VAR is probably the most controversial rule change to have ever hit the Scottish Premiership in recent times. Especially for Celtic.
When it was first implemented, the Parkhead club were penalised for ridiculous handballs, silly fouls and extremely contentious offside decisions that have cost the club goals over the past two seasons and let’s not talk about the penalties that the technology has missed for Celtic.
But on Tuesday night a red card that was delivered to Daizen Maeda and the circus that surrounded the VAR decision seems to have been the breaking point for Brendan Rodgers’ tolerance for VAR.
What Brendan Rodgers has said about VAR
When asked if the video technology should be scrapped, the Celtic manager was very clear in his thoughts on what should be done with it.
Rodgers said [BBC Sportsound], “Yeah, there’s absolutely no doubt from what I’ve seen, and I having been involved in it now in the Premier League and up here.
“And only because it takes away from football that’s my only concern. I think that we all expect mistakes in the game but it just feels no that the focus is really gone more towards VAR.
“I’ve never heard so many people talk about it so much in my life and that’s a shame. Because the quality of football that these players produce at times is absolutely amazing.
“So yeah, I think it’s one that will probably be continually monitored. The technology is fine but it’s implementation of it and if the consequence of that is a slow game, then that’s not really what we want.”
The one decision I thought VAR should have gotten involved with was the challenge of Aberdeen defender Slobodan Rubzic on Kyogo Furuhashi.
Referee, Willie Collum, issues a yellow card for the challenge that saw the Celtic striker react furiously towards the Aberdeen player when he was subbed off.
But when the footage is watched back, it looks like the defender was reckless and dangerous as he charged right into Kyogo.
Unfortunately for Rodgers though, I think the technology isn’t going to go anywhere. And if it stays, the governing bodies really need to get their act together to ensure it is being used correctly and to the best of its ability.
In other news, Why Kenny Miller still raging about a VAR decision Celtic got last week