Premier League chief makes damning new VAR rule claim as Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham wait

The Premier League's chief football officer Tony Scholes has admitted that VAR needs improving while also making comments on possible changes likely to affect Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham. Following its introduction into top-flight football back in the 2019/2020 season, VAR has faced numerous criticisms for its inconsistencies and failure to reach the correct decisions.

With errors and mistakes continuing, despite this campaign being its fifth, Scholes has offered an honest verdict on the current use of VAR after it was confirmed the Premier League would be unable to introduce semi-automated offsides for the following season.

“VAR is and remains a very effective tool in supporting the match officials on the pitch … but clearly everything in the world of VAR is not perfect,” Scholes said, via The Guardian. “We’re aware of that and we know that we have work to do.

“There are two elements that I believe affect the whole reputation of VAR. [First] is the time that it takes to do the reviews, or to do the checks. We’re doing too many checks, we’re taking too long in doing them as well. It’s to a degree understandable given the level of scrutiny these guys are under, but the reviews are taking too long and it’s affecting the flow of the game.

“The second area where the VAR experience is poor is the in‑stadium experience for the supporter. It’s nowhere near good enough. We know it’s not. It affects supporters’ ­enjoyment of the game, and we know it needs to change.”

The Champions League use semi-automated offsides and they have shown to drastically reduce the wait time for decisions to be made while also remaining extremely accurate. However, that technology coming into the Premier League seems some way off with Scholes