IT’S GONE VAR ENOUGH
Fans falling out of love with game says Robbo
ANDY ROBERTSON believes that if VAR hasn’t made things better, then it should be scrapped.
After another controversial weekend, the talk ahead of Liverpool’s key Champions League clash with Ajax was not of another big Anfield European night but of refereeing errors.
Left- back Robertson, who conceded a penalty after a review at Brighton last Saturday, argued if VAR is still getting the same things wrong, then football would be better off without a system that sucks the life out of the drama.
“We knew we would have to be patient with VAR and it wouldn’t be perfect overnight, but we are now 18 months down the line and the same mistakes are being made,” he said.
“Too many games are passing by where you are either watching on telly or the people in studios are discussing referee’s decisions or what could have been. I didn’t think it was possible after VAR but it is now becoming possible. “If that is still going to be a discussion and a thing, then I would much rather leave it up to the referee’s naked eye.
“It is much easier to accept mistakes then, than it is when so much technology is around it.”
VAR was introduced to remove the obvious refereeing mistakes but it’s creating its own controversy with so many debatable decisions based around microscopic calls and super slow motion replays.
In doing so it is destroying the pace,
passion and outpouring of emotion that makes the game so great.
“A lot of players and a lot of fans are feeling they are not enjoying football as much as they once did as it is constantly in review, constantly on a screen and you are still not getting the consistency that we are looking for,” said Robertson. “Football is a great game which we feel in love with, and we are still in love with, and it is important we don’t lose that.
“I am all for change, times change and we have to move with the times, but it is important to remember the key values of football which made us fall in love with it.
“When referees make mistakes, it was just what they’d seen in that moment.
“It was easier to accept, but now that you have technology and so many cameras and angles and a second referee who is watching the game from a telly it makes it that bit more difficult.”
Thiago Alcantara will miss tonight’s game and boss Jurgen Klopp revealed the midfielder faces a battle to play again before Christmas.
He was crocked by Everton’s Richarlison six weeks ago and while he is training, he is not fit enough to play.
Klopp said: “Nothing was ruptured and stuff like this but, as we realise now, it was still a massive impact on the knee.”
But Trent Alexander- Arnold, Naby Keita and Xherdan Shaqiri are “all close” to a return and Keita could be involved against Ajax tonight.