Former England defender Danny Mills believes serious changes are needed in how VAR is used after Everton were left on the wrong end of two very poor calls.
Speaking in the wake of the latest errors ruled to have cost the Blues, Mills argues referees are relying too heavily on the technology as a back up option for big decisions.
His solution? A 30 second time limit when referees are sent to the pitch side monitor. If it takes longer than that to assess a call, it cannot be classed as a ‘clear and obvious’ mistake.
Everton’s European hopes derailed
The Blues have fallen foul of some terrible decisions as their push for Europe evaporated in recent matches.
The key match incidents panel, the group that reviews decisions made by referees and VAR agreed Everton should have had penalties in their games against West Ham United and Manchester City.
While they still equalised and still went on to lose after Matheus Fernandes handled the ball in his own box at the London Stadium, the failure to award a penalty against City proved significant.
Bernardo Silva was not penalised for bringing down Merlin Rohl during an 87th minute corner with Everton leading 3-2. City went on to level in stoppage time.
Those calls are among a bunch of recent high profile issues that have frustrated Mills, the dad of former Everton academy winger Stanley.
‘VAR is terrible, I’ve said it from day one’
Mills didn’t hold back.
“VAR is terrible, I’ve said it from day one. Goal line technology, I get it. Now we’ve finally got the semi automated offside as well, at least it’s a bit clearer and quicker than it was previously.
“There’s still always going to be the odd subjective decision about when players are in the goalkeeper’s line of sight or interfering with play. That’s always going to happen, you’re never going to eradicate that from live sport with lots of moving parts.”
The real problem? Referees have stopped making big decisions.
“I think referees rely too much on VAR. It’s too much of a safety net and they stop making sharp, correct decisions because they know: ‘If I don’t make it, someone else will make it looking at the replays’.
“I think that degrades the quality of refereeing over the course of time.”
The 30 second solution
Neither of the Everton incidents nor the failure to award a penalty when Thierno Barry was kicked by William Saliba in the home defeat to Arsenal, saw the referee sent to review his original call by VAR. The panel agreed the Blues should have had a penalty on that occasion, too.
But when they are sent to the monitor, Mills believes a time limit is essential.
“I would say you’ve got 30 seconds, three replays. If you cannot decide within three replays, if it is a blatant error, clear and obvious, then it’s no longer clear and obvious. So you say there’s two slow motion replays, one in real time, 30 seconds, go.”
He also wants transparency on the audio.
“I would also say that we should hear the exact audio, or it should be made available, of what the VAR is saying. The VAR should not introduce bias by suggesting the referee ‘got this wrong’ or that ‘there’s a penalty’.
“The instruction should simply be to ‘go and look at the screen’, leaving the final decision entirely to the on field referee.
“If a referee is told they missed something by a VAR who has seen multiple replays, the referee is already psychologically predisposed to change their original decision upon approaching the screen.
“To counter this, I propose limiting the review to two slow motion replays and one full speed replay, with a maximum time limit of 30 seconds. If the error is not clear and obvious within that time, the decision on the field should stand.”
The bottom line
Everton have been on the wrong end of multiple VAR errors during a crucial run of games. Their European hopes are over. The financial hit is real.
Mills’ proposal won’t bring those points back. But it might stop the same mistakes happening again.
Thirty seconds. Three replays. If it’s not obvious by then, it’s not obvious at all.
Simple. Sensible. And desperately needed.
