I’m still miffed about that offside goal last night. Not even because every pundit under the sun wanted to treat it like the end of civilisation, but because of the time it took to crawl towards a decision. Five minutes of zooming in, staring at boots, and trying to turn football into a lab experiment.

The wait is killing the match

I get it, the semi-automated offside system apparently broke, and tech fails. But when you’re sat there watching the officials hunt for a single frame and draw lines to find the edge of someone’s boot, you’re not watching sport anymore. You’re watching a process. And processes don’t have atmosphere.

For fans in the ground it’s even worse. You’re left with no audio, no real explanation, just a big pause where the game goes cold. At home you might at least see the replay, but it still feels like you’re being asked to sit an exam rather than enjoy a match.

Offside should be like goal-line tech

The truth is, offside needs to be closer to goal-line technology: black and white, quick, and decisive. Yes, in the short term we’d lose a few goals and see a few raised eyebrows. But in the long term players adapt. Defenders push out properly, attackers learn the margins, and we stop pretending we can achieve perfect accuracy by measuring pixels.

Where it goes wrong is the grey stuff. Once you start asking officials to decide “interference” in microscopic situations, you’re inviting arguments forever. Even with good intentions, giving referees leeway backfires because everyone’s got a different definition of what counts as involvement.

Subjective calls break ‘clear and obvious’

Last night’s scenario also shows how “clear and obvious” falls by the wayside when there’s no anchor decision to fall back on. Linesmen are told to keep the flag down on tight ones, so the on-field call becomes “play on” by default. Then VAR steps in, but if the law itself is written in a way that relies on interpretation, what exactly are we correcting?

And once a referee is called over and told it’s subjective, they’ve already been nudged. They aren’t calling you over if there’s no grey. That’s the reality.

A review system could calm it down

If we’re keeping VAR, I’d rather it be for offsides under a properly black-and-white rule, with a review system. Give each team one per half. Put three officials in the booth who vote. If they can’t agree, stick with the referee’s decision, like an umpire’s call in cricket.

All fans ever really wanted was the obvious stuff ironed out: the blatant handball goals, the mistaken reds. We didn’t ask for forensic analysis. Football’s main purpose is to entertain, and we’ll never get to 100% accuracy anyway.

Written by WYred: 19 January 2026

Tags: efl tactics