Video Assistant Referee gives first goal in English football

[Joe Jones]

On Tuesday night, the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) awarded its first goal in English football.

Kelechi Iheanacho, playing for Leicester City against Fleetwood Town in their FA Cup third-round replay at the King Power Stadium, latched on to a Riyad Mahrez pass and fired into the net in the second half.

The linesman initially flagged for offside, disallowing the goal, but a review via VAR showed that the Nigerian striker was onside when played in by Mahrez and so the decision was overturned.

VAR seems to have had some teething problems in the last few months but this successful decision shows it may be on the right path.

However, a lot of fans have been moaning about it online - saying it slows the game down, it's inaccurate, even that "bad decisions are part of football and will usually even out".

Funny, I don't remember this being said when perfectly good goals were being disallowed, or shots that hadn't even gone into the net were given as goals by inept referees.

So yeah, let's get your thoughts - is VAR a good or bad thing?

[Chris]

I think common sense needs to applied.

The speed can be improved with communication, assistant referee says through his headset 'I think this goal is offside' - the people instantly check and the decision by the VAR can be relayed through. This will continue to improve over time, but I am not quite sure why it needs to be awarded first. Surely it makes sense to question it when there's doubt first?

I think its a good idea but there shouldn't be delays longer than 10 seconds if that. If people moan about a few seconds, well they haven't been to a live game.

[liampie]

i dont see what all the fuss is about.

football is quickly becoming to focused on silly things like this.

[CliftonMagpie]

It's a good idea but football fans aren't like rugby supporters, waiting just isn't in their nature so if this is to work it needs improving.