Is VAR improving football?

Is VAR improving football?

Over the past years, professional football has witnessed some controversial decisions on the pitch. From disallowed goals to harsh sending offs. The game is desperately trying to resolve these issues from getting out of control.    

In last night's goalless Carabao Cup semi-final first leg tie between Arsenal and Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, there was an incident inside Arsenal's penalty box where Chelsea's Cesc Fabregas was brought down by Arsenal's Danny Welbeck. However,  referee  Martin Atkinson's decision to not award a penalty to the Blues was backed up by the newly introduced Video Assistant Referee system which is currently a trial in progress. 

It is said that the whole point of VAR was put in place to avoid giving wrong decisions in which are obvious according to the rules of the game this includes: goals, direct red cards or mistaken identity as was the case with Kieran Gibbs when it really was Alex Oxlaide-Chamberlin who should have been sent off for Arsenal against Chelsea four seasons ago.   

Chelsea boss Antonio Conte praised the new Video Assistant Referee system which was in use for the second time since it was introduced.  "I am very positive about VAR because when there is a big doubt during the game it is right the referee and the other referee watch the video to check and make the best decision,"

Conte also added "I think everyone wants less mistakes during the game and I think this could be very positive for sure." 

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger was also in favour of the VAR system "It was . It was a cause of anxiety as it took a bit of time to make the second decision with Welbeck and Fabregas, but overall it worked well."But between the penalty action or penalty not action, with the time taken it would have been strange to come back to the penalty."

The quotes from both managers sums up the positive side of using the new VAR system, but are there any negatives? You could supposedly say that time could be a factor but on the other hand if the referee and video assistant referee are quick enough to make the right  decision, this should not be a factor at all.  

On the plus side, everybody seams to be happy with the goal-line technology system as their are no longer any huge debates or controversies regarding goals and goals which have been  disallowed when the ball has clearly crossed the line.

So, is there really a case to say that VAR is improving football? The answer right now is it yes probably is, although this is still largely debatable as  Crystal Palace supporters may argue that Glen Murray's goal should not have stood as it looked as if the former Palace striker may have handled the ball, but referee Andre Marriner chose to let the goal stand after consulting with his video assistant about the hand-ball incident.

Maybe this is a case of the FA looking back at their decision to introduce VAR and to continue to monitor its progress to see if it really works out or not. Only then we can prove that it works out or not.