Awful VAR use has tarnished the Premier League festive fixtures

It works well when used properly, but the Premier League’s over-intricate and nonsensical use of VAR has tarnished their normally excellent festive period.

Usually, the Premier League is joyful, eventful, and much-needed around the holiday season – not just in the UK, but all across the world. Between December 21st and January 1st, there are a number of matches involving all 20 sides, and they tend to be some of the most-watched fixtures of the year.

However, this year’s Premier League festive period has been completely and utterly tarnished, by the poor use of VAR.

VAR’s introduction has ushered in a new age of football, where officials are supported by technology and mistakes can be reversed. While the implementation of VAR has been successful in places like Italy and Germany, and at the World Cup too, it has been nothing short of a disaster in the Premier League.

The biggest mistake the Premier League made was trying to mould VAR into what they wanted it to be, rather than simply using the system that works rather well in other nations.

While we don’t always see it used for red cards or penalties, we have seen a growing trend of VAR cancelling out goals for the most marginal offsides there could possibly be. This week alone, there have been multiple different incidents of goals being chalked off for players being millimetres offside.

On Sunday, Wolves forward Pedro Neto was denied his first-ever Premier League goal because of an offside which wasn’t noticeable whatsoever to the naked eye, which was a heartbreaking moment for the youngster. It’s moments like these that are being tarnished by VAR – an offside should only be an offside if it is noticeable to the naked eye. Once you bring in the complicated technology to decide things, it’s going too far.

The problem with such a nit-picky system is that it’s not leaving any room for human error – which has to be part of the game. Blowing up a picture and using silly computerized grids and measurement systems to decide whether a player is offside or not truly takes away from the game and has made it sour for both players and supporters.

VAR has ruined the Premier League’s festive period this year, and come the summer, those in charge of making the big decisions at the very top of the hierarchy have no choice but to come together and solve this issue, as it is causing fans to lose interest, and players to grow more frustrated.