Alan Shearer says refereeing standards are ‘the worst we’ve seen’ due to VAR

At the end of each season, Premier League stakeholders – coaches, team captains and fans, among others – are asked for their views on how the match should be officiated.

Last summer, the maximum VAR intervention was backed by 80%.

Clubs may feel that they have been wronged, as happened with Manchester United against Bournemouth.

But they do not mention times when they took advantage of this high threshold.

Like Lenny Euro’s push before United scored against Fulham, or Jade Canfoot’s penalty on Cunha (which also resulted in a VAR red card), or Diogo Dalot’s potential red card challenge on Jérémie Doku.

Clubs have a selective memory when decisions go against them.

There have been fewer VAR interventions this season, but accuracy has remained the same at 94%.

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

The results of the independent Major Conformity Incidents Commission indicate that on-field accuracy has remained stable at 86% since 2023-24.

Take this seriously, field standards have neither improved nor declined.

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

He doesn’t like using VAR in matches.

The Premier League has the lowest intervention rate in Europe, but then you find clubs saying they should intervene more when a decision doesn’t go their way.

Clubs are always unhappy when the decision goes against them.

But they are strangely silent when they are the beneficiaries.