Thierry Henry slams VAR and calls on authorities to take a second look

Former Arsenal and Premier League great Thierry Henry says he’s not impressed with VAR as the technology sucks the life out of football matches.

The Premier League legend argues that the speed of football is so high it makes it impossible to entirely rely on the technology to make game changing decisions.

He told Leaders Week sport business conference in London: “In football, we’re still behind, we have so much to learn.

“What I can see in American football, in rugby, in cricket or whatever it is, tennis, it’s instant.”

The speed of decision making kills the atmosphere

The Premier League has come under intense scrutiny in recent times for some VAR decisions.

Key amongst them is Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella having his hair pulled before Spurs scored in the London derby.

Chelsea then also benefited from a similar dodgy call that saw Maxwel Cornet’s goal for West Ham ruled out for a foul that some said barely existed.

Henry says aside from certain specific calls, he is also not impressed with how long it takes to make a decision as it kills celebrations and atmosphere.

He said: “With VAR, what I get annoyed with is it’s not quick enough.

“Then it’s still the decision of someone in a truck or wherever they are, because it’s not VAR that makes the decision, VAR is just there to recall the situation.

“What we want to see is the game going on.

“Another thing that’s very difficult for me is I used to score goals as a player. Sometimes you don’t even know if you need to jump.

“Am I jumping? Am I celebrating? Am I not celebrating? It kills the beat of the joy of the game.”