Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer added his voice to the big VAR debate following referee Paul Tierney’s decision to rule-out Elliot Anderson’s goal for offside last night.
You’ll not find many people who agree with the decision to disallow Elliot Anderson‘s first senior Newcastle goal at the City Ground last night. If you do, chances are they’re Nottingham Forest or Sunderland fans.
Paul Tierney, prompted by VAR ruled that Sean Longstaff was offside when he was struck by the ball following a defender’s attempt to clear the ball. Tierney decided Forest defender Felipe had not deliberately attempted to play the ball when the cross came over, meaning Longstaff was offside in the buildup, totally ignoring the second Forest defender’s touch.
Alan Shearer was not impressed with VAR
One person who clearly didn’t agree with that call was the Premier League’s all-time top scorer Alan Shearer who managed to hold himself back on Twitter as the decision came through, tweeting: “Oh f… off VAR”.
At full time Shearer would elaborate somewhat on his feelings about VAR saying: “I’ve sat in the stand as a fan. I’ve sat in the studio as a pundit. I’ve watched in the pub tonight with my mates and you’re getting it all wrong VAR. It’s not what you told us.”
His view was backed up on Twitter by former referee Keith Hackett who also agreed that the officials got it wrong tweeting: “Incorrect, the goal should have been allowed. The Forest defender made a deliberate play for the ball. Therefore NU player was not offside”
If we add Shearer and Hackett’s take to those of Eddie Howe, Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher you start to wonder how the actual match officials could have got it so absolutely wrong.
VAR desperately needs a review
VAR was supposed to help the game, it’s a brilliant idea on paper, but its execution is ruining the game. Not every decision needs to be second guessed, and if a decision is taking as long to come to a consensus on as that one last night, then maybe just let it go.
There seriously needs to be a full, top-to-bottom review of how VAR is implemented. They seem to change it weekly but there’s still no consistency.