English football has now trialled video assistant technology.
First of all, congratulations to Brighton who beat Crystal Palace 2-1 in last night’s match – the Seagulls now progress to Round Four in the FA Cup to play Middlesbrough.
But VAR what was the verdict?
So while the pros and refs discuss #VAR the thing rarely said is this. You’ve seen it in cricket, VAR utterly destroys the moment. Is he out? Maybe. Was that a goal? Not sure. And right decision or wrong those initial emotions are killed stone dead. Always. Ruins the experience.
— Andrew Hawes (@talkinghawes) January 8, 2018
First night of VAR goes off without serious hitch. Brighton’s late winner checked for offside and possible handball. Goal correctly stood.
— Ian Darke (@IanDarke) January 8, 2018
Across the whole match, controversial decisions were barely subject to debate. There was one decision involving the winning goal, which did cause a small amount of questioning.
Opinions and views were already mixed pre-match –
Glenn Murray’s goal looked like it brushed his hand after touching his knee, but in the end it wasn’t officially looked at by referee Andre Marriner. It was in my view a difficult decision to make, but overall it would have been harsh to rule it out.
The managers views on the goal were also interesting. Brighton manager Chris Hughton told BT Sport: “I couldn’t see it that clearly, obviously I saw it go in but I didn’t know what the circumstances were. It’s been very clear that it didn’t need VAR.”
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson was full of praise for VAR: “From where we were standing and watching it looked for all the world like he (Murray) handled it. It’s a very good case for the VAR and the referee to make”.
So overall was it a success?
In my view it was a good trial but of course it depends on the type of game played. More video can be used and we need the best possible camera angles to establish the decisions.
The next game in England to trial VAR will be Arsenal’s match at Chelsea in the Carabao Cup Semi-Final First leg.
