All eyes on the refs, not VAR

The VAR system was introduced last season and constantly made the headlines for all the wrong reasons. 

Now in its second season - and after it was mostly used successfully in the World Cup, most A-League fans understand how it should work. It’s time for A-League referees to catch up.

The controversial penalty decision awarded to Melbourne City in the Melbourne Derby was followed by similar dubious decisions on Sunday with Wellington and Brisbane.

Even after countless replays, there is still debate over the derby penalty decision. The referee just wanted to see if the foul was inside or outside the box apparently.

Fans, players, coaches and pundits just wanted to see where the foul was...? An A-League tweet video later insisted there was a contact...but was it a foul? Really? And a clear and obvious error?

On Sunday the referees constantly referred to VAR, with yet more contentious decisions.

Wellington Phoenix were awarded a questionable penalty when Mitch Nicholls was supposedly dragged down by Newcastle Jet Kaine Sheppard, while Adam Taggart and Kalifa Cissé had legitimate goals ruled out for offside for both Brisbane Roar and Central Coast Mariners.

Monday morning should be for discussing football, not about refs studying video replays over and over again...and still getting it wrong.

Reds in desperate need of a finisher

It’s been the question haunting Adelaide United since Bruce Djite left -  who is their main goal scorer? On Friday night against Sydney FC, coach Marco Kurz’s gameplan was foiled the moment Baba Diawara was ruled out a few hours before kick-off, after George Blackwood had already been omitted a couple of days earlier.

Despite the blow, United were on top up until about the 60th minute and got a goal through left-back Scott Galloway, but needed a proven goal scorer to help them kill off Steve Corica’s side. In the end, Sydney’s own proven goal scorer Adam Le Fondre took his only chance of the match, leaving Kurz to wonder what could have been.

Last season, Ryan Kitto was Adelaide’s top scorer with just seven strikes to his name. They still made it into finals football, but if they had someone like Oriol Riera, Ross McCormack or even Roy Krishna, could they have been capable of even more?