Into its second season and VAR still an absolute abomination. Last night was a disgrace, with all goals ruined by shitey checks (of nothing). Miovski's especially, even the player looked like he'd stopped caring when the decision was finally made.
However, maybe it's time to separate the handball rule from the VAR issues. We know that the rule was changed explicitly for VAR's implementation, so it's still to blame. The rule itself is a disgrace though, and we can use McKenzie's apparent handball last night as evidence (among many others). That pathetic decision is the equivalent of having a player dive to win a penalty against you. McKenzie has no idea that Rubezic is missing his header and no chance to get his arm out the way (he wasn't even looking at the ball). Upon hitting (glancing) his arm, there is zero advantage to him, and zero disadvantage to the opponent. There are numerous examples where this is the case, and now anytime the ball is in the box, dickheads are screaming "handball", hoping to win this shite lottery. Instead of taking in a rule that prevents cheating, this rule endorses it. By cheating, I mean unsporting behaviour. It's just a shite way to win or draw any game. It's knowing you've won by diving or getting a goal when you're ten yards offside (no longer a thing).
What strikes me as strange is that nobody is talking about it. Everyone talks about it in the past tense "well you just can't have your hand out in the modern game". As if we, the people who watch, play, pundit the sport are completely incapable of influencing those that make the rules. They should be raging about it and asking for a return to the previous rule. This one has very obviously failed, by introducing an unsporting result to the game. The previous rule, where the referee decided on intention, was significantly better and less prone to unsporting decision. Just take it back. It's bizarre that the supposed experts in our game aren't kicking up a real fuss about this. It's anti-sport bollocks. It'd be interesting to see what VAR would be like if it wasn't tainted by the shite handball rule change that accompanied it (still shite on last night's viewing!).