Was tonight the night the beautiful game of football officially died? VAR and semi-automated offside put final nail in game's coffin
Newcastle United were deserved winners against a woefully poor Tottenham Hotspur side in London tonight.
And while all the talk after the game in studios up and down the land will be about the pressure Spurs boss Thomas Frank is now under, and how massive a win it was for Eddie Howe, the conversation online is very different.
Joe Willock had Newcastle United ahead just before half-time after Jacob Ramsey played a fine through ball for Willock to run onto and power home into the bottom corner.
However, VAR, as it does, stuck its beak in to check the goal for offside, and between the VAR and the semi-automated offside technology, they ruled that Joe Willock was offside when the ball was played.
You'll not see a narrower offside decision all season
Those watching at home saw the freeze frame that the VAR were looking at, and to the naked eye, there was no way that Willock looked offside, but the goal was ruled out.
A couple of minutes later, after the restart, viewers were treated to the SAOT image showing that ONE CENTIMETRE of Joe Willock's head was further forward than the Spurs defender's shoulder.
If that's what we're ruling goals out for now, you might as well close all the stadiums down and pack in the sport entirely.
VAR is going too far and needs to be scaled back, and referees need to be given scope to exercise common sense
There has to be a review of how offsides are ruled before next season. This can't continue the way it is. Obviously, there has to be a line drawn somewhere, but what possible advantage did Joe Willock's forehead give him there?
If he'd scored with his head from that actual point, then fair enough, but it was a foot race that resulted in a finish with his foot. His head was completely irrelevant to the passage of play.
The strict adherence to rules with no room for adding a bit of common sense is absolutely destroying the game. We saw it at the weekend with the Jacob Murphy penalty. The law is the law, sure, but where's the application of common sense?
