Jürgen Klopp has unlikely VAR ally as Liverpool boss and ex-Premier League referee agree

Jürgen Klopp has revealed that he would vote to get rid of VAR in its current guise, with the outgoing Liverpool boss suggesting in his final press conference that officials — not the technology — are ultimately the problem.

"In the way they do it, I would vote against it," Klopp said in Kirkby. "I don't think VAR is the problem but the way we use it. We cannot change the people, obviously, but I would vote for scrapping VAR."

A Premier League vote will take place this summer on the future of the system in the top flight after a series of high-profile errors this season. Wolves and Nottingham Forest are among the clubs likely to vote to scrap the technology, but it would take 14 teams to vote in favor of removing it for that to come to pass.

Jürgen Klopp goes against Liverpool stance on vote to remove VAR in Premier League

How Liverpool players said goodbye to Jürgen Klopp and moment he burst into tears

On Thursday, The Independent reported that Liverpool's stance was to keep VAR, though there is likely to be more pressure than ever on the PGMOL to implement changes that improve its functionality. The biggest error of the season was Luis Díaz's wrongly disallowed goal against Spurs.

But with the most likely scenario being that VAR stays, but the way that it is used is changed, what exactly might that look like? Former head of Premier League officials Keith Hackett says that there are obvious things that can be altered.

"They've had the operation for five years and they're claiming it has improved decision-making but I don't see that at all," he tells Liverpool.com. "It has led to a distrust in match officials by fans and fans being treated like mushrooms and that isn't conducive to the game we love.

"Improve it or bin it? At the moment, I'm leaning towards binning because I don't think it adds to the game. I don't expect decisions to be sanitized but I expect them to be improved. In football, changes that come in, I never think cannot be taken back, reviewed, and improved. I've said in the past that having VAR specialists would improve things.

"But it's not conducive to good officiating to have someone referee an important Premier League game on a Saturday and then sit in the chair as a VAR [later in the weekend]. You are mentally and physically fatigued and have to drive to Stockley Park. They need a specialist panel of VAR operators and I'd like those to be in the ground, soaking in the atmosphere."

This season, top-flight officials have come under fire for multiple incidents, and referees' chief Howard Webb has attempted to make the process more transparent during his appearances on television where audio from high-profile VAR decisions has been released. But Hackett says standards need to improve — agreeing with Klopp that the referees, not the technology, are the issue.

"I believe over the years of Mike Riley, there was a decline in standards," Hackett says. "Under Webb, there is still a lot of work to do. VAR has impacted the officials and they have become lazy. By that, I don't mean physically, I mean over-relying on VAR.

"There is confusion around what is a clear and obvious error. It doesn't appear to me that there is strong enough leadership and direction. VAR appears to operate much better in Europe than in England and we have to get better if we are going to keep it.

"The average fan at the moment distrusts VAR and the consequence of that is that they're aiming accusations of corruption. That is an absolute no-no. We can be safe in the knowledge that our referees have high levels of integrity but I do think they are making too many errors."

Next season, automated offsides will massively improve the speed of those decisions. Referees, meanwhile, will be asked to announce decisions to the crowd when they are made to clarify why things have happened. That should improve the stadium experience for fans, who are currently left in the dark when a VAR decision is not immediately obvious.

"The offside law at the moment needs to be amended," Hackett continues. "We've got to get back to the referee making decisions, and not over-relying on VAR. And we've got to have a guy sat there who is a specialist in that role.

"Let's monitor their performances and educate and guide them so the referee has trust in their colleagues. If they don't perform, just like a striker in the Premier League who isn't putting the ball in the net, they might find themselves out of work."