VAR took centre stage on a Premier League weekend full of controversy

The video assistant referee (VAR) again took centre stage for all the wrong reasons in a drama-filled Premier League weekend.

The controversy began on Saturday when Newcastle saw a “perfectly good goal” chalked off against Crystal Palace after a foul by Tyrick Mitchell went unnoticed by officials at Stockley Park.

Later, West Ham boss David Moyes said he was “embarrassed” for the VAR official at Chelsea after Maxwel Cornet’s 90th-minute equaliser was ruled out in their 2-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge.

Leeds manager Jesse Marsch accused officials of a “lack of respect” after his side were denied a penalty in a 5-3 loss at Brentford and VAR did not ask the on-field referee to review the incident. He was later shown a red card for arguing with the officials.

Sunday’s action saw Alexis Mac Allister denied a goal of the season contender when VAR deemed Enock Mwepu’s high boot on an attempted overhead kick to be too high, before Arsenal had Gabriel Martinelli’s opening goal at Old Trafford in the late game ruled out after an apparent foul by Martin Odegaard in the build-up.

The Premier League have confirmed that they will now review the Newcastle and West Ham decisions with refereeing body Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) at the least.

It is a far cry from what VAR was brought into the game to do – the addition of technology designed to negate the big wrong calls and generally improve the standard of refereeing with the aid of video replays.

What we have now, however, is officials seemingly looking for reasons to rule goals out rather than overruling howlers. No supporter wants that, whether you are pro-VAR or against. If technology was brought in to make the game a more harmonious, less controversial place, this weekend provided yet more evidence that the opposite is in fact true.

While we in the media of course benefit from conversation starters and flashpoints, I can assure you no journalist enjoys covering VAR in its current form. Something has to change and fast. On that point surely everyone can agree.

Yours,

Ben Burrows

Sports editor