How VAR decisions have affected every Premier League club in 2020-21

[King Binny]

[article]
VAR is back in the Premier League for the second season, complete with an overhaul to fall into line with FIFA protocols. This season, a total of 37 goals or incidents have been directly affected by the video ref.

Last season, Brighton & Hove Albion benefited the most, while only Newcastle United didn't experience a single overturn decision against them all season. Check out the full 2019-20 season stats.

Here, we run through the league table of overturned decisions for this season, and decisions rejected by the referee at the review screen.

Total overturns: 36
Rejected overturns: 1

Leading to goals: 12
Leading to disallowed goals: 12
Penalties awarded: 13 (4 missed)
Pens for handball: 7
Penalties overturned: 2
Penalties retakes (GK encroach): 1
Goals ruled out for offside: 10
Goals awarded after incorrect offside: 2
Goals ruled out for handball: 0
Goals allowed after wrong handball: 0
Goals ruled out for a foul: 2
Red cards: 4
Overturned red cards: 1
Mistaken identity: 1

What will the VAR review?
- Goal/no goal
- Penalty/no penalty
- Direct red card (not second yellow card/caution)
- Mistaken identity (when the referee cautions or sends off the wrong player)

What will it not review?
- Any yellow card (including second yellow card leading to red)
- Any free kick offence outside the box (other than red card offence)
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Detailed team by team stats here: https://www.espn.com/soccer/english...affected-every-premier-league-club-in-2020-21

Liverpool -4
Overturns: 6
Leading to goals for: 0
Disallowed goals for: 3
Leading to goals against: 1
Disallowed goals against: 0
Net goal score: -4
Subjective decisions for: 1
Subjective decisions against: 2
Net subjective score: -1
Penalties for / against: 0 / 2

Game: Chelsea (A; Sept. 20)
Incident: Andreas Christensen sent off for denying a goal-scoring opportunity when bringing down Sadio Mane, 45th minute - FOR

Game: Everton (A; Oct. 17)
Incident: Jordan Henderson goal ruled out for offside against Sadio Mane, 90th minute - AGAINST

Game: Sheffield United (H; Oct. 24)
Incident: Penalty awarded (scored by Sander Berge) for foul on Oliver McBurnie by Fabinho. Factual decision on where foul took place, 10th minute - AGAINST
Incident: Mohamed Salah goal disallowed for offside, 62nd minute - AGAINST

Game: West Ham (H; Oct. 31)
Incident: Diojo Jota goal disallowed for a foul by Sadio Mane, 82nd minute - AGAINST

Game: Man City (A; Nov. 8)
Incident: Penalty awarded (missed by Kevin De Bruyne) for handball against Joe Gomez, 41st minute - AGAINST

 

[Brizzle]

Would be interesting to add subjectivity to that too. I.e. they might have been overturned but were they correctly overturned.

 

[tombrown]

A lot of people (including the incisive Ross_form_Wigan from Blood Red) blaming VAR for the penalty decision against Gomez ... but it wasn't VAR, it was the "new" rule on what constitutes a handball in the area.

However - maybe VAR is to blame as I suspect that new rule was only brought in because VAR made it possible?

It seems like a bad attempt to remove as much subjectivity as possible from decision making, that then leads to ridiculous decisions.

 

[MomoWASright]

It is also why Mané was called offside because part of his arm was offside.

The problem with VAR is it answers the wrong questions. I’m not sure what really happened with the Pickford non red card but VAR should have the opportunity to look at the whole scenario not just the “was he offside in the build up”. Same with the Sheffield United pen. It was asked was it inside or outside the box. Not “Was that a penalty?”

 

[Halmeister]

I'd also throw in the Van Dijk one against Everton. His elbow was ruled offside, and he was subsequently injured in an incident which should have seen us get a pen and Pickford a red card.

The officials have been mega retarded this year.

 

[jan]

Yeah the refs forgot the absolute basics of how to run a football match because VAR gives them a free pass. Like sorry mate, computer said offside, nothing we can do about that, please move along. I really don't believe they're biased, just fucking stupid

 

[King Binny]

How the Premier League table would look if we didn’t have VAR in 2020-21
https://www.planetfootball.com/quic...e-would-look-if-we-didnt-have-var-in-2020-21/

[article]
1. Tottenham
Points without VAR: 19
Actual points: 17
Actual position: 2nd

2. Liverpool
Points without VAR: 19
Actual points: 17
Actual position: 3rd

3. Leicester City
Points without VAR: 16
Actual points: 18
Actual position: 1st

4. Southampton
Points without VAR: 16
Actual points: 16
Actual position: 4th

5. Chelsea
Points without VAR: 15
Actual points: 15
Actual position: 5th

6. Aston Villa
Points without VAR: 15
Actual points: 15
Actual position: 6th

7. Wolves
Points without VAR: 14
Actual points: 13
Actual position: 9th

8. Crystal Palace
Points without VAR: 12
Actual points: 13
Actual position: 8th

9. Arsenal
Points without VAR: 12
Actual points: 12
Actual position: 11th

10. West Ham
Points without VAR: 11
Actual points: 11
Actual position: 12th

11. Manchester City
Points without VAR: 11
Actual points: 11
Actual position: 10th

12. Everton
Points without VAR: 10
Actual points: 13
Actual position: 7th

13. Newcastle United
Points without VAR: 10
Actual points: 11
Actual position: 13th

14. Leeds United
Points without VAR: 10
Actual points: 10
Actual position: 15th

15. Brighton
Points without VAR: 9
Actual points: 6
Actual position: 16th

16. Manchester United
Points without VAR: 8
Actual points: 10
Actual position: 14th

17. Fulham
Points without VAR: 6
Actual points: 4
Actual position: 17th

18. West Brom
Points without VAR: 3
Actual points: 3
Actual position: 18th

19. Burnley
Points without VAR: 1
Actual points: 1
Actual position: 19th

20. Sheffield United
Points without VAR: 0
Actual points: 1
Actual position: 20th
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[tombrown]

Loving the fact that Sheffield Utd's solitary point is down to VAR; Burnley can hold their heads high in the knowledge that they earned their point *

* - EDIT : even if lame stream media BBC show them having 2 points

 

[bluebell]

I think the FA should consider having a post match press conference with the officials explaining key decisions. If they make a mistake, they own upto it.

 

[MomoWASright]

That will never happen. There will never be any accountability.

 

[Markeh]

What about compensating the wronged club for every incorrect decision?

 

[King Binny]

 

[Shadey]

VAR has spoiled the day yet again, I’m falling out of love with football if I’m honest.

 

[tombrown]

LiVARpool

 

[tomasjj]

This has become a massive issue now.
Fans and players saying the game is becoming ruined.
The FA, haha, will have to change things after the season to make sure VAR is either scrapped or set up rules so that it is used to its intention.

 

[Halmeister]

Hopefully the FA/PGMOL/whoever will start to listen. As Macca said, this VAR was conceived as a way to eradicate great injustices - huge errors that have gone unseen or misinterpreted. The Hand of God goal being a great example.

But what it has turned football into is a dull, excitement-sapping slog, perpetrated by over officious nerds looking to justify their role sat behind a monitor in Stockley Park.

The game is not about the ref/VAR. What's that saying? The ref has had a good game when you haven't noticed him? Well, the refs/VAR are plastered all over our screens every game, and they're make several rickets a match now.

Unless they've made a major fuck up (which can happen. They're human. They can't have eyes everywhere at every time), VAR should stay out of it. Let the onfield decision stand. The second you have to get the shitty lines out to look for an offside armpit, that should tell you it's not needed.

But again, I can't see it changing. These people are looking for reasons to disallow goals, give penalties, whatever else, to justify their roles and have an impact on the game to massage their egos. The game is not about them or VAR. They should only be there as a failsafe. But currently, they're ruining football.

 

[tombrown]

I was never a fan of "clear and obvious error" as it is so subjective, and in the early days of VAR there were some obvious penalties not given as the line from VAR was the mistake wasn't clear and obvious ("I can see how the ref didn't give that").

Having said that, I am also not a fan of the "clear and obvious" bit being suspended for decisions against us

I actually don't mind the offside lines, if they could do it properly. This idea of "10cm margin of error" just moves the lines 10cm to the right, and the debate stars again - was that 9.9cm or 10.1cm offside?"

But I'm beginning to agree that VAR is shit - the fact that its introduction has seen a "refinement" in rules (such as different interpretations of handball if committed by a defender vs an attacker), indicates it has become the master not the servant

 

[Halmeister]

Maybe they should change the wording to "egregious errors". Maybe then these numpties in charge might stop with all these clangers. Doubtful, though.

 

[Frogfish]

Yeah agree with everyone else. I was (am) all for VAR - but not this interpretation. This isn't what people imagined or signed up for.
------

The biggest issue though is that it ISN'T accurate. As FFF said above the fps (frames per second) rate used in the PL is too slow (Premier League Productions ultra HD feed is 50 frames per second). Therefore the point where the action should have been frozen could be 20cms out of sync with reality depending on the speed of the player and the frame chosen at Stockley Park.

I'm copying pasting from various sources : -

The fastest players in the Premier League are often clocked at speeds up to 35 kilometres per hour / 21.7 miles per hour, which equates to 9.7 metres per second / 31.8 feet per second. Players could be moving as much as 19.4cm / 7.6 inches between frames.
Based on the fastest speed recorded in the Premier League last season - 21.75mph (35kmh) - that margin could be as big as 38.8cm. So, if a player is found to be offside by less than the margin, the VAR can’t be sure whether they were offside or not at the moment the ball was played.

To truly judge offsides to the millimetre, frame by frame, with a player moving at 35 kilometres per hour, you would need an ultra slow motion camera.
That’s 10,000 frames per second.

EXAMPLE

An attacking player running at a pace of 6 meters-per-second would require a 6000 frames-per-second camera to capture every 1mm of movement
In one second Raheem Sterling covers 6 meters (6000mm), camera takes 120 frames (not even the 50 fps the PL uses). So… 6000mm / 120FPS = 50mm resolution between frames. So moving frame to frame you would only be able to see in 50mm increments.

There is also the issue of 'Contact Duration' from kicking the ball, which has been measured roughly between 7 and 12ms. Which is about the interval between 2 recorded frames at 120fps (8.3ms) so theoretically a lot of times you're going to have 2 frames in which the player makes contact with the ball. That could lead to manipulation from VAR., one in which he is onside and one in which he is offside.

If it's too close for the technology to accurately call (and margin of error is 'at least' 5 cms even with 240fps cameras, not the 50 fps used by the PL, due to contact duration) they should stick with the referees original decision (as they do in cricket), even if the technology is suggesting that the Umpire in that instance was wrong but it's not conclusive.

Basically if it's too close to call then the referee's original decision is the deciding call.

 

[the count]

 

[King Binny]