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It really should be a benefit for officials to have more technology to help them make the correct decisions but this lot are so awful that I don't think they'll ever get it right. I'd rather see them sack it off completely. I don't think it'll happen sadly.

While we're all right to bemoan the boringness of it, what's actually a bigger issue here is that the Premier League will have crowned City champions twice since levelling 115 charges at them for breaking the rules and City are yet to set foot in a courtroom to defend themselves. In the meantime, two other clubs have been fast-tracked (one of those twice) and Leicester have been pretty much told they'll have a points deduction next season when they come up. It really shows who's governing things here. If the Premier League had an ounce of integrity they'd stop making excuses about how complicated City's case is because they broke 114 more rules than anyone else and get on with it. Start with charge 1 next week, if City refuse to turn up to the hearing then they get sanctioned. The case isn't going to get any less complicated the longer they wait. Get the fuck on with it. And if it's that complicated to do it as one case then offer to have 115 different hearings for them and see how they like the threat of having to fight each one in the courts with a constant drip feed of points deductions over several seasons ruining their chances in the league.

"Would have prefered to stay on the bench" after you sub in a player is a bit overused, isn't it?

I saw two fans do the Poznan after City scored. There's always going to be some. Vast majority were giving the officials grief for any decision that went City's way etc.

Mainoo gives Man Utd the lead! Where were the Newcastle defenders?!

Newcastle seem to be winning the midfield battle and exposing the Man Utd defence but then wasting the final ball. You can tell some of the Man Utd players lack confidence, they look a bit panicky.

There has been competition though. Man City usually just find a way to do just enough to win.

How we ended 2023 has cost us. Lost games we should've won. Still, West Ham might do something...

I can't see the proposal vote getting 14 votes to be honest. Here's a reminder of what honourary mason member Anthony Taylor gave as a penalty without the assistance of VAR this season. Be careful what you wish for.

Jebbaited

Chuck it in the fuck it bucket

That would be a much better step to take in my opinion.

The biggest thing is not being able to celebrate a goal fully or properly because you know there'll be a pause. And one way to appease the fans would be to have replays or videos shown at stadiums so fans know what exactly the decision-making process is. Everything currently is geared towards fans out of the stadium as opposed to inside it.

Goals being disallowed isn't a new concept. And VAR era incorrect decisions are nothing compared to how things were before. A penalty being given for a foul outside the box, the wrong player being booked, a dive with no contact, an unseen handball. It'll at least be fun to see how many times these forgotten things turn back up and it'll be a nice experiment to see how long everyone stays happy without VAR.

Personally I would rather someone gets away with cheating than a referee looks at any number of the incompetent decisions we have seen this year and decide they are the opposite of what they see on screen. At least with cheating it's part of the game, it's part of getting one over on your opponent, a clattering foul, a dive, whatever, I would much rather that than watch referees go to a screen, see the answer is A and come away and award B. Not only are they getting decisions wrong that they have no excuse for getting wrong, but they are also ruining the match day experience. The flow of the game, the celebrations.

If it were down to me I'd sack the lot of them rather than scrap VAR. At the end of the day, I think most of the problems with PMGOL are institutional - VAR isn't the problem, the referees are the problem and the system where referees go through is failing them. PMGOL's never going to do that though, it's an old boys club.

As long as they keep semi-automated offsides and goalline technology then I'll be happy. Most people know I've been a big proponent of VAR but how it's been in the last 12-18 months there's just not been enough improvement, consistency or common sense when it's used. Too many mistakes occurring now and too many hollow apologies.

It also increases the amount of wrong decisions and the amount of cheating from players. Imagine these referees without the option to look at things again. The answer to referees being shit isn't to trust them more.

Looks like it could be happening. Tuchel staying I would have to think hinges on an extension. Theres no way he agrees to coming back with 1 year left on his contract.

Honestly can't help but think people are living with a bit too much nostalgia. From a competition standpoint the Premier League was absolute dogshit through the 00's, it was strangled in the 90s and the feelings people have for almost not being able to escape Pep and City were the same for Fergie and United. The only difference really is that Fergie had to compete with a coach in Mourinho who redefined how clubs should defend and train in England and was backed to the hilt, Klopp came in and redefined how to press aggressively but has done it at a weaker club financially than Chelsea. But still, it was difficult to better Ferguson and really the only man who has completely outplayed him is now doing it for City. Personally I grew numb of this a long time ago, I would say when Chelsea first won the Champions League, that was a real turning point that showed that it didn't really matter if you had a historical pedigree in the competition (Liverpool, United) or no pedigree in it (Forest when they won, Villa when they won, Arsenal when they reached a final), what mattered is that you could bankroll your way to success regardless. It's very rare that you could see a team win the competition based purely on great coaching, scouting and academy intake. It's very telling that the only time in the league where a complete surprise occurred in my lifetime in Leicester winning it; Liverpool, Chelsea, Man Utd and Man City all sacked their managers that season. Not to discredit Leicester, but the facts are that the reason they had such a good run at the title whilst competing with Spurs of all teams was due to complete and utter mismanagement of 4 of the traditional top 6 in that season and the season before. We hadn't seen mismanagement like that from those powerfully rich clubs as a whole in decades before and we haven't seen it since. I've probably waffled on about this before, but what I would love is a global system in which all clubs regardless of where you are have to compete within the same type of wage/transfer restrictions. Then we would get to see a true Club World Cup, imagine if Brazilian clubs or Argentinian clubs could keep their best players, imagine how many opportunities there would be for young players knowing that the academy systems would be more important than ever as you have to supplement your big spends with great academy finds as everyone operates under similar transfer constraints. I realise it would lead to less quality in the league as a whole in England or Spain, and there would also still end up with concentrated levels of talent in certain areas, but at least it would be down to how well you operate as a club rather than how much money you can make from tv money, prize money, global sales or just a randomly rich benefactor. A yearly, proper, real McCoy Club World Cup would be phenomenal. Fuck the Champions League, Europa, Conference, just create a global version for each one, short group stage/knock out style.

VAR or no VAR the referees will be shambolic. At least not having VAR makes human error more forgivable.

They'll vote to ban it and then everyone will remember why it was needed it in the first place.

Fingers crossed.