'Correct in law' - but is Semenyo VAR call 'what the game wants?'
- Published
After a weekend when supporters enjoyed the FA Cup without VAR, this was a very different experience for fans at St James' Park.
The job of video assistant referee Stuart Attwell was made harder because the semi-automated offside technology failed, as it did when the two teams met in the Premier League in December.
The players - Erling Haaland, Malick Thiaw and Nick Pope - were too close together, so it meant Attwell had to revert to the old technology and draw lines.
The decision reached was technically correct in law, because Haaland was offside and in direct contact with a defender who could possibly have stopped the ball going into the goal.
But fans won't see it that way. They will see a perfectly legitimate goal with an offside offence which wouldn't have been noticed but for VAR.
If the decision had been quick, there would have been much more confidence. But the extended delay adds to the controversy and gives the impression the VAR was not certain. It would have been better if the VAR had left this alone.
A decision being technically right is not necessarily what the game wants in this context.
Listen to Dale debate the decision on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast
