James Milner Reckons VAR Disturbs The Flow of The Game

James Milner: The former Liverpool midfielder James Milner reckons the concept of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), which has been newly introduced in the Premier League, is causing more controversies than it is settling and is adversely affecting the atmosphere inside the stadiums.

According to Milner, the atmosphere that the crowd creates is a key part of the Football matches. But, now after a goal, if there is any sort of touch between the players in the build-up, you are unsure if it is going to be given.

You wonder if they would use the VAR now and would check the legality of the goal and that takes the fun part out of it. The crowd can’t even celebrate wildly because of the uncertainty they have at the back of their minds.

“You score, there’s an explosion of noise and then it’s VAR. You wait. Is it a goal?”, Milner was quoted saying by The Guardian.

Milner is in agreement to use VAR in those scenarios where it is clear that the decision is right or wrong. For example, if it’s used for goal-line, there is no room for debate because it’s there for everyone to see if the ball indeed crossed the line or not.

But using VAR in scenarios where there can be different views, like how strong a touch there was between the two players, if it was a foul, if a player should be booked, if a team should be awarded a penalty, all these scenarios invite different views which is why VAR can’t be used effectively in such scenarios.

Milner opines it should be left up to the on-ground referees to make decisions in such scenarios as they earlier used to do rather than making decisions through VAR which some people agree to and some don’t.

“Football is a game of human error on the field and in officiating as well. I am all for making their (the referees’) lives easier, but not at the expense of the flow of the game.” Milner added.