\n<\/p>\n
There’s a tendency to think all things would remain equal. That a VAR would make decisions as they do now while time was ticking away.<\/p>\n
In August, Graham Scott, who retired as a VAR at the end of last season, described how “an imaginary clock starts ticking in your head and the sense of foreboding is palpable”.<\/p>\n
If it is like that when the time is only psychological, imagine the pressure if the seconds really were counting down in front of the VAR’s eyes. <\/p>\n
PGMO knows reviews take too long at times but the nature of VAR means you can never eradicate the longer delays. <\/p>\n
From the VAR clips shown on Match Officials Mic’d Up it is clear there often has to be a level of discussion. Not all reviews can be straightforward. <\/p>\n
Sometimes there can be too much debate. <\/p>\n
There was the four-minute stoppage to rule out Aston Villa<\/a>‘s goal against Brentford<\/a>. <\/p>\n There was the five minutes and 30 seconds needed to rule out Manchester City<\/a>‘s goal at Newcastle<\/a> in the EFL Cup, for a dubious offside call against Erling Haaland which PGMO admits was too forensic. <\/p>\n “It’s frustrating for the fans, the players,” Troy Deeney told BBC Sport. <\/p>\n “When they score, you don’t even celebrate now. To me, it’s kind of got to that point now where you feel like they’re looking for a reason to chalk a goal off. <\/p>\n “Football, especially as a form of entertainment, is all about goals.”<\/p>\n The delays are all part of this. <\/p>\n It is the perception that VAR as a concept will always have to battle with. Even though this season interventions have led to 21 goals being scored, and 22 disallowed.<\/p>\n Maybe the VAR team could be made more aware how long they are taking with a timer without there being a hard limit. <\/p>\n There is a balance to be found. But that should not be achieved by accepting more mistakes as a consequence. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n