VAR is a mess. Here’s the reason - and the cure.

Now we are at crisis point. It’s all so sad but not a surprise. Time and again in this blog I’ve warned that we were on a run-away train to this point.

Let me state this clearly - no ref operating in the PL sets out to ‘fix’ a result. Not now. Not ever. Nor will it ever happen. That might not be true in other league’s - but ours is clean.

But - we’re in dangerous territory now - because fans are beginning to believe that matches are being fixed.

I can tell you why it’s happened - and what the answer is, so read on.

It’s happened because Mike Riley has brought up a generation of refs who simply aren’t good enough. I feel for them. I really do. They lack confidence, belief, courage and in too many cases - ability. For the umpteenth time I repeat - Riley is responsible for the current mess and should go. I no longer care if they don’t sack him - do what the BBC has always done with the un-wanted - put him ‘upstairs’ in an empty office and a phone and leave him to stew.

For some (not me) VAR was supposed to deliver correct decisions 99 per cent of the time. It was going to remove doubt. It was going to make football black and white. There weren’t going to be anymore arguments about decisions.

No it wasn’t. It couldn’t - and I said so from day 1. It’s not possible to do that with our game. ‘Fact’ becomes ‘opinion’ in the blink of an eye. All it’s done is to highlight the poor standard of refereeing that we’ve got in the PL.

Week after week we’re seeing games ruined and pathetic excuses - often lies - being trotted out from the match day centre to cover up mistakes. They never admit to mistakes - unless you’ve got a good memory and you hound them on a weekly basis.

Remember Jota at Spurs? ‘No pen’ said Paul Tierney. VAR covered up for him. We all know it was. Of course it was. At Goodison on Sunday Anthony   Gordon stepped into a challenge and VAR decided it should be a pen. ‘Why?’ We asked the match day centre - reminding them of the Jota incident. ‘Ah’, they said. ‘Yes, we learned from that incident. That one probably should’ve been a pen’. Should’ve? Of course it’s should’ve by the way - have you apologised to Jurgen Klopp and Jota? Of course you haven’t - you simply hushed up an other error and moved on. Well I’m sorry guys, all this seasons ‘excuses’ will comeback to bite you.

One other thing - what on earth were the PGMOL doing when they scheduled Tierney to take charge of VAR for Chelsea v Liverpool. Liverpool fans rightly went mad - and before long they moved him! They gave him Leeds v Burnley - but wouldn’t tell anyone why. Don’t worry lads - I think we know why.

Anyone remember a pen that West Ham should’ve had at Villa - when Ashley Young grabs hold of Kurt Zouma’s shirt? Here’s the exact conversation our producer had with the match day centre (prompted by the studio 😂)

‘Hi Danny, yep he did see it, and clearly says no pen, VAR did look at it and didn't feel there was enough to overturn. He does hold the shirt but let's go quickly, not a sustained pull is Dermot's view in match centre... higher tolerance for penalties this season. That said... if it's given on-field, decision would probably stand, but not a clear error for VAR’.

So - we followed up….

‘Ok thank-you. Just to confirm that you can pull someone’s shirt in the box but as long as you let go quickly enough that’s ok as it is not a sustained pull?’

The reply was even more confusing…..

‘Well it depends on the situation doesn't it? There's often holding in the area at corners... and if it's given on-field, the decision would remain, but referee didn't give it on-field and the VAR has to determine if that's a clear error, which is a subjective decision’.

You couldn’t make it up.

At Arsenal we got proof that holding a shirt IS an offence because VAR gave Silva a pen after Xhaka tugged his shirt. We asked, of course. Guess what? No answer this time. All this is because Riley wants to present massaged figures at the end of the season which he hopes will fool everyone into believing how well his guys have done. No they won’t Mike. That game is up.

So. Get rid of Mike Riley, please - before he causes anymore damage.

We MUST be allowed to listen to the conversation at the monitor so that we’re certain the ref is making the final call - and not the match day centre - which is what’s happening right now. No? Prove it. Let us listen.

We also need full time VAR operators - not guys that have been in the middle one afternoon before taking a seat in the bunker the next. That’s wrong. And junior men won’t correct senior officials. Was Darren England likely to tell Antony Taylor that Mane had to go? No chance. Of course he wasn’t. Taylor would’ve eaten him alive at the next refs meeting. It’s the same with Atkinson and Oliver. These guys believe themselves to be untouchable. Full-time VAR operators wouldn’t care who they upset.

So there we have it. The cause - Riley. And the answer. It’s only going the get worse until this happens.

In the meantime - what a roller coaster of a day at Goodison, where the aforementioned Gordon was terrific. I do like this kid. There’s a lot of Steven Gerrard about him at this stage - all legs with a lot to learn - but what a terrific attitude. Sadly for him - he left like every other Evertonian - angry.

Still - the good news is Everton have a new left back - who’s been bought to replace - er, one of the best left-backs in the league. How exciting. Benitez finally gets to spend some money and he does it on a player Everton clearly don’t need. This is just one reason why he should never, ever be in control of transfers and especially budgets. Do Everton really need a new left-back? I think it’s fairly clear their problems are elsewhere. Fact. Benitez is the main one. Fact.