Roy Hodgson: "The big problem with technology is that it's like speed cameras. When they say you've done 32 or 33 and not 30, can you be 100 per cent certain you have done 32 and not 29?"
Sunday 29 December 2019 11:05, UK
Roy Hodgson compared VAR to the use of speed cameras, while Dean Smith fumed and Dan Burn rued his offside "armpit" on another afternoon of controversy in the Premier League.
It was a Saturday packed with contentious decisions, following Wolves' dramatic 3-2 win against Manchester City on Friday night, which was also full of VAR interventions.
Marginal offside calls dominated and players, managers and Sky Sports pundits had their say as VAR continues to be debated...
At St Mary's, VAR was used twice in Crystal Palace's 1-1 draw against Southampton. The first was to disallow a Max Meyer goal as Wilfried Zaha was marginally offside before the German went down just inside the area after a challenge from James Ward-Prowse, but no penalty was given.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Hodgson said: "I've never been one to beat the drum for it. I'd have been just as happy if they'd trusted the referees and linesman to carry on doing their job but we're being asked to move with the times.
"We're being told by people in football, the media, and presumably fans who are affected by these things that this is going to make football better. I went along with that because it would have been wrong to make a strong stand against the way the tide was turning in favour of technology.
"The big problem with technology is that it's like speed cameras. When they say you've done 32 or 33 and not 30, can you be 100 per cent certain you have done 32 and not 29? That's where we are with VAR, and as a result, we get the situation where people are becoming a bit disillusioned because they're seeing good goals chalked off by very small margins of space, if you like.
"They're also having to wait for quite long periods so when a goal is scored, you never quite know. I'm still foolish enough to celebrate the goal we scored, I couldn't possibly believe it could have been offside. I have to wait until afterwards and show it 100 times on the TV and put my glasses on to make sure I can see it right."
Matt Le Tissier and Clinton Morrison both watched the game at St Mary's on Soccer Saturday, and were unhappy with how Zaha's offside call was handled.
Morrison said: "How they are measuring these things, I do not know, because it is a great bit of skill from Wilfried Zaha, he does ever so well to put the ball into the area and Max Meyer is where he should be with a terrific left-foot finish, but again VAR ruled it out. I thought it was really harsh, even looking at the replays, I don't think it was offside. But that's my decision and what do I know, because VAR always gets it right."
Le Tissier added: "The argument I've been having all season is - where do you draw the line? If you're not going to have it exact on a certain point, how far offside are you allowed to be before it's OK for it to stand?
"If you're going to change the law to say you've got 30 seconds to decide if it's offside or not, then so be it. But with how it is at the moment, there's no other place you can draw the line because wherever you draw it, you can say 'well, he's a little bit offside but that one last week was about the same' and with the way it is at the moment, that's all you can do."
A furious Dean Smith delivered an explosive post-match interview after watching his Aston Villa side beaten 3-0 at Watford, with VAR playing a part in two of the hosts' goals.
Minutes after being reduced to 10 men, Watford were awarded a penalty, confirmed by VAR, for Douglas Luiz's foul on Troy Deeney in the visitors' box, and four minutes later, the video official ruled Etienne Capoue's heavy challenge on Jack Grealish had been legal in the build-up to their third.
Smith, enraged by both decisions and the greater impact of the new video review, told Sky Sports: "They go down to 10 men and you think you've got a really good chance of getting back in it. Then there's two goals that are comical.
"My take on it is that Matt Targett goes down with a hamstring injury for the second, Jack is on the ball, he doesn't know, keeps playing, Watford win the ball, play on and get a penalty. I've seen the replay back, it's shoulder to shoulder. Troy goes down very easily. If that goes back to VAR, it's a mistake. If the referee's allowed to walk over to a screen which is 30 yards away, and looks at the screen, he'll say sorry, I've made a boo-boo. But we're not allowed to do that, apparently.
"The third goal is a foul right in front of me. Whether they've got the protection of saying we can still go back if they score under VAR, it's a foul. The lad goes through the back of Jack. There's been free-kicks all game for things like that, with Sarr going down."
Brighton's Dan Burn thought he'd scored his first goal for the club and put his side 2-0 up on 58 minutes against Bournemouth on Saturday - but his close-range finish was eventually ruled out due to a marginal offside call in the build-up.
VAR Graham Scott determined Burn had just strayed ahead of the Bournemouth defence as Aaron Mooy sent in his free-kick moments before the goal.
The Brighton defender said after the game: "I was gutted, it's about the third time I've been done on VAR, especially when I went wheeling away with a knee slide as well, that killed us a little bit. If it's offside, it's offside, I know people are complaining about it.
"I think it was my armpit or something like that, which is a bit ridiculous, but if we're going to play by that rule then every offside is going to be the same."
Alan Smith said on co-commentary on Sky Sports: "I know Bournemouth fans will disagree but it leaves you feeling deflated. It sucks the life out of you, for such a tight margin to disallow a goal. Especially when it's not an exact science with the frame being picked."
Scott was also involved in three other instances, backing ref Paul Tierney's decisions not to punish Burn for a clash with Harry Wilson, not award Dominic Solanke a penalty when he went down under Lewis Dunk's challenge, and not to punish Bournemouth's Jack Stacey for an alleged handball in his own box.
Brighton manager Graham Potter added: "I can't complain about VAR generally in terms of what's happened to us but I know that those things do affect the game because the reality of it is you almost can't celebrate goals any more because you have to get everything checked and then you can have another celebration, but as soon as you bring it in that was always going to happen so I don't know why anyone was surprised by this."
There was more to come at Carrow Road too, and in similar incidents to the two above, Norwich striker Teemu Pukki had his effort chalked off by the tightest of calls.
Pukki collected a long pass from Mario Vrancic before finishing past an on-rushing Paulo Gazzaniga, but what would have been Norwich's second goal was disallowed by VAR, with the Finland international judged to be offside.
Jamie Redknapp told Sky Sports: "The rules are the rules and we have to trust in the technology but it just seems harsh. It's a brilliant ball by Vrnacic and it looks like Pukki gets himself onside. We have to trust the calibration but we're talking centimetres. I think they have to change the rule in the summer - it's not something the fans appreciate.
"With the rule being you can score with any part of your body, I think it gets lost on fans to a certain extent and I understand that because I find it frustrating too.
"I think maybe next year, we need to look to a situation where you can only be offside with your feet, because when people are running, you're naturally going to be leaning, it might be your head or shoulder. It just feels unfair, and it's not 100 per cent accurate either.
"That one is so tight, so marginal, I would rather just see it with the feet. It would make a lot more sense. I think fans would respond to it a lot more, the fact it's a part of their body, your armpit or whatever. Firmino had one, there's that one today, it just feels unfair. We want to see more goals, too, and if you were to say to me that is 100 per cent accurate to the millimetre, I would go 'that's fine'. But they can't guarantee that."
Former Norwich manager Chris Hughton added: "When we entered this era of VAR, it was going to be about making decisions and that exact same decision would've been made on a few other occasions with the same end product, an offside by a shoulder or a knee.
"It's fair, otherwise you are going to get numerous managers screaming because a different end product was given on a different day. It is the rule, and unfortunately we have to accept it.
"For me, the most important thing is to be clear about something. For me, if the sense of opinion from most people in the game is that it's unfair and the advantage should be given to the offensive team because of good movement and you don't want to see a lack of goals, then providing we know that, the education is done and everyone's aware of it, then okay."
