The Soccer Whiz: The Hazards of VAR

📅 Published: August 20, 2025

📰 Source: thestandard

Curated by AllZimNews.com

While Klopp was remonstrating and as is almost par for the course for him these days; exaggerating, embellishing and behaving as if his entire world was about to cave in, it’s easy for me to see why he came up with such a ridiculous outlandish notion such as the replaying of the match.

Klopp knows full well that it’s impossible to replay that match or any other match for that matter, but justifiably felt that he and every other manager have a right to let the authorities know just how fed up they all are with the shambolic handling of their matches.

In suggesting the match be replayed, Klopp was simply illustrating the gravity of the situation and was conveying a pertinent message to those in charge; that atrocious refereeing was costing everyone and that something needed to be done immediately to stop this madness.

In the match in question, Klopp had every reason to feel aggrieved as his team were denied a legitimate goal that the VAR team had in fact admitted was a goal on a subsequently released audio clip.

A week later in the crunch match of the season so far between Arsenal and Manchester City, early Christmas gifts were presented by referee Michael Oliver to new Manchester City arrival Mateo Kovacic as he remarkably failed to send off the Croatian for an ugly red card type challenge on Martin Odegaard.

I cannot for the life of me understand why VAR failed to intervene to correct the referee who only dished out a yellow card to Kovacic.

The Croatian was tremendously fortunate at the time to still be on the pitch but thereafter should definitely have received a second yellow and his marching orders for a clear foul on Declan Rice.

According to Howard Webb, the experienced senior referee and the head of PGMOL(the association responsible for officiating in England,)VAR does not interfere in the brandishing of second yellow cards.

Right now though, from where I’m sitting, VAR does not appear to intervene in any worthwhile decisions.

Is it too much to ask to have a scenario where VAR intervenes whenever necessary to ensure that the correct decisions are made by the on field referees?

In the interests of the flow of the game, their intervention could be limited to the proper checking of all goals, all potential penalty calls and all potential red cards.

I wonder what you readers think?