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Has VAR improved this season?

Howard Webb has said that there has been a significant reduction in the number of mistakes made by VAR this season in comparison to last. Since 2022, Webb has attempted to improve on field officiating in an off the field role.

This season changes have been made to make VAR reviews more accurate and take a shorter time. There is also now a higher threshold for on field decisions to be overturned by the VAR officials.

Is VAR Better Than Last Year?

Webb has accepted that some mistakes were made when initially introducing VAR back in 2019, but he has said that human error is inevitable when officiating the game. There has been a new independent panel introduced in the last few years that includes ex-players, to review decisions made.

PGMOL chief Howard Webb:

"We have this independent panel which has got ex-players on it, and they judge each decision each week,

"According to the panel there has only been two VAR errors this season compared to 10 at the same time last year," he told @WeAreTheOverlap. pic.twitter.com/r5Br21Ab9n
— Chris Wheatley (@ChrisWheatley) October 17, 2024

This time last season, the panel said that there had been 10 officiating errors in the opening seven weeks. This year that number is down to just two. The two decisions which they believe were wrong were Bruno Fernandes’ red card against Tottenham, and Bournemouth’s disallowed goal against Newcastle.

What Has VAR Got Wrong This Season?

Fernandes appeared to have made a high challenge on James Maddison and was dismissed for it. VAR didn’t intervene, however replays showed that he had slipped when going to make the challenge. The red card decision was overturned after the game, but that did not save the Red Devils from their embarrassing defeat against Spurs.

The other decision had even more impact on the result. Bournemouth appeared to have scored a last minute winner against Newcastle in the second week of the season, when Dango Ouattara headed in from a corner. However in the subsequent VAR review, replays showed that the ball had come off a mixture of his and Dan Burn’s shoulders. The ball made contact above his shirt sleeve, but officials in VAR ruled it a ‘factual handball’ and disallowed the goal without even giving the on field referee the chance to take a look. The game ended 1-1. The independent review panel and Webb both admit that VAR was wrong on this occasion.

Premier League football returns this week after a busy international break that has included a new England boss and an old Mexican revival.