Many Chelsea fans on Twitter are FURIOUS after Martin Atkinson ruled out Timo Werner’s goal in the first-half of their clash with Southampton.
After Callum Hudson-Odoi delivered a gorgeous ball from the left-channel onto the head of Werner, the German provided the finishing touch to score a much-needed Premier League goal.
Werner wheeled away in celebration and was commended by his teammates, who were clearly happy that the struggling forward has rediscovered his form in front of goal.
However, VAR intervened and chalked it off, with Cesar Azpilicueta adjudged to have committed a foul in the build-up to the goal. Mike Dean, the video assistant referee on the day, told Atkinson to have a look on the monitor.
There’s only one outcome once the referee heads to the screen, but in this case Atkinson ought to have used his own mind and allowed the goal to stand.
The alleged foul was not in the immediate build-up to the goal, with it looking as though VAR have searched for a reason to disallow the goal, which is not it’s purpose.
Needless to say, many Chelsea fans are not happy about it…
They need to introduce a rule for how far back VAR goes.
Because in some cases its 5 seconds, or in Chelsea’s its 5 minutes.
— Louis ???? (@TweetChelseaUK) October 2, 2021
Chelsea will always be fighting against not only the opponents, but the referees as well.
No other teams receive this kind of treatment from referees/VAR. pic.twitter.com/NP7VPLE4qi
— LDN (@LDNFootbalI) October 2, 2021
Are you having a f****** laugh? Hudson Odoi with a fantastic assist and Werner gets on the scoresheet and then it’s disallowed because of VAR, not surprised baldy Mike Dean is operating it, what a joke.
— Pys (@CFCPys) October 2, 2021
They’ve gone so far back on VAR it’s just shown the end of the city game
— Ben (@CriminalCosta) October 2, 2021
Really speaking. If VAR is going to take the decisions away from the referees, what’s the point of them being there? Just have the linesmen put their flags up and let VAR take over.
— Lynn Hamer (@evilbluebird) October 2, 2021
How that goal has been ruled out is beyond a joke. VAR stinks at times.
— Conn (@ConnCFC) October 2, 2021
how many attacks had Chelsea had since that foul? what a joke. two opportunities after the VAR ‘moment.’ ridiculous.
— amadí (@amadoit__) October 2, 2021
Bemused by Chelsea vs Mike Dean every other time