VAR has its say yet again
It’s been a depressingly high profile weekend for VAR. After the string of questionable decisions for West Ham and Newcastle and the inexcusable delay at Nottingham Forest, the officials at Stockley Park were once again under the microscope, but a high profile chance fixture between two of England’s biggest clubs in Manchester United and Arsenal offered them a chance to redeem themselves. Sadly they did not take it.
Before getting into any analysis of the standard of officiating it’s worth just pointing out that there is not a PGMOL conspiracy against Arsenal, just as there isn’t against any other club. Yes, Paul Tierney and Lee Mason both being from Greater Manchester is, on paper, an odd coincidence, but that speaks more to a lack of diversity in background among referees that is a deeper issue for a whole other article, rather than any sort of plot against the Gunners. Yes, the scars of previous awful calls at Old Trafford still loom large in the psyche of many fans, but the officials are impartial to the best of their abilities.
