2025-26 Emirates FA Cup

I’m aware. Also not what I was referring to.

I’d say it would fall short in almost all the footballing stakeholder groups that aren’t rich football club owners. The refs were against it, the players complain about it all the time.

Ex players also complain, McManaman last night for example in the same breath as saying Ngumoha was actually onside was full of praise for how much more enjoyable it was to watch a Liverpool game without VAR, which I completely agreed with, it was great

You still get the odd bad decision but it's much easier to brush off than when it happens with VAR

Most professional games don't actually have VAR.

looking at the ones that do, I think the reason we have it is more for the fans sitting at home rather than those in the stands as it's the most televised leagues that introduced it so far

Same as having Dua Lipa play Champions League Final on the pitch, it's the commercialisation of the sport

They want more stoppages. Wait and you'll see the public debate about time added on will result in them eventually stopping the clock

They'll point at rugby being the blueprint but it's actually the NFL they want to model. Then you'll have ad breaks during VAR checks or clocks stopped etc

I might be wrong but let's come back in 10 years and see because all I see is making the experience worse for the people in the stadium

If you democratically surveyed a bunch of online PL fans from outside the UK on whether they want VAR, and then ask the same question to a bunch of PL fans who go to the games in the UK I guarantee the foreign fans will show a higher % in favour

So you're probably right, canvas the barstoolers in Ireland and they might also agree

But that's my point, it's clear whose experience is being priorisitised

I don’t really accept your guarantee. It doesn’t seem to be based on any proof based research and is just your take. Which is fair enough but I don’t agree with it.

my own theory is simply many football fans can’t deal with decisions made against their favourite football team. Which is quite a simple sentence but needs to be processed psychologically.

Var is the supply line of all the most important most important debatable decisions (it’s also the supply line of some really clear cut decisions that were made egregiously incorrectly by the on pitch officials) in football now and football fans have to cope with decisions made against their teams and frankly they are often just not psychologically prepared to cope with that reality so they strike back illogically.

it is illogical to think that one perspective from one person in real time will have anything like the same level of accuracy as multiple perspectives that can be viewed in slow motion.

A glib analogy but it’s not dissimilar to saying if my car was robbed I wouldn’t care if the thief’s face was seen by one person on the street or 4 CCTV cameras.

Ok I apologise for saying guarantee, that's hyperbole

But I strongly believe it to be true. I've gone to many games with and without VAR and interacted with plenty of people and I have a strong impression that fans in the crowd do not enjoy the experience, or at least are not as likely to defend it, than fans I read online....which in itself is flawed given the extreme opinions, bots, echo chambers etc

But I really feel strongly that it doesn't benefit fans, or isn't designed to benefit fans, who've paid at the turnstiles and that doesn't smell right to me

Switched on the Grimsby/Wolves affair

Proper early year FA Cup pitch there

Wonder who Leeds will get drawn away to this time

Whoever it is it'll be a 12pm KO on the Sunday.

Do what we do, according to the suspicions of many on here; pay off the powers that be to ensure easy draws. Simples.

A fairly dull weekend of it. The SPL is more entertaining

Really poor all round from an Arsenal perspective, but Mansfield get a more than deserved equaliser.

If Mansfield can keep their heads for the next 10-20mins after the goal, they could make a decent fist to get to extra time

Edit - couldn't in the end. Eze comes on as a sub to put Arsenal back in front.