Premier League sends warning that will affect Manchester United and Man City

Premier League bosses have asked club managers and executives to tone down their criticism of VAR this season as they believe it helps foster an environment of negativity around the system.

All 20 clubs have had a visit from the Premier League during pre-season to discuss VAR, with changes to how the system will work explained to players and managers, as well as video examples to show how subjective some calls can be.

A survey of some decisions found players split down the middle of whether a decision was right and whether it should have been referred, which Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) believe shows how difficult the job can sometimes be for referees.

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This season VAR will put a renewed focus on what is being termed 'referee's call' in an effort to get the Video Assistant Referee to only become involved if a decision reaches a high bar for review and is considered 'clear and obvious'.

The technology came in for widespread criticism last season and Wolves put forward a motion to scrap it, which was defeated by 19 votes to one at the Premier League's AGM.

But officials are aware some tinkering was required and changes will be made this season, with fans in the stadium getting more access to replays while semi-automated offsides will be introduced at some point this season. There is also a desire to trial referee announcements at some point during the campaign.

As part of the desire to improve VAR and the perception around it managers, including Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag and Pep Guardiola of Manchester City, have been asked