The Premier League has accepted that improvements need to be made to VAR, recognizing that there are too many checks, that they take too much time and Experience of video technology followers. “it's not good enough.”
Director of football Tony Scholes' frank assessment comes as the league admitted it was not in a position to confirm the introduction of semi-automatic offside technology for next season – a key hope for reducing decision times . Scholes confirmed, however, that the number of errors made by VAR had decreased this season.
“VAR is and remains a very effective tool to support referees on the field… but it is clear that not everything in the world of VAR is perfect,” Scholes said. “We are aware of this and we know that we have work to do.
“There are two elements that I think affect the entire reputation of VAR. (First) is the time it takes to make the reviews, or do the checks. We are doing too many checks and we are also taking too long to do them. It's to some extent understandable given the level of scrutiny these guys are under, but the reviews are taking too long and it is affecting the flow of the game.
“The second area where the VAR experience is poor is the fan experience in the stadium. It's not nearly good enough. We know it is not. “It affects fans’ enjoyment of the game and we know it needs to change.”
In that sense, the league would support playing audio images between VARs and referees on the field, but Scholes said that was not imminent. “We are limited in what we can do for Ifab (the body that determines the rules of the game) and Ifab is very clear at the moment we cannot use the audio. My personal opinion is that we will reach a point where both the video and audio will be played live and then replayed to explain the decision. How far we are from that, I don't know.”
Scholes said the average time needed to carry out a VAR review had increased this season, although he was unable to share specific figures. One process by which decision-making could be accelerated is by using software to automatically assess offside situations, before referring the assessment to the referees. UEFA and FIFA have tested semi-automatic offside technology with apparent success, but Scholes said first division The tests had produced more mixed results.
“These are what we call 'extreme cases,' where many things happen at once,” Scholes said. “You may have many bodies in one place and what is worrying is the system's ability to identify different body parts. In the vast majority of cases there will be no problem, but in our competition we want to make it clear that we are not introducing something that will give us problems in other areas.”
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Scholes said league polls showed the majority of fans were still in favor of VAR. He maintains that he is successfully fulfilling his primary function of reducing the number of referee errors.
“Before VAR, 82% of (referee) decisions made were considered correct,” Scholes said. “So far this season, that figure is 96%. So far this year, the VAR has intervened correctly on 57 occasions, 24 of them in which the VAR has intervened due to an objectively incorrect error on the field of play.” (With the other 33 decisions subjective, such as reckless challenges).
League statistics also show there have been 20 VAR errors this season, up from 25 last year. Seventeen of these 20 errors, according to Scholes, occurred when the VAR decided not to intervene to correct the referee's decision. One such case was the notorious incident in which Liverpool were denied a goal against Spurs last September.
Scholes said he found it disappointing that clubs were publishing letters of complaint to the PGMOL refereeing body over its decisions. “The clubs are aware that Howard Webb and his colleagues are open to calls at any time,” he said. “Frankly, I don't understand why clubs feel the need to go public. I think it can be a little disappointing sometimes. “We all have a role to play in the perception (of officiating) and the perception can be driven by things that are not always supported by the truth.”
