West Ham United’s defeat to Arsenal on Sunday has raised yet more questions on how VAR is actually used in the game.
Indeed, the issue is not really that Pablo Felipe fouled David Raya in the build-up to West Ham’s controversially disallowed goal against Arsenal.
Rather, the problem is that it took almost five minutes and 17 replays to reach that decision. Even if it was the right call in isolation, the rule on grappling at set-pieces is seemingly not applied universally.
Give us your response to Callum Wilson’s VAR heartbreak? 😫
The right call? Or harsh on Pablo?
Following the dramatic defeat, West Ham are reportedly considering launching an official complaint.
The delay itself is seemingly what has caused such anger.
West Ham angry at how long VAR decision took
According to The Times, the club are unhappy about how long it took to reach that decision.
The theory is that if it took so long to figure out what the problem was, it arguably cannot be a clear and obvious error.
Nothing can change now – but what do YOU want to hear from the PGMO?! 😳
I want to know why Rice on Dinos was ignored! 😡
The whole point of VAR – which was introduced into the Premier League during the 2019-20 season – is to intervene when a referee misses something clear and obvious, a term most of the public are surely sick of now.
It is hard not to have some sympathy for West Ham here, even if an official complaint isn’t going to do much to help them in the short term.
Nuno Espirito Santo criticised the VAR decision and while it may have been the correct one, the fact that grappling from set-pieces happens across the Premier League is difficult to ignore.
Trying to use VAR to objectively decide on what is sometimes a subjective call from a referee when it comes to fouls of that nature is where the problem lies.
Perhaps an official complaint will one day help change things. For now, however, it’s unlikely to yield much.
That does not mean the issue should not be addressed. It goes far beyond one foul from Pablo Felipe.
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