James Milner tweeted out his reaction after another Liverpool game came down to VAR. The 34-year-old doesn’t sound happy.
Liverpool drew 1-1 with Brighton on Saturday in a game dominated by VAR. But we say that a lot these days.
The Reds saw two goals disallowed at the AMEX, as Brighton won two penalties – all after VAR decisions.
Now, no one can have any complaints for Brighton’s first penalty – Neco Williams fouled. Nor was there any issue with Sadio Mane’s disallowed goal – he was clearly offside.
But Mohamed Salah’s disallowed goal was contentious. He was judged offside by inches – if that. You can certainly argue that offside is offside but that was so close that there must be a margin of error involved.
Still, Liverpool can’t complain about that one.
The decisive moment, however, came in stoppage time. VAR awarded a penalty to Brighton for a foul from Andy Robertson – a debatable one at best.
No one reacted at the time but the referee brought play back to check for a penalty.
Robertson made contact with Danny Welbeck’s boot but the contact was minimal – despite Welbeck’s late fall.
Still, it handed Brighton a chance to grab a point, one they duly took.
After the game, James Milner reacted on Twitter to the VAR decision.
“It’s “clear and obvious” we need a serious discussion about VAR,” he wrote. “Sure I’m not alone in feeling like they are falling out of love with the game in its current state.”
Regardless of the decisions, there’s little doubt that VAR is having a negative effect on football. We talk about refereeing decisions more than ever, while it slows the game down several times a game.
At this point, it’s hard to see its purpose. Milner certainly isn’t alone in that belief.
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