Sorry, We Need To Talk About VAR 

VAR is not the problem. The people using it are. Something needs to change in the formation of referees

My favourite part was Gary Neville on the live commentary saying it was clearly offiside. Then, in the post match commentary when all the controversy came out, he said as soon as he saw it he knew it was onside.

Automated offsides is essential. Fans can see the decision instantly on the screen, retaining instant feedback of normal refereeing, and removes any human error. VAR should be for red card offenses only. There is no subjectivity to offsides, it either is or isn’t. You shouldn’t accept that a referee can get this wrong. Red cards are often subjective and that is fair enough that it can go either way sometimes.

Normally agree with HTC takes but i cannot agree that VAR is the problem. Mike Deans comments about protecting his mate is an example of why VAR is not being applied correctly. They should have an independent VAR panel, maybe referees from other leagues so that there is no bias involved. Also there is no excuse for missing an offside or forgetting to draw the lines, that is incompetence and has nothing to do with VAR.

On Josip Simunic's three yellow cards at the 2006 World Cup, it is actually a really funny story. Simunic was born and raised in Australia, and as they were playing Australia, in his head, he registered the number, and heard the Australian accent, and assumed he had carded the Australian of the same number.

What I fail to understand (as a footy fan from the U.S.) is how a league as massive as the Premier League has issues with VAR as big as these. I primarily watch my local MLS club, and I cannot recall a single match all year (last year too) where I’ve witnessed a controversial VAR decision even close to this magnitude. It’s just baffling how issues like these are almost seemingly common in one of the world’s largest football leagues.

Officials in Rugby are waaaay more advanced and the watching experience is just overall better

I like the idea of the "challenge" system tbh, like in cricket you could appeal so many decisions per 90 minutes.

I feel like the technology and double checking a goal, etc. is objectively good for the game. The problem as usual is incompetence and human error.

very glad that, whilst still discussing the football issue, you never let people forget that this is fundamentally sport and not life adore your videos, please keep them up!

Good stuff as usual, although I think your assessment of whether fans would accept VAR decisions better given their reasoning is very damning. There are absolutely a lot of fans who will refuse to accept any decision going their way, but in rugby we have the calls explained and although there is room for disagreement, in general there is far less grievance with the video assistant's calls.

No apology has been issued, Alfie. They just admitted a mistake.

I can still remember the use of VAR at the 2018 World Cup: It worked perfectly and was communicated well.

*_Fixing VAR isn't about making it perfect_* Probably the best scenario for VAR in football is usage the same as TMO in rugby. It has a clear standardized process that can be heard by fans too. Cricket is much the same, a clear process that follows a specific structure that confirms the on-field decision before proceeding, and instead of going just "yeah okay check complete", they tell the umpire weather to change their original decision or stick with it. I do also think that hearing the process is a benefit, you can maybe hear the reasoning behind a decision, even if you don't necessarily agree with it, if football fans can't take it the it's their problem. Tribalism shouldn't blind you from the facts of the matter, I'm a lifelong Liverpool fan but I don't get all the accusations of corruption against us and all that, it was just idiocy. Maybe making the process public will make it more streamlined too by necessity. I think fans need to maybe put less pressure on VAR to complete checks faster too, there's a sliding scale between speed and accuracy there I think, and extra pressure like that is definitely one of the factors that leads to massive mistakes like Diaz's goal being disallowed.

I've only just come across your excellent channel and am mightily impressed with your balanced and well reasoned content. I particularly like the injection of gentle humour coupled with reminders that this is sport and not life or death. I have been a football fan since the early sixties and have seen the game change out of all recognition over the last sixty years however the introduction of VAR has given me the most mixed emotions in all that time. This video has most accurately reflected my own feelings as far as VAR is concerned, indeed when it favours my own team I am delighted it exists, conversely when it does not, I curse it! In any case, thank you once again for your first class content.

I never thought I'd say this but we should actually be looking to rugby. Their system is so much better. Football corruption would never allow it though😂

I think the pressure to minimise the time spent waiting for a VAR check is to blame. Players and fans want the instantaneous momentum of celebrating a goal, not waiting around twiddling their thumbs while VAR conducts its assessment. The fact that the clear and obvious error by the on field officials was confirmed but nothing was done to rectify it shows the failure is in the communication between on field and VAR officials.

As someone who comes from a country that calls this game "Soccer " we get ridiculed, but the country with the best version of the game can't get calls right is absolutely appalling.

Watching the rugby world cup at the moment makes this all seem so tiring and avoidable. If the money in rugby that regularly means clubs disappear and semi-professionals turn up in a world cup means refereeing can be good, then the money in football should be able to do this as well

"playing out from the back is woke" - I genuinely laughed out loud at this bit!

The thing that annoys me the most is just standing around for ages, having no idea what they're even checking for. This weekend, after every goal Villa scored, it came up on the screen "VAR Checking Goal" and we stood around for ages. We didnt know if they were checking for an offside, a foul, we didnt know who as supposed to have done what. It feels like with many other things in football, the people in the stadiums are the last person to be considered. If they're not willing to play the referees coversation over the PAs in stadiums, the least they could do is say "Nicolo Zaniolo was stabding in an offside position during that last goal, VAR is checking to see if he was standing in the goalkeeper's eyeline and therefore interfering with play" - we still aren't going to like it if our goal was ruled out, but at least we'd not have to be texting people who are watching the game on TV like I was.

This all happened with the NFL back when they introduced Official Reviews and Coach's Challenges. There was a period of growing pains, the media trashed it and opinion pieces were made about how it would never solve the problem. And then they got rid of it and that caused even more problems. Then they brought it back as the standard. Though there have been incidents where refs have messed up since (e.g. Bottlegate, DPI review season) but other than that, it's worked.

My issue is everyone is only focusing on the Diaz incident and not everything that happened within the 60 minutes of the game after Jones got sent off, with the shocking officiating… The Diaz call was just the icing on the cake we all looked back on.

I'd like to see a "challenge system" where the manager of a team can challenge a decision from the on field ref, then the decision gets put into the hands of var

Just want to point out PGMOL never apologised for the mistake, they released a statement where they acknowledged a significant error was made. That is different to an apology, its an acknowledgement of facts.

I just don’t get why it’s so bad in England. It’s great in other leagues, it was great at the World Cup. It feels like the officials in England that are the problem to me

I think Alfie underestimates the power of the video referee simply explaining their decision. The National Rugby League (NRL) here in Australia has had a video review system for at least two decades. It's had... issues... but what I believe has finally made people accept it is that for the past few seasons, the ref explains their decision. We all get to see that there is an actual protocol in place, it's not just a random process. We see what the video ref sees, we hear them talk us through the decision in a logical and systematic way, and 99% of the time you agree with the decision after that, even if it costs your team a try. There seems to be a lot less noise around video referee decisions since this policy was introduced.

the NHL ice hockey league does it perfectly: Manager is allowed to challenge on certain types of calls, and if the challenge fails the team is punished by going short-handed for two minutes. Unfortunately it would need to have the sin bin enacted for football (which I also think is a good idea)

I don't know why VAR don't follow rugby's TMO functionality. Let the ref inquire assistance when in dpubt, check what the ref asks to check and of course, disallow offside goals.

one issue you don't touch on here, that I think really doesn't help the officials or VAR, is the fact they keep changing the rules or how they want them to be interpreted/implemented, it's no wonder officials make mistakes when they are told to favour the attacker with offsides one week and defenders the next because the FA keeps changing it based on which manager had the biggest hissy fit about it the previous week. so yeah, my solution is; have consistent rules and intepretation/implementation that can't be changed during a season and instead of reviewing every decision, have a challenge system whereby 3 times per match you can challenge an on field call, if you're right you get the challenge back, if you're wrong, you don't. no system is perfect obviously, but imo those two changes would make a huge difference to the perception of VAR.

I'm more interested in how VAR works in other leagues rather than the Prem. Feels like every week there's a howler in the Prem but you don't get to see that many from other leagues. Is the error rate lower in the other leagues than the Prem or the same but you don't get to hear about them much simply for it not being the Prem?

The biggest frustration is offsides. When players are being offside for their fingers and toes being offside it’s gone too far. You don’t gain an advantage by your bloody hand being offside.

I appreciate rugby's TMO, they have the balls to show the referee themselves as they make the decision

It's funny how Liverpool are now facing sanctions for calling out the bad officiating in the match, while the PGMLA or whatever it's called admitted there was bad officiating

It should have worked like tennis, teams with challenges, captain or manager is responsible for challenging. They can challenge whatever they want, jota's first yellow could have been challenged. And this would have given referees less liability, imagine a challenge world, and liverpool hadnt challenged jota's first yellow. Right now instead of calling out the referees bad decision, we would be discussing liverpools poor decision not to challenge. This would have been much better! Say a team get a corner they shouldnt have, your team hasnt challenged, and they score from that corner, now you will look at your teams inability to challenge rather than the linesman/referee.

The thing that really struck me with the audio was just how informal and chaotic it was. You would think that there would be a template for how the communication happens. A clear statement of the on field decision, a clear confirmation or reversal, as well as also stating exactly what the correct decision is, then repeat that back and agree together.

Great video, Alfie! (voted!). I think Goal line tech (and by extension, side line tech) is probably the one constant that should be kept from VAR as all it requires is to check whether the ball (independent of player action) is in or out of the pitch. VAR itself, as you pointed out, is trying to achieve the unachievable: a perfect game (and I say this as a Liverpool fan who read the transcript of the VAR officials and wondered when one of them would ask 'Who's on first?'). About the only thing I can think could make things 'fairer' (again, if such a thing is possible) would be to use a system similar to the NFL and tennis 'challenges', where tennis players/NFL coaches have a set number of challenges to calls that they can make per play period. If the challenge fails (the official's original call stands) the player/coach loses that 'challenge' but if they are proved right, they get to keep it. Once the set number of challenges have been used up by a team, they're used up. It changes the focus from the officials missing calls to teams having to decide what to challenge. Not perfect, as, well, it all depends on human liabilities, but at least the pressure is not on officials to get everything right all the time.

To be honest, I like having faith in referees, and I never feel that referees go against our club regularly, though sometimes I do feel that they are going in our favour too often. I don't think that we need VAR as I think it is good to trust the referees.

Ox after Gibbs got sent off: Oi ref, it wasn't him, it was me! Andre Marriner: Shut up Walcott!

For me, the lack of consistency and answeerability is a big issue, but, more importantly, with VAR EVERY decision will be analysed to death and nothing can be dismissed as human error. In cases where we could just say "meh, it was a close call", now we are splitting hairs, drawing lines etc. and no error can be attributed to an accident

"playing from the back is woke." That's brilliant, I really hope your fellow Hull City fan actually said that. 😂😂

Saudi Arabia are looking to hire some of the best referees for the Saudi Pro League I wonder what will happen to them if they make a mistake like this.😂😂😂

Such a refreshing take in contrast to Mark Goldbridge and Rory Jennings

The videos may be longer than I like, but the commentary is elite I cannot lie, the picture selection & pace just enhances it. It blends altogether nicely and makes up for the long form

So funny the Brits can’t figure out how to use replay in their officiating. Literally everyone else can do it with a considerably less amount of drama lmao

greatest footballer ever from every country in Africa

Another great video! I think you should upload these as podcasts on the relevant providers too, as the images are subsidiary to the actual great content

Transparency and reasonability is all that we ask for. A lot of calls are not as black and white as fans claim they are, but to make blatantly wrong decisions really hurts fan trust. Make the rules clear and stick to them.

VAR has had a clear positive effect in refereeing. The trade off is not worth it to get rid of it. It's just like Alfie says, refereeing can never be perfect. But think of all the handballs, offsides and fouls that were caught by VAR in the past 4-5 years. Terrible decisions that were overthrown thanks to it. The game is much better for it.

VAR is absolutely neccessary, without it we'd go back to the era of Hand of God, Henry's handball and several famous ghost goals. The issue is how to implement it. Semi-automated offside system could be a step in the right direction. Borrowing ideas from other sports like the challenge system would also work. But when people loudly scream that VAR is evil on its own and it should be scrapped altogether it's like they want us to go back to the caveman era of football when all the people in the world could see the error except the referee.

Hi, USA citizen here. Sports here have been using video replay and other referree assisted tech for decades without any real hitch. This whole “controversy” over VAR is just reactionaries being pissy that football is changing, well, anything.

Being a hull fan probably feels so satisfying whenever a good match comes about. Like if you don't win that much, winning ought to feel like the best thing ever, right?

I like the idea of game management, alongside a challenge system with a audio on live games. Game management because even at Sunday League a decent referee will look at a pitch and the weather as well as how he sees the game and tell you his expectations. You ostensibly have 90 minutes where everyone in that game works together at the same time as two teams competing. Challenge system via the captain/manager because it codifies a protest and could direct players to think introspectively about what they do. You’re managers going to be furious if you’re adamant you got the ball but actually you were nowhere near it. Umpires in cricket also self refer if they’re not sure and Rugby referees will ask for clarity when they’re not sure. This allows the vast majority of decisions to be directed by the people in the game and not by VAR. This should build on game management rather than take it away. There’s scope for abuse but I think if you limit it to bookings, penalties and offsides it should make that harder to achieve Audio on live games because in Rugby and Cricket it gives a clear indication as to the driver behind why a decision is being looked at. Take for example if the challenge system exists when Liverpool play Spurs. Diaz scores and it’s flagged offside, the referee halts play for 10 seconds while they line up a restart and Klopp signals for a check. On the audio the referee indicates that Liverpool are challenging the offside and can we get a check to confirm if Liverpool #7 is onside or offside when Liverpool #11 releases the ball. The 4th official relays this check to both managers on the touch line. VAR draws the lines, confirms to the referee that when Liverpool #11 releases the ball Liverpool #7 is onside and you may award a goal. 4th official relays this to both managers as the referee gives the square sign and indicates a goal is scored.

It’s naive for some to claim this is just a sport. It is now a multi million pound business where ludicrous situations like this can cost managers their jobs and clubs tens of millions of pounds. Also getting something like this blatantly wrong doesn’t just affect the clubs involved. There will be a knock on effect to other clubs. Spurs could cost another team ( not just Liverpool) Champions League qualification or even affect who gets relegated if Spurs or Liverpool were to play a relegation candidate at the end of the season as the need ( or otherwise) for points would be likely to affect their attitude to the match.

Firstly how does it take that many people to come to a decision in the first place? It was very clear from the initial reply that Diaz was onside. You didn't even need to have the lines on the screen and multiple angles. The whole VAR system is so convoluted and slow.

Congratulations on the nomination. I love your deep dives into footballing issues, so please keep up the good work. Have a good day.

It probably makes us fans of lower league football more accepting of bad decisions against us, now we know what the soulless alternative is instead. If the Premier League scrapped VAR and we went back to where we were before, people might be annoyed about bad decisions going against them, but also remember what the alternative is.

I've been watching both rugby and football since 2003 and also basketball since 2010. In rugby and basketball, I've always seen VAR (Television Match Officer in rugby) being used and the aim isn't to make refereeing perfect. There will always be mistakes and it has been better than ever. Of course, we can improve and we must improve. From our couch, it's easy to say but refs know the laws of football much better than us. What I want is : - at least on TV, we must be able to hear the conversation between the main ref and VAR. It happens in rugby and it helped me understanding the game more. - put the video on the big screens. At least, we don't waste time with the ref running towards the small screen and even his assistants can help him. Besides, fans can see and understand the refs' jobs. - review the rules. Even with VAR, we need to review the rules and change them in order to make football better.Especially for offsides because it's getting ridiculous. Finally : I love waiting for a goal by VAR. The best emotions I've had (besides M'bappé's second against Argentina in 2022) are from VAR review of goals/tries. Especially at the last minute of a final. The tension in the stands because you know it can make or break a team. It happened twice and on both occasions, the French team won after this review.

Another well thought out, well researched and thoroughly enjoyable video. Agreed on all points made. My favorite part of this was addressing a perceived refereeing bias towards Tottenham of all clubs. Short memories by a lot of "fans"...it was only 4 years ago when Spurs went down a goal within 2 minutes in the most important game in the history of the club because VAR awarded a harsh penalty which wasn't called on the pitch. It doesn't get worse than that, the call changed the game immediately and Spurs fans did not forget this.

The balance, reasoning and perspective in this video is refreshing and much needed. Some brilliant points raised, particularly the exponential increase in scrutiny of referees. As you pointed out, it was only in 2020 that Hawk Eye failed to detect a legitimate Sheffield United goal in a match against Villa that would finish 0-0 and help Villa to avoid relegation. The outrage over this VAR human error completely dwarfs that, with many insisting the match should be replayed or that the laws of the game should have been abandoned in order to atone for the injustice suffered by Liverpool - all in the name of 'integrity of the game'! Although partially explained by the difference in club size between Sheffield United and Liverpool, the increasing outrage is absolutely maddening, peddled by media outlets for profit and social media users who can't resist the temptation of a band wagon.

One thing among many that annoys me about VAR is it gives marginal decisions for teams when absolutely nobody is appealing for them. Footballers and fans are not shy when it comes to appealing for things in no uncertain terms. In cricket you have to appeal for something to get it. At least have a challenges system and don’t forensically analyse every goal, especially when nobody is asking you to.

Diaz was clear and obvious he was onside by minimum 2 yards

Just voted for you man, hope you win. Cheers from the Dc in the US 💪🏽

Alfie, this video was brilliant. I agree with every point you made so I won't even bother listing my favorite parts. Great work.

"Everything except the goal line is up to interpretation." No, that goal's onsideness was also not up to interpretation. Maybe, just maybe, we could offload that bit of responsibility from the assistant referee so that they could assist better with on-the-pitch events. This was a completely preventable fuck-up that was caused entirely by human error in VAR room, and *not* by VAR undermining the authority of the on-pitch referees. I know that the replies will be about how this video is about VAR in general, but it was posted right after the Liverpool fuck-up, so I have to assume that you take that into account. As a result of that you are utterly wrong on this. Honestly, I just wish you don't win that youtuber contest or whatever at this point.

You got my vote Alfie, it's always interesting to hear about stuff I didn't otherwise know about, on top of stuff I have. Hope you win bruv

I have a video suggestion. It would be a long video requiring a lot of research probably but a very interesting topic. You should pick out the single greatest/most iconic football match from every year since the 80s. Or split it in different parts and cover more time!

There is a very easy solution to prevent similar to Tottenham vs. Liverpool errors from happening and which is used in professional communications for ages now: when you rule out or need to confirm important information you do not say "yes" or "no" or "good job, guys", you say out loud the actual decision like "onside" or "offside". Pretty similar to what the actual text with the decision on the screen says, actually. So, if anything, it is the problem of a lack of standards of communication between referees and not their competence, probably.

When there was first talk about VAR, I thought it would be more of an aid to the on field refs. Something they could use in case they had some doubts about a decision they had to make on the fly. The way it is now, as an extra off screen ref often going against their decisions just feels silly at times. Especially when it's about decisions that are hard to judge on the field. That said, I do still like the idea of a challenge system, if only in order to shut up managers from constantly complaining about the "poor state of reffereeing".

Hey bud, really good vid, I'm an advocate for the process being played out for all because if you watch any rugby, the process needing to be understood by all, also makes it easier to understood for the officials too. That being said it's only on TV not in the stadium and the reaction of football fans would be vastly different but the replays should at least be shown on screen. However, I do think that it should be more like rugby when it comes to the Referee being in consultation with the VAR and going to it when he's unsure about a decision using the linesman to help make his decision. The VAR can then come in if there's something that's obviously been missed out entirely. I think that this should be the protocol for every decision barring offsides which should be semi-auto.

8 mins into video and I've had 4/FOUR!! Ad breaks + an unskipable Uber eats pre roll. Wtf Susan

“Playing out from the back is woke” I’m dying at this😂😂😂

Great video! A lot of the points you brought up seem to have gone over peoples head, though..

It is one thing to get a decision wrong in real time. It is another to get it wrong after five replays. Yet we aren't meant to question officials integrity despite countless stories about bribed officials over the decades,

I got used to it in European fixtures and then baffled when it wasn't implemented the same way here, it seems to take longer than in Champions League and I don't understand why. I think greater communication might have helped clear up the confusion over the weekend and given the replay it would have been accepted by most.

always refreshing to hear a level headed take on this issue

"When they remember to turn it on..." had me 💀

I just voted for you Alfie! Thanks for your years of content & rational videos much needed in this the age of purchased fandom. Btw, my take on VAR: it’s fine & has been for years in American Football, it’s fine & has been for years in Rugby, in football, it’s new & the refereeing training and/or infrastructure/rules have not been updated. A clear lack of communication, common sense, transparency & stoppage time have been all been sacked off for easy quick decisions as air time is that profitable. It won’t change & VAR in football may well be the undoing of referees authority on the game as the circus plods along while its wheels fall off season after season.

I voted for you! Hope you win this award for all you've sacrificed for the people's channel!

Just voted for you Alfie and thanks for all the great vids! Personally regarding VAR I think that the on field officials generally do a good enough job. I would keep goal-line tech and maybe bring back the 2 goal-line refs. I'm necessarily saying scrap VAR but it's use and what the game requires from it really needs to be thought about. In cricket, rugby and tennis it is usually used for quite fundamental things that onfield officials find difficult to see because they're too fast or their view is obscured, e.g. 'was that a run out?', 'was that serve out?', 'or underneath that heaving mass of bodies was a try scored?' Tricky football calls are not quite like those, the play is not as quick, at least one official will see everything, and things like offsides and handballs are subjective. Often the rules themselves need to be better. Also players, managers, fans and media types need to respect the officials more. Sure there are some refs who maybe aren't up to spec but they are brave enough to do it. If referees didn't receive so much abuse and negative attention, many more talented people would to do it, the talent pool increases and you get better refs. Yes mistakes are made but the next time you criticise the ref for one slight error, what about your striker who missed 3 sitters, your goalkeeper that couldn't even catch a cold or your manager with no tactical sense whatsoever - blame them! We do get the refs we deserve ultimately

Maybe those examples are because those ref errors happened in isolation unlike this era where the match officials blunder almost each match day that we are spoilt for choice on which one to pick

That's just an avarage week in brazillian football, tbh. A weekend with only two major VAR major mistakes is a good weekend.

Great video, as always. Voted for you mate!

This VAR pb is mostly occurent in the EPL. You rarely find this kind of pb in the UCL and other leagues.

The bigger issue is you should more properly adopt the TMO system from Rugby. Let the fans and ref hear the decision, the reasoning and have it laid out. The biggest issue with football is the refs rarely explain WHY there is a foul, just that there is. By comparison in rugby a ref can and does explain everything, thus reducing confusion and at least showing the thought process that led to the call.

Alfie just set himself up for one whopper back of the head punch at Hull’s next home game 😂

Great video, I agree that the laws are far too subjective for VAR to be effective, especially your point that we can all analyze a slow-motion replay zoomed in and still disagree on our verdicts. Even in the NFL they don't use replay to give or rescind penalties, they only use it for black and white decisions such as out of bounds, or determining catches/fumbles. I miss the days before VAR, I honestly think there was less controversey then vs now. Should have just left it at goal line technology

This whole discourse is a discrace, this has been happening for smaller teams for a long time but now it happens to Liverpool it's suddenly an issue. And I guarantee next time it happens to a smaller club they'll be media silence. Saying it's killing the game, games already dead, only now the big clubs are feeling it. Bite the bullet and carry on, that's what every other club has to do

Well to be fair this specific scenario showcased that it wasn't just VARs fault. The fault was in the lack of communication between the VARs and main ref in the sense of main VAR: "the on-field decision was correct" ref: restarts play what should've happened is VAR: "the on-field decision was correct" ref: "so he was OFFSIDE?" VAR: "no no he was ONSIDE" or just VAR: "Diaz is onside" instead of saying "the on-field decision was correct"

Great Video....as a Leicester City fan this season so far has been a breath of fresh air getting back to football without VAR.

Really hit the major points I think. Mainly that the standard of officiating is way better than it was before, it’s just way easier to scrutinize with 15 ultra HD 60 FPS replays available immediately. Could it be better? Yes. Should it? Yes. Is it crisis level compared to 15 years ago when we mostly watched 28 inch CRT televisions with scant few replays? Absolutely not.

The thing I love about this is the linesman actually flagged for offside so without VAR, it's offside and disallowed and everyone's screaming for VAR 🙂

Clicked so fast and I'm so early, love the content mate it's so fascinating every time 💖

Vote fof Alfie. Very hard to win vs the big guys,you provide way more value. A unique channel.

Good luck Alfie! You deserve this award

Re Simon Jordan: Dude is a pompous, self righteous, anti labor jerk. But he's also the most interesting pundit on talkSport. He has very strong opinions, and articulates them well. I probably only agree with his opinion 5% of the time, but that's more interesting to me than a pundit I agree with 98% of the time.

You got my vote, Alfie. Best of luck!

Italian football fan and former referee at a nonleague level here. I feel like the discourse regarding VAR is quite different here in Italy. From this year, the audio of referees during VAR are made public a week after the games and are commented with an actual former Serie A referee that explains why decisions have been taken the way they have. It is extremely interesting, and I believe it is working well to inform the public of the decision process of referees. Watching that program and talking to some of my friends I believe there are two main takeways here: 1) Despite there still being conspiracy theories, football fans here generally agree that VAR is a good addition to the game. Every week there are at least a couple of decisions that are overruled, and were it not for VAR, there would be way more errors. The game is just more fair now. 2) Referees actually enjoy VAR. It relieves them of some of the responsibility, and gives them more room for error since they know there's always going to be a colleague that double checks and informs them if something is wrong. I mean when you hear the audios is pretty clear referees have no problem whatsoever changing their decision, and players, too, seem calmer knowing that if the referee made an error the decision is going to be overruled. The system is not perfect by any means, but I think the overwhelming majority of football fans, commentators, players, and referees in Italy would agree that the pros of VAR far outweight its cons. So it's interesting to see that many people in England actually think the opposite. Maybe it's not an issue of technology as much as one of implementation of the technology. Also, there is semi-automatic offside in Serie A, and it helps a lot.

The main issues for me are the handball rule, the clear and obvious error rule (should just be whether or not there’s an offence) and the offside technology. For how much money there is in football there should be way more advanced offside technology and not left to old referees to draw lines, there should be no room for human error, it should be a certainty. And refs need to be held accountable, they have too much power and people aren’t allowed to protest against them and they face no punishment because they all look after each other.

Canno fathom why VAR isn't constantly updating the main ref about his decisions - like corner kicks etc. Either go all the way or don't do it at all