Alan Shearer says refereeing standards are ‘worst we have seen’ because of VAR

At the end of each season, the Premier League’s stakeholders (including coaches, captains and fans) are asked for their views on how the game should be run.

Last summer the high threshold for VAR intervention was supported by 80%.

Clubs may feel they have been treated unfairly, as Manchester United did with Bournemouth.

However, they do not specify when they benefit from this higher threshold.

Like Leny Yoro’s shove before United scored at Fulham, or Jaydee Canvot’s tackle on Cunha (which led to a VAR red card), or Diogo Dalot’s possible red-card tackle on Jeremy Doku.

Clubs have a selective memory in case decisions go against them.

There has been less VAR intervention this season but the accuracy rate remains the same at 94%.

PGMOL will likely say this shows more decisions are being made on the pitch rather than being left to VAR.

Independent Key Matchup Events Panel results say on-field accuracy has remained steady at 86% since 2023-24.

Consider that field standards appear to be neither improving nor declining.

The biggest problem with English football is that it doesn’t know what it wants.

It is not welcome for VAR to interfere in matches.

The Premier League has the lowest intervention rate in Europe, but clubs say they need to intervene more when a decision does not go their way.

Clubs are always unhappy when a decision is made against them.

But when they are the beneficiaries, they remain strangely silent.