Tony Cascarino has blasted the introduction of VAR and claims he has no idea where the game is going!
Speaking on Weekend Sports Breakfast, Cascarino believes Declan Rice has every reason to be angry after seeing Robert Snodgrass’ goal ruled out against Sheffield United.
He said the introduction of VAR has changed football forever.
He said: “I think from day one at the start of the season there have been too many outrageous [decisions],” said the former Chelsea striker.
“And as much as we can say,’ that’s the law so it’s handball blah blah blah’, it is totally affecting football.
“The rules are contradicting each other.
“Watching an opponent head the ball to you from half a yard away while trying to close him down, how can you give that as handball?
“I just find it amazing. If I was a player, if I was Declan Rice, I’d be fuming and I think any Sheffield United player would be fuming if that happened to them.
“The referee has to recognise that was clearly accidental.et
“It’s not deliberate, it’s totally accidental, and if you look at how close the two players are when it happened, how can you say that it was handball?
“Incidents like this are so outrageous, I don’t know where football is going.
“Football is going to change and VAR will get it right, it will get better eventually, but it has to give players more leeway, it has to.”
Claret and Hugh says: Nearly 24 hours on it remains outrageous. Every single word of Cascarino’s is spot on. He has absolutely nailed it and something has to be done to save our game. Yes it really has reached that stage. This is no longer football as we know it. Instead we are watching some cheap imitation of the game we were weaned on, grew up on and learned to love with a passion. But after last night there won’t be many who believe that we can carry on like this – the way things are going we will soon be operating without referees and to claim that every time the ball hits the hand or arm, accidentally or otherwise the player must be punished is agreeing with a decision which frankly will kill the game. It simply is not acceptable and the constant references to VAR are turning football into a video game which bears no relationship to what it should and has always been. VAR even ruled out a Haller goal because his arm was offside and interfering with play. Enough#s enough. This has to be all put right at the end of the season or people, quite rightly, will be voting with their feet.
In fact West Ham could and should have won last night’s game 2-1. The off-side rule needs to change. It should not be offside unless the attacker is completely beyond the last defender. Also, hand ball should involve intent/gaining an unfair advantage. We come to games to watch fine play and goals, not interventions by officials.
Well said John, couldn’t agree more.
The Bureaucrats are absolutely KILLING the game of football. Everything about VAR and its use in the game of football is wrong!
We should’ve stopped with goal-line technology…. but that’s the problem it is not US, but faceless muppets who are trying to reinvent the game for their own ends.
They are Killing the Passion, the Excitement, Enjoyment and the Love of OUR Game!
We now have 2 different rules for “handball” and both versions give the benefit of the doubt to the defending team . VAR is now policing the game but sadly not like ” Dixon of Dock Green ” with a liberal dose of common sense, but more like an overzealous copper out make a name for his self.The Premier League have made a complete hash of VAR and it needs to be sorted now.
Demo Next Sat.
GSB out.
Looking forward to seeing Hughie and Whetstone there.
🙂
I honestly think VAR will eventually be good for the game by cutting out blatantly wrong decisions. But first some rules must change. No.1 in this must be the handball rule. Before VAR it was down to the ref’s discretion as to whether it was intentional or to gain an advantage. Now he has VAR to help him decide this the decision has been taken away from him. Likewise with offsides. VAR was introduced with the intention of rectifying clear and obvious mistakes by the referees. The Ref only gets one look. VAR can take up to three minutes of narrowing it down pixel by pixel, and then it is still the opinion of another ref in the studio. If the VAR referee cannot see clearly in his first couple of looks then it is not a clear and obvious mistake. therefore the referees decision should stand.
VAR is emasculating refs and linesmen. They’ll soon stop making decisions for fear of being made to look foolish. This has already started with the linesmen not instantly flagging offsides. I know sometimes officials aren’t our favourite people but without them we have no game. If we want to encourage the next generation of football supporters we must keep the game exciting. VAR is taking that out of the game. fans are not enjoying their players scoring until after it’s been checked thus removing all the spontaneity. These issues must be addressed before the start of next season before the game loses all its attraction. COYI.
Please correct me If I am wrong..deliberate hand ball.=a yellow card .so if it is not deliberate it means accidental =no intent =no card.=GOAL.wake up.please the powers that be!! The “game”is getting stale
Yes to all that. We have got to go back to refs using their judgement on this. The same as handball by defenders in the box. Forget all this rubbish about shape of the body, unnatural positions of the hands etc. They have VAR to help judge whether a handball is intentional. Sometimes it is impossible but people who know the game can judge intent about 80% of the time. In the other situations it will be controversial, as it has been for as long as all of us can remember. Is that the end of the world?its a price worth paying to avoid the game losing its soul. Fans celebrating when a goal is ruled out? Really? Get your fingers out & do something fast.
“VAR is here to stay so sod the fans” seems to be the mantra coming from the likes of Mike “i run football in britain” Riley etc. The truth is – as we know – the decision rests with the 20 PL clubs. The ONLY way to protect pur beloved game is for fan action!! There needs to be a concerted effort across all matches to embarrass the PL into realising that fans and even players HATE VAR. I am not talking silly marches or protests but something more subtle ie for fans to turn their back on the math for a minute every match. The fans have the power to change this nightmare but there needs to be a co-ordinated effort here