I'm not sure if we're just noticing it more because of VAR and or whether VAR is over complicating things but there definitely appears to be a decline in the standard of officiating in the last couple of seasons.
Dale Johnson has gone over the Soucek red card in his weekly VAR thread. Everybody, including Dean, has looked at that incident in real time and can see it wasn't violent conduct but Mason using slow motion replays has spotted Soucek's fist appear clenched (or he's just closed his hand) and got so focused on that, that he's convinced himself and then Mike Dean that it was violent conduct. If we're going to persist with VAR then they should scrap slow motion replays. We were told that VAR was only going to be used for penalties, red cards & fouls in the build-up to a goal if a clear error has been made. If a clear error has been made then it should be spotted watching the replay in full speed, not using super slow motion replays, searching for a reason why they should make a decision.
As for holding officials to account. It's very difficult to do because of how few officials we have and the standard of them. IINM David Coote is the most recent official to be promoted to the PL and he's proven to be the worst official going. I'm not sure it benefits anybody to relegate Mason & Dean, only to end up having worse officials replace them. There needs to be a sensible conversation around the whole situation because at the moment we're in a vicious cycle with officials receiving terrible abuse (Dean has asked not to be involved next week due to death threats made to his family), leading to less people wanting to become officials, which in turn lowers the standard of officials, leading to more abuse.
I know there's been a few comments in the red card thread as to whether officials should be mic'd up and I think they absolutely should be. If we could hear what officials are saying then it will much easier for fans to understand why decisions have been made and hopefully lead to less abuse. It will also hold officials to account because at the moment I certainly feel like officials and the pgmol are making up excuses after the event to suit whatever decision the official has made. I've mentioned the John Moss incidents in the Liverpool - Spurs game from 3-4 years ago a few times before - Sky's cameras picked up Moss's conversation with the lino where he tried to ask the 4th official whether he'd seen anything on the pitch side monitor (this was pre var) before openly guessing to award a penalty. If he was mic'd up this wouldn't have happened. I also think that officials should give an interview after the game to explain any key decisions but it has to be done in a grown up way, not with Geoff Shreeves trying to trip them up and cause controversy.
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