Serie A president Lorenzo Casini has suggested tennis-style challenges could be a solution to the recent issues surround the use of VAR.
On Monday, an angry Jose Mourinho demanded an explanation from VAR official Luca Banti after Fiorentina were awarded an early penalty which set them on their way to a 2-0 victory over his Roma side.
The comments sparked furious debates on social media and have resulted in Casini hinting serious changes in the way the technology is used could be implemented in Serie A.
“I believe we should discuss improvements,” Casini told TV Show La Politica nel Pallone. “One I find reasonable is [to introduce] a challenge.
“To give, even just once or twice, each team the chance to re-watch a specific action. I think it would be a signal of openness that should not cause too many problems within matches.”
While there is no suggestion these changes are forthcoming, Casini’s explanation is for alterations to resemble tennis, where each player can contest decisions but is only allowed three incorrect challenges per set.
Mourinho was unhappy after Fiorentina were awarded a spot kick just four minutes into the match following a coming together between Rick Karsdorp and Nico Gonzalez.
Gonzalez also had potentially stronger claims for penalty waved away later in the match when he brought down by Bryan Cristante.
Maybe if those challenges will be reviewed by a separate referee, otherwise I don’t see the point.
On the negative side, this is probably going to add another 10 minutes of waiting around to every match because I see coaches using their challenges on every small incident.
The truth is that penalties should not exist in football. The punishment for a foul in the large box is too high. Players know this and getting fouled has become an easier way to score than kicking the ball at the net.
Good luck doing that in Italy.
RIP football. In the end its gonna become more and more American style sports. Boring.
I don’t understand how this would work, if the VAR is already reviewing the plays. In an instance where VAR initiates a review, and one team does not like the outcome, what recourse would they have? Re-review it? Who would do this? I suppose it may be interesting to afford teams the opportunity to challenge a play that wasn’t reviewed by VAR, but you would need a separate referee monitoring that, because otherwise…if the VAR has decided something isn’t worth a look, why would a challenge change his mind?
I suppose the better solution is to better train and prepare the VARs, if that’s possible.
Simple solution. Just don’t MICROMANAGE VAR! When I watch games in the English league they rarely go to VAR. What’s the point of using VAR to vet out a decision of tiny increments. Slowed down everything looks like a penalty. VAR rewards players who fall at the slightest touch. They exploit VAR knowing if it is reviewed at a snail’s pace, any content becomes a FACT. Oh, there was contact so it is a foul. Ridiculous. Not every contact is a foul. The Tennis challenge is a bad idea.
Donato Totaro, I agree. The problem is that the issue is cultural. Fewer penalties were being called in England before VAR as well. Now there is probably someone looking at the incident but just not calling the ref for a look. In Italy dramatic fouls, diving, play-acting and calls that push the limits of what would be considered fouls have been the norm since way before VAR. It’s just Italian football culture. So it follows that with new technology like VAR, you’d have the same application of drama. So doing away with VAR won’t change anything, because the moment they do someone will dive for a penalty, or use their hand in the box, or go studs up and you will get the same complaints that the wrong call was made when everyone watches the replays in slow motion.