Some thoughts on VAR after West Ham’s season opener

It only took a few minutes for “VAR-VAR-VAR” chants to break out in West Ham’s season opener against Manchester City. The new refereeing system was used a lot in the match, and can only get better.

It wasn’t a good game for West Ham by any stretch of the imagination, but that wasn’t due to the use of VAR. No, the 5-0 home loss to Manchester City was a result of a dominant second half by the reigning League champions… and a hint of bad refereeing on the pitch!

Regardless, the instances of VAR used in this match were spot on, despite slowing the match down in the process. The first use ruled out a Raheem Sterling goal due to an offside shoulder position. Sterling’s arms didn’t matter (can’t play the ball with them) so the offside/onside line was drawn from his shoulders down to the pitch.

The margin was extremely fine, but the decision, in the end, was correct. If your a mile offside or a centimeter it doesn’t matter, you’re still offside; this is the motto of the Premier League now. Sterling and his City teammates were floored but the image shown on the big screens but it was very straight forward.

The goal itself didn’t look offside at all, but it’s next usage showed how our eyes can lie to us in the heat of the moment. Another City break, another Sterling goal, and this time a confirmed goal call by VAR. The run past West Ham’s defenders looked offside, but an even narrower margin showed that to be false.

The most controversial use of VAR was on Sergio Aguero’s penalty kick. Fabianski did well to save the initial attempt, but VAR review showed clear encroachment by Declan Rice (amongst others) who did clear the ball away from the net. Coincidentally, Fabianski was off his line on the kick too, so the kick was likely to be retaken regardless of Rice.

My issue is with the clear advantage the shot taker has in penalty kicks now. There is no real reining in of their run-up or delivery in the penalty, meaning both keeper and defenders have to expect and play as if both a quick direct delivery or a slow, time-changing run-up will be taken. It’s unfair and restricting the shooter’s delivery should be looked at.

I don’t find myself agreeing with Jamie Carragher too often, but I do in this instance:

Will he change his tune when Liverpool get all of their inevitable offside goals called back? Absolutely, but as of right now, coming off of the losing end of VAR I do agree with it.

The criticism that is ringing out right now is “players can’t even celebrate their goals because of VAR” which, I guess, is fair. That being said, I would rather get it right then look at millionaires shooting invisible guns, fist-pumping penalty kick goals they didn’t earn, or overly celebrating their teams’ fifth goal in a 5-0 rout in injury time.

Is it a perfect system? No. Did it get the decisions right in West Ham’s match? Without a doubt. it can only get better from here and it will improve as the Premier League has too many eyes on it for VAR’s inadequacies not get ironed out. Maybe start reviewing every reviewable play before the system is called upon to lessen the wait for a decision!

As mentioned, West Ham were not a VAR decision away from winning or even contenting in this match. I was more upset with City not being carded for their tactical fouling in the first half, with Rodri intentionally kicking out legs on multiple occasions to break out the Hammers counter attack without a card being given. Maybe a video-assisted Mike Dean is needed too!