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.
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”.
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.
PGMO knows reviews take too long at times but the nature of VAR means you can never eradicate the longer delays.
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.
Sometimes there can be too much debate.
There was the four-minute stoppage to rule out Aston Villa‘s goal against Brentford.
There was the five minutes and 30 seconds needed to rule out Manchester City‘s goal at Newcastle in the EFL Cup, for a dubious offside call against Erling Haaland which PGMO admits was too forensic.
“It’s frustrating for the fans, the players,” Troy Deeney told BBC Sport.
“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.
“Football, especially as a form of entertainment, is all about goals.”
The delays are all part of this.
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.
Maybe the VAR team could be made more aware how long they are taking with a timer without there being a hard limit.
There is a balance to be found. But that should not be achieved by accepting more mistakes as a consequence.
