The Premier League is exploring changes to the VAR system, one of which could introduce additional cameras to put officials in better positions to make the right decision.
An independent panel found in December that six VAR decisions in the competition this season had been wrong, including incidents in games involving Arsenal and Chelsea. There have been further errors since, including a wrongly allowed goal for Brentford against Arsenal and a wrongly disallowed one for Brighton against Crystal Palace.
The VAR system has been the subject of significant debate, with some calling for it to be removed from Premier League games. Instead, though, it appears it could be tweaked going into next season.
According to The Athletic, the Premier League is recommending up to four additional cameras. These would be placed just outside each penalty area, with a view to making better informed offside decisions.
With more cameras, it is believed the Hawk-Eye system can operate with more accuracy. In addition to the wrong calls made this term, there have been others where the positioning of the cameras has left some doubt over whether or not a player has been offside.
The same report suggests there will be trials of the semi-automated offside system used at the 2022 World Cup, though there are concerns about the speed of decision. As the Athletic notes, any permanent change would need the support of at least 14 of the 20 Premier League clubs.
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While there are some who would encourage a change to how VAR deals with potential offsides, there are still other areas where controversy has reigned. Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper took issue with one such decision on Sunday, where neither the on-field referee or the VAR official felt it fit to award Forest a penalty when the ball struck the arm of Manchester United defender Harry Maguire.
"It’s another big moment that is going to have scrutiny on VAR and obviously there’s been a lot of not positive decisions over the past few weeks," Cooper told Sky Sports after his team's 2-0 defeat. "It’s not the reason why we lost the game - although it could have been a penalty and a second yellow for Harry Maguire, we could have scored the penalty and gone one up.
"I’m not gonna sit here and say it’s the reason why we didn’t win today but it does [have a big impact] to be fair, I’m biting my tongue here because I don’t want to use this as why we’re in the league position we’re in and why we’ve lost the game - it’s not - but for me it’s a bad error."
