Mark Ogden May 11, 2026, 05:44 AM ET Close Mark Ogden is a senior soccer writer for ESPN.com. Read his archive here and follow him on Twitter: @MarkOgden_ . Here's the problem with video assistant referee: It's great when it works in favor of your team, but if the decision goes the other way, then it's ruining the game and offers further evidence that football is now controlled by heartless robots. Just ask Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta. One minute he rages against it, and the next he is celebrating the VAR's call to issue a foul to West Ham United forward Pablo in the Gunners' 1-0 win on Sunday, which helped put his team within touching distance of the Premier League title. If you ever wanted an example of the hypocrisy toward VAR -- a system that was introduced almost a decade ago not to end controversy in the game, but to make sure the big decisions are ultimately correct -- Arteta is the embodiment of how football wants it both ways.…