The Times - UK (2020-07-27)

END OF SEASON VAR TALLY

Goals chalked off 57

(5 Bournemouth, Sheff Utd, West Ham

5; 4 Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City,

Tottenham, Wolves, Crystal Palace; 3

Aston Villa, Burnley, Leicester; 2

Arsenal, Brighton, Everton, Norwich; 1

Watford)

Goals awarded 10 (2 Bournemouth,

Crystal Palace, Arsenal; 1 Leicester,

Newcastle, Liverpool, Brighton)

Penalties awarded 22 (4 Man City; 3

Man Utd; 2 Burnley, Chelsea; 1 Arsenal,

Aston Villa, Brighton, Crystal Palace,

Everton, Newcastle, Southampton,

Watford, Wolves, Tottenham, West

Ham)

Penalty struck off 7 (2 Man City; 1

Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Leicester,

Southampton, Man Utd)

Penalty retake ordered 4 (2 Man City;

1 Leicester, Arsenal 1)

Red cards awarded 9

Red card overturned 3

Ave time for decisions 1min, 32sec

CHANGES TO VAR FOR NEXT SEASON

Pitchside monitors

The Premier League

will have to fall into line

with the rest of the

football world that

uses VAR and ensure

that referees consult

pitchside monitors for

subjective decisions

such as the intensity of

a foul, interference at

offside and handballs.

The International

FA Board (Ifab) stated:

“Where a reviewable

incident is subjective,

the expectation is

that the referee

will undertake an

‘on-field review’.”

Offsides

The Premier League will

be able to use thicker

lines for VAR offside

decisions next season

allowing a small margin

of error, which should

decrease the number of

goals ruled out for a

player being judged

offside by a toe.

Handballs

This change should

mean some of the most

controversial decisions

of the season, when a

goal has been disallowed

for an innocuous

handball in the build-up,

will not be repeated.

From next season it will

only be penalised if an

accidental handball

“immediately” results

in a goal.

Penalties

The Premier League

decided not to use VAR

to judge whether a

goalkeeper was off his

line at penalty kicks,

contrary to the rules

laid down by Ifab and

Fifa. Now that Fifa has

taken control of all VAR

issues, there will be

pressure for the English

league to fall into line.

Technology is

here to stay but

must improve

PETER

WA LTO N

The VAR review

Former Premier

League referee

How can I best sum up how VAR

has worked in its first season in the

Premier League? I would liken it to

an awkward brother-in-law: you may

not always like him, you have plenty

of disagreements, but ultimately you

have to put up with him.

VAR is here to stay. Managers are

not going to stop complaining when

things do not go their way but they

will have also benefited from

decisions that would not have been

made before the introduction of

technology.

Only last week, Sam Surridge

looked to have scored a last-gasp

equaliser for Bournemouth against

Southampton only for the VAR to

spot that Callum Wilson was clearly

interfering with play in an offside

position. Imagine the uproar from

Aston Villa and Watford had that goal

been allowed to stand. It could have

earned Bournemouth what would

have been a crucial point in the

relegation battle. Scrap VAR now and

the same old complaints that referees

need help would start up again.

One unforeseen problem was how

technology interpreted the laws of the

game. VAR was introduced to identify

glaring errors but for factual decisions

such as offsides, goals have been

disallowed by the finest of margins.

Next season we should see an

improvement with thicker lines to

eradicate those “armpit offsides”,

and changes to the handball law.

The officials will have benefited

from the experience of a whole

season but I would implore them to

return to the founding principles of

“clear and obvious”. VAR is there to

prevent howlers, not to pore over

replays to try to eradicate every error.

That should speed up the review

process. When VAR was first

developed, it was calculated that

reviews should take about 40 seconds

and I would advocate a time limit.

It is significant that Fifa has taken

over the running of VAR globally

from the International Football

Association Board, football’s

lawmaking body. The Premier League

has tried to go its own way this

season — such as initially telling on-

field referees not to look at monitors

— but now Fifa is in charge our

league will find it harder to diverge

from the overall protocol.

TABLE WITHOUT VAR

Pos Team Pts

Position

change

Points

change

1 Liverpool 94 — 5 V

2 Man City 84 — 3 U

3 Chelsea 68* 1 U 2 U

4 Wolves 68 3 U 9 U

5 Man Utd 66 2 V —

6 Leicester 58 1 V 4 V

7 Sheff Utd 55* 2 U 1 U

8 Burnley 55 2 U 1 U

9 Arsenal 54 1 V 2 V

10 Tottenham 53 4 V 6 V

11 Everton 52 1 U 3 U

12 Southampton 46 1 V 6 V

13 West Ham 45 3 U 6 U

14 Newcastle 44 1 V —

15 C Palace 42 1 V 1 V

16 Brighton 38 1 V 3 V

17 Aston Villa 37 — 2 U

18 Watford 35 1 U 1 U

19 Bournemouth 33 1 V 1 V

20 Norwich 23 — 2 U

Changes only where goals added/chalked off

*Ahead on goal difference

the times | Monday July 27 2020 2GG 13

thegame

Goals, guile,

movement,

hunger. Great

to see him

free of injury and in

top form.

Nods to Jan

Bednarek, James

Ward-Prowse and

Stuart Armstrong.

Danny

Ings

Relentless

running,

intelligent

movement,

assists and goals.

And he smiles. Son

loves what he does.

Edges Harry Kane.

Nods to Kane, Hugo

Lloris and Serge

Aurier.

Son Heung-min

Jamie Vardy

Leading the

way in

passing,

tackling and

interceptions. Grown

as a leader too.

Nods to Michail

Antonio and Angelo

Ogbonna.

Declan

Rice

Reliable,

body-on-the-

line defender

becoming an even

more effective all-

round performer with

more passes added

to his game.

Nods to Neal Maupay

and Dan Burn.

Lewis

Dunk

Scored key

goals at vital

moments,

such as the winners

against West Ham,

Brighton and Watford,

steering his team

away from trouble.

Nods to Vicente

Guaita and Gary

Cahill.

Jordan

Aye w

Goals, work

rate, stretches

defence,

genuine class in

a range of

attacking roles.

Nods to Lucas Digne,

Dominic Calvert-

Lewin and Michael

Keane.

Richarlison

So reliable,

save after

save, calm

under pressure

whether coming for

crosses or shot-

stopping.

Nods to Chris Wood,

James Tarkowski,

Ben Mee and Ashley

Westwood.

Nick

Pope

Makes things

happen,

brought joy to

Newcastle fans in a

difficult season.

Nods to Martin

Dubravka,

Miguel

Almirón and

Federico

Fernández.

Allan

Saint-Maximin

So hard to

single out one

player; all

played their part.

Egan shades it as the

rock in the defence.

Nods to Dean

Henderson, John

Fleck, Enda Stevens,

Chris Basham,

George Baldock, Ollie

Norwood, Jack

O’Connell and John

Lundstram.

John

Egan

Gives

everything,

genuine pro,

and a very good,

mobile, left-footed

centre back who

reads game well.

Nod to Aaron

Ramsdale.

Nathan

Aké

A leader on

the field,

always trying

to make something

happen with his

dribbling style and

determination,

creating a chance, a

goal or winning a

free kick.

Nods to Douglas

Luiz, John McGinn

and Tyrone Mings.

Jack

Grealish

LLLLLeLeLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLwi

Prolific again. Defiant again. Still quick.

Nods to Wilfred Ndidi, Kasper

Schmeichel, Jonny Evans, Ben Chilwell

and Harvey Barnes.

Leader and

driving force.

Nods to

Alisson, Trent

Alexander-Arnold,

Andy Robertson,

Virgil Van Dijk and

Sadio Mane; also Joe

Gomez, Gini

Wijnaldum, Fabinho,

Mo Salah and

Roberto Firmino.

Jordan

Henderson