Leeds United were looking to get back to winning ways against Crystal Palace after they were hammered 4-1 by Leicester City the week before. The Whites’ luck didn’t quite change against the Eagles as they conceded four goals for the second week running.
Palace definitely were the better side and deserved the win. However, things could have been very different had VAR not disallowed what seemed like a perfectly good goal from Patrick Bamford.
The Leeds striker found some space between Palace’s two defenders. He made the run while pointing where he wanted the ball. He received it and buried home a very good goal, but VAR decided that his arm – which he used to point – was in an offside position.
That goal would have put Leeds level and the scoreline could have been very different. Sadly, Palace doubled their lead before Bamford could get a legal goal to his name.
VAR has received lots of criticism for the decision against Leeds at Selhurst Park. Gary Linekar’s poll on Match of the Day saw 70.3% of the viewers wish that the help referees received was scrapped, and BBC Pundit Garth Crooks has claimed that he is of the same opinion.
He wrote on BBC Sport: “Patrick Bamford’s disallowed goal epitomised just how ludicrous the video assistant referee (VAR) and its decision making on offside has become. Hardly surprising that 70% of respondents to Gary Lineker’s Match of the Day tweet said VAR should be scrapped. I couldn’t agree more.”
Should VAR be scrapped?
Some of VAR’s decisions are annoying people every week. The way the offside rule is being looked at remains the biggest problem, while the handball law isn’t too kind to defenders either. Just ask Liverpool’s Joe Gomez after what happened on Sunday.
However, the problem isn’t VAR – it’s the people who make the rules. If the laws are tweaked, VAR will be the game-changer it was brought in to be, but it doesn’t look like there will be a change any time soon.
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