The Debrief: Liverpool wants a replay, but the VAR drama demonstrates how increased accuracy has altered our perception of mistakes.

In his most recent essay, Adam Bate makes the case that, despite the criticism, VAR has contributed to more accurate decision-making. It also implies that the mistakes that do continue to be made seriously damage trust. The argument has not been resolved; rather, new ones have been sparked.

The error that caused Liverpool’s first goal against Tottenham to be overturned after a VAR review was shocking. The response to it also shows that the video intervention has worsened rather than reduced the toxicity of the discussion.

That assurance always seemed impossible to fulfil. Advocates claimed that the development of video technology would end the controversy, but it has just added to it and given people more reasons to interfere with the most popular sport in the world.

The’significant human error’ in this most recent disaster was distinct since it was objective rather than subjective. As a result, Liverpool questioned the sports integrity, Jurgen Klopp asked for a rematch, and other people lost faith in the credibility of the competition.

The perception seems to be that refereeing standards have never been lower, a theme that is just as frequent as the age-old criticism that today’s youth are not worth a damn. Ironically, it happens at a time when less bad decisions are being made than ever.

Last season, video technology was able to correct 49 offside calls, 14 goals that would have been incorrectly overturned after the raising of a flag, and 35 more that would have been incorrectly upheld because the on-field officials missed an infraction.

There is probably opposition even as you read this. It doesn’t seem like the judgements are any more precise than they have ever been, does it? But that sensation just serves to highlight how much greater than before the standards for accuracy are.

The issue is that while VAR gets rid of a lot of the justifications, it leaves some room for human mistake. The game’s speed, the possibility of only seeing an incident once, blocked views, even a sneeze at the wrong time, all of these compensating elements, are no longer present.