VAR the scourge of scorers
AS far as england were concerned, VAR worked perfectly at the UEFA nations League. Jesse Lingard was offside for the disallowed goal against holland — fractionally or by five yards makes no difference, it’s a black and white issue — and Callum Wilson did foul Manuel Akanji in the build-up to what would have been the winner against Switzerland.
Yet even when VAR gets it right, a fundamental flaw remains. VAR checks for possible infringements whenever a goal is scored. It needs no invitation from the referee. There does not have to be suspicion. In other words, when the ball hits the net, the cry goes up: ‘Right, how can we disallow that?’
This is why we are seeing goals ruled out for offside margins few linesmen would ever spot — such as Manchester City’s short-lived winner against Tottenham in the Champions League. It was the right call but was only made because football now has a process that actively seeks to erase goals.
harsh penalties for handball aside — VAR has few ways of redressing that balance. Few ways of chalking goals on. So, if the linesman flags erroneously and play stops — and is then found to have made a mistake — that chance, that advantage, cannot be recreated.
So VAR is working, it is doing exactly what it was asked to do but in most major competitions that means a goalscoring decline.
Serie A’s last season without VAR was 2016- 17 which brought 1,123 goals.
The same number of games the following season, with VAR, yielded 1,017 and this season 1,019. La Liga’s goals total dropped from 1,024 to 983 with VAR, Ligue 1’s from 1,033 to 972. Of europe’s main leagues, only the Bundesliga this season bucks the trend. Germany’s last VAR-less campaign saw 877 goals scored. That fell to 855 the following year, but was back up to a healthy 973 in 2018-19.
Yet, largely, the numbers go downward. There were 1,072 goals scored in the Premier League last season. Sell that come August.