What’s weird is that they were definitely better before VAR. it’s not like we didn’t have slo mo video then, to see the mistakes. We did. But they were fewer and WAY less bizarre.

I actually predicted that the on field reffing would get worse, but didn’t think it would matter if VAR did it’s job. It’s like being a junior pilot, or a resident physician. You don’t really own the job unless you are it. The last and final answer. Once you remove that responsibility it’s very difficult to rise to the level you would have if oversight wasn’t there. It’s natural.

The weird thing is how badly VAR is utilized. So now we have crappier refs being overseen by crappy VAR officiating. There are so many stupid parts. Linesmen keeping their flags down is stupid. An offside that isn’t called leads to a corner from which a goal is scored. Dumb! Two crappy yellow card decisions and a player gets sent off with no review. Dumb! Clear and obvious threshold. Dumb!

My only suggestion would be to see if it’s any better in other leagues and copy them.

Factually with VAR the standard of refereeing is higher. But this DOES NOT imply same improvement in terms of fairness. Like what most fans can observe, there are clubs like Manchester City who is frequently getting advantages from errors (e.g. offside goal against Fulham, escaped handball against Everton). In other words when VAR is not properly used, such manipulation is even worse compared to pure human error in the past. The criticism of corruption definitely has its ground.