I saw lots of goals that would have been chalked off for offside, and handballs that were missed. Most of the time, because there was no VAR, the TV coverage didn't even bother with replays. The coverage mapped to the rhythm of the stadium and everyone lived in the moment. I personally found that outrageous. I was fuming. However, yes, it seemed that the majority watching thought it was terrific.In what way was it embarrassing? I watch a lot of FL on TV and non league in person and never noticed any issues with the lack of VAR.
I'd argue there are more embarrassing decisions in the PL with VAR than in the a championship,I certainly can't remember many howlers in the championship which is what it's there for
I'd compare a non VAR match with a Johnson speech. Exciting and entertaining, but if you check what was said, there were lies and lies and lies again, and the narrative was false. A majority of people would have loved it enough to vote for it. In the end, however, because analysis showed that it was wrong, Johnson had to go. It was embarrassing.
In the end we need fairness and accuracy, I think. A pantomime punctuated by exciting passages is simply not enough.
The irony is that while most posters on NSC appear to disagree with VAR, VAR is here to stay. Attempting to improve accuracy is the rubric. The era of panto and "bollocks to everything" is gone forever. So for me we simply have to polish the rubric, and polish again, so that VAR works better. It isn't even me saying this, it is what we have now, the reality.
If people wish to go on anti VAR marches, and hold anti VAR sit ins, good luck to them. Oddly though, despite the rancour, I don't see this happening. Neither do I see a mass exodus of fans from the EPL milieu and a rush to the lower leagues where football is still played au naturel.