There is a big problem with VAR that was prevalent last night in Liverpool’s 1-1 draw with Midtjylland and it seemingly isn’t being talked about enough.
Football is a spectator sport, and while getting the ‘correct’ decisions are important, waiting 2-3 minutes to find out if someone’s toenail was offside is a farce.
But the bigger issue is that fans – at home or those lucky enough to be inside the stadium – haven’t got the same view as the match officials, causing a lot of confusion.
Last night, Liverpool supporters watching at home were presented with BT Sports’ footage of an incident which was being checked for offside and a possible penalty.
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The angle fans were shown suggested the Midtjylland player was in an illegal position when the ball was played, so when a spot-kick was given, we were all up in arms.
About 10-15 minutes after the incident, UEFA released a graphic showing the attacker was in fact onside, which was fair enough.
The problem is, many supporters – myself included – had spent almost half of the second period seething over a decision that looked like it had completely stitched us up, taking the fun out of spectating.
Ahead of the full-time whistle, there were eight minutes added on to make up for time wasted, which says it all really – decisions using VAR need to be made quicker and fans need to be given a clear explanation as soon as possible, with the way things are going, it’s sucking the beautiful out of the ‘beautiful game’.