. Having said that, Ayew did foul Lovren, and actually the incident happened in such close proximity to the goal, that a foul had to be awarded and the goal disallowed. Despite fans saying that Liverpool seem to get lucky with VAR, in my opinion VAR was spot on with this decision. The biggest problem with the whole incident though, was the length of time VAR took to review the decision. This is VAR’s biggest problem which needs improving fast, something it is not! The time between Tomkins scoring and Ayew being booked was four minutes. This length of stoppage can completely kill the flow of the game and the momentum a team may have, it also leaves fans getting restless and frustrated, which potentially makes them more likely to get on the referee’s back, something VAR is supposed to reduce. I believe the maximum amount of time it should take is one minute, possibly up to two minutes if a referee’s monitor is in use, which they never seem to be!
Manchester City 2-1 Chelsea
But should it have been 3? With only a few minutes remaining Sterling scored what everyone thought was City’s third goal of the match, VAR deemed it to be offside. Offsides or being more specific the margin a player is offside has been one of the biggest talking points and controversies of VAR this season. Those that watched the game or have seen the highlights will have seen just how small the margin he was offside by, millimetres at most. Now I am one who believes that at the end of the day, offside means offside, no matter how small or large the margin, if you are found to have been in an offside position and had intervened with play, then the opposition get a free-kick. Now to many a fans disgust, this is an area I think VAR as excelled in, because as we have learnt from football in the past, officials can’t see everything, or get every decision correct (everyone remembers THAT goal against Germany!). VAR is taking pressure off linesmen’s, if they aren’t sure about something they no longer have to go with their gut, they can leave their flag down and let VAR deal with it. Some offside decisions can’t be caught by the naked eye, but they can be made by VAR no matter how small the margin of offside is, surely the whole point of VAR is to reduce the number of errors in a game. So if a player scores from an offside position no matter how tight the margin, then why should it stand? Now there are many people who believe that when the decision is as tight as this that the goal should stand, I can to a certain extent understand their view, but I do believe there is one huge flaw in this. What margin do you go up to, do you allow goals that are up to 10cm offside, 15cm? It would open up a massive argument about the distance a player can be offside, but still be allowed to score a goal or be involved with play. It would virtually demolish the offside rule. Can you imagine the scenes if the rule didn’t exist? I just think this shows why what VAR are doing is the correct method to take with offside decisions, because if they are allowing no margin of error, then there can be no arguments.
Sheffield United 3-3 Manchester United
Did Oli McBurnie handle the ball, that is the question still on people’s lips. Nobody thought that Man Utd were going to come back to win from two goals down, yet they nearly did, in fact should they have done? After a review VAR believed that McBurnie’s goal was legal and therefore awarded in what was arguably the best game of the weekend, and one of the best of the season. However 24 hours later the result is still being heavily discussed, did McBurnie handle the ball? It is a very, very tight call to make, from the angles shown I do believe that it just missed his arm and actually hit his collarbone, it’s one of those calls that are so hard to decide and actually different camera angles can make you believe different things. It is so tight to decide, and i suppose in the end if their is no clear evidence which there wasn’t with the camera angles available, then VAR was correct to let the goal stand. To be honest it is the least Sheffield deserved after their performance!
So yet again VAR was controversial, isn’t that one of the reasons why everyone loves the Premier League, you never know what might happen. Last weekends games where another example of that, who would have thought that Sheffield who lets not forget are a newly promoted side, would come so close to defeating Man Utd, and that Palace almost took the lead against Anfield. It’s interesting to think what would have happened without VAR, Man City would have won 3-1, Liverpool would have been 1-0 down to Crystal Palace, who knows if they would’ve turned that around. VAR adds an extra ingredient to the Premier League to make it even more exciting than it already is.
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