We came so close to having a stunning game of football that wasn’t going to be overshadowed by any VAR controversy. In isolation you could say that they got this decision right, but it’s inconsistent to a lot of what we’ve seen this season.
It seems the current stance is that if the ball hits any part of an attacker’s arm in the build up to the goal then it won’t count. It certainly seemed to brush off Oli McBurnie’s arm, but VAR decided to give the goal anyway:
Should McBurnie’s goal have stood? ? pic.twitter.com/YrabGmze3y
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) November 24, 2019
We’ve seen a lot of similar situations where that’s been called back as a foul this season, which is one of the biggest reasons that fans are starting to get annoyed with VAR.
It’s not just the actual decisions, it’s the inconsistencies that we are seeing on a week to week basis. If everything was called the same then it would be easier to accept, but the whole thing does feel like a lottery just now.
You can always rely on football fans to try and twist these things against a rival team at any opportunity, so these fans have taken to Twitter to say that a certain team would’ve got a different decision:
Liverpool would have got “no Goal”
— ricardo shortiano ????? #LetsGoWTO (@DikVader) November 24, 2019
Not at Anfield against Liverpool
— Nick (@NickTurns65) November 24, 2019
Well to be fair VAR was only brought in to help LiVARpool win the title after 30 plus years so it really does not matter if people think its handball or not, its not LiVARpool.
— Bizarre (@Bizarre2013) November 24, 2019
Yeah but if it was against liverpool guarantee it would be disallowed
— Matthew Griffiths ? (@MatthewGrif18) November 24, 2019
In my opinion the goal was rightly given. But if Liverpool had been the team defending, VAR would have ruled it out. Totally inconsistent.
— Chris Wilkinson #FBPE (@Chr15Wilkinson) November 24, 2019
If that was vs Liverpool then that goal would have been disallowed
— ToffeeApple (@AshleyBAppleby) November 24, 2019
It’s quite comical when you see it, but Liverpool have been on the receiving end of several favourable VAR calls this season. It will be interesting to see what Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made of it.