The Premier League will give players the benefit of the doubt when it comes to tight offside calls that aims to prevent goals being disallowed for “toenails” and “noses” that marred the 2020-21 season.
Referee chief Mike Riley believes the “forensic scrutiny” given to offside calls by VAR has impacted the game and a new system will give back at least 20 extra goals to a season.
VAR has proved a controversial addition to top-flight English football since it was introduced two years ago. While the technology has helped alleviate clear mistakes from officials, the level of detail deployed to make calls – particularly in offside calls and handballs in the penalty area – has proved irksome to fans and players alike.
Following the success of VAR at Euro 2020 the Professional Game Match Officials Board (PGMOL) are set to introduce changes to the way VAR interprets the offside law, as well as penalty decisions.
This includes thicker lines being used in offside calls – something that has led to greater success in providing the attacking side with the benefit of the doubt in other leagues.
“Fundamentally, we want the approach to be one that allows players to go out and express themselves and let the game flow,” said Riley.
“It means the VAR teams will not intervene for trivial offences and the threshold for referee and VAR intervention will be slightly higher than it was last season.
“We’ve introduced the benefit of the doubt for the attacking player so where we have a really close offside situation, we will follow the same process as last year but now apply thicker broadcast lines.
“Effectively what we have done is given back 20 goals to the game that were deemed offside last season by using quite forensic scrutiny.
“So it’s the toenails, the noses of players that were offside – they won’t be offside now.”
Premier League VAR changes
- Benefit of doubt given to the attacking player
- Thicker lines used to determine offsides
- VAR team won’t intervene for “trivial offences”
- Slight contact in area won’t lead to penalties
- Accidental handballs by team-mates unpunished
- Viewers won’t see images of decisions
Offside has been a particularly contentious issue in the past two seasons, especially in the way VAR has implemented the rules. With the majority of games being played behind closed doors, fans have watched sometimes in frustration at home as players have had goals ruled out for the narrowest of offside calls.
Last season Leeds striker Patrick Bamford had a goal ruled out at Crystal Palace for an armpit being offside. Bamford had pointed to where he wanted a through-ball played to him. Later on in the campaign he was denied another goal – this time against Wolves – for another marginal call.
Asked what he felt about VAR, Bamford said: “It’s dead, I think I’ve had two goals ruled out. One of them was because my elbow was offside and the other was because my hair on my knee was offside it was so close.
“It’s mad, very frustrating. I haven’t had it yet where I’ve scored and it’s been given offside and then they check VAR and it gets given.
“I imagine that’s annoying as well because you’re celebrating then you’re waiting and then I’m like do I celebrate again? It just kills the game a bit.”
FIFA has since ruled that the armpit is the part of the body where offsides will be measured from.
Penalty decisions more lenient
Premier League referees will also be less reliant on VAR when it comes to contact in the penalty area. There were a record high 125 penalties awarded last season. In incidents of slight contact, the decision will be down to the match official on the pitch to determine a foul.
However, VAR can still step in if a player is impeded – even if they don’t fall to the ground.
“It’s not sufficient to just say there was contact,” Riley added. “Contact on its own is only one element the referee should look for.
“If you have clear contact, that has a consequence, it’s a foul but if you have any doubts, in these elements they are unlikely to be penalised.
“You also want it to be a proper foul and not the slightest contact that someone has used to go over to get a penalty.”
Handball rule tweaked
There is also a minor change in the handball rule when it comes to VAR that could lead to more goals being given across the season.
From 2021-22, goals that include an accidental handball by a teammate in the build-up will stand.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3yqsUyu
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