4️⃣ ways to fix the Premier League's VAR mess | OneFootball

The introduction of VAR has been one of the most divisive topics in football in many a year.

However, even those who are advocates must have watched on in horror at the way it has been implemented in the Premier League this season.

So here are four ideas to potentially fix it.

Only your feet can be offside

The frustration surrounding goals being disallowed for very marginal offside calls was prevalent throughout the Women’s World Cup and has bled into the new season.

The best example so far came when Manchester City had a goal ruled out in their win at West Ham because replays showed Raheem Sterling’s armpit was in an offside position.

As things stand, the law states that players will be penalised if any part of their body which can be used to score a goal is in an offside position.

However, a study conducted by the Mail last weekend revealed that VAR cannot be truly definitive because the cameras that are used run at 50 frames per second and there is a 13cm margin for error.

This means officials cannot always be certain if someone is offside or not.

And even if your armpit or head is in an offside position when the ball is played, are you really gaining a discernible advantage from that?

So why not simplify the offside law by declaring that your entire foot has to be beyond the last defender in order for you to be in an offside position?

It’s not a perfect solution but it’s very difficult to move around a pitch without using your feet and the advantage being gained is, at least, more clear and obvious.

Bring intent back to the handball law

The new season is only two games old yet Wolves and City have already had important goals ruled out following a significant tweak to the handball law.

The law now states that: “Any goal scored or created with the use of the hand or arm will be disallowed this season, even if it is accidental”.

The change was brought about to stop players being able to score goals with the accidental use of a hand, as happened on a handful of occasions last season.

But it feels like the problem this has created is bigger than the one it was supposed to solve.

Players are now essentially being penalised for having arms and even if your limbs are in a natural position when the ball accidentally brushes against them, you’re going to be in trouble.

The thing is, intent is actually quite an easy thing to judge and it should be easier than ever with the benefit of video technology.

Using Saturday’s game at the Etihad as an example: why couldn’t VAR look at the replay of the disallowed goal and come to the conclusion that Aymeric Laporte clearly didn’t handle the ball deliberately?

One of the big worries during the Women’s World Cup was that players would now attempt to win cheap penalties by kicking the ball towards a defender’s arm inside the penalty area, as happened to Moussa Sissoko in the Champions League final.

A simple solution to this problem would be to penalise accidental handballs inside the box with an indirect free-kick rather than a penalty.

Again, it would be up to the referee or VAR to study the footage and judge whether there was intent or not.

Use the pitch-side monitors

Unlike at international tournaments and in other leagues, the Professional Game Match Officials Board (PGMOL) decided not to allow referees to view incidents using the pitch-side monitors in the Premier League.

This is an admirable attempt to avoid slowing the game down with lengthy VAR reviews but what it has essentially done is removed autonomy from the on-field referee and handed it to VAR.

An example of why this is a problem came last weekend, when Tottenham’s Erik Lamela appeared to haul down Manchester City’s Rodri in the box.

According to the official explanation, referee Michael Oliver saw the incident in real time but decided it wasn’t worthy of a penalty. In instances such as this, it is apparently not VAR’s place to advise the referee to change their decision because a “clear and obvious” error has not been made.

The question is, would Oliver’s decision have been different if he’d had the opportunity to watch a replay of the incident?

“I thought it was a penalty in real time I was surprised VAR did not see this as a penalty,” tweeted former Premier League referee Mark Halsey after the game.

“The problem we have is the PGMOL are not following IFAB protocol regarding monitors. If Michael had the opportunity to view the incident again I’m in no doubt he would have given a penalty.”

Surely slowing the game down to arrive at the correct decision is worth it.

Be more transparent

The effect VAR is having on the stadium experience is a major concern.

But it’s difficult to see what can be done to solve the problem of supporters wildly celebrating a goal only to see it chalked off by VAR two minutes later.

However, the very least the Premier League or PGMOL could do is release a statement after games explaining how decisions were arrived at and also have the courage to admit when they were wrong.

Former Premier League referee Neil Swarbrick attempted to shed some light on the Rodri-Lamela incident when speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live on Monday.

This kind of dialogue may not change much but it would at least promote greater education and understanding of the laws of the game among fans.

VAR desperately needs to get supporters onside if it is going to be successful but if things stay as they are, the number of technology sceptics is only likely to grow.