In theory, the “clear and obvious” condition actually works toward the ideal version of VAR, because it should infinitely speed up the VAR decision-making process. The problem is that referees are afraid to make the same calls they used to make when VAR didn’t exist, because the easier thing is to just let VAR do the refereeing instead.

In fact, I was initially under the impression that this “clear and obvious” condition also applied to offsides, given that we previously had the “benefit of doubt to attacker” condition. But once the lines started coming out, the concept of “benefit of doubt” seems to have disappeared.

I’d like to see VAR be implemented in a way whereby all they do is literally take a second look at the incident with the benefit of multiple angles and come to a decision quickly. Not five minutes of looking at ten replays of a slow-mo to decide if a ball touched a hand or some minimal contact was made. If VAR cannot come to a conclusion within a reasonable time, we go with the on-field decision. We could even apply this to the centimetre offside calls.

For this to happen, refs must be able to do their job without the crutch of VAR because their decisions matter. Meanwhile, fans must be okay with the odd mistake happening - which is honestly already an improvement over pre-VAR era. For instance, nobody really complained about centimetre offside calls before VAR because we accepted the “benefit of doubt to attacker” condition.

At the end of the day, VAR exists to assist the referee. Not to do the job of the actual officials on the pitch.

Feels like 13/14 season again.

Average Darwin goal.

That was obviously a handball.

Definitely a pen at the end. Ref was probably afraid of the home crowd.