Former Aston Villa captain, Micah Richards has admitted he is getting frustrated with VAR following the time taken around Alex Moreno’s offside goal.
This weekend saw Aston Villa fall to a 0-0 draw against Everton and miss the chance to move joint top of the Premier League.
It just so happens that this was the first time that Unai Emery has managed a game with this scoreline in the Premier League.
The game wasn’t filled with many chances as many of them were snuffed out before becoming too threatening.
The best of the game fell to Dominic Calvert Lewin and James Garner who brought the best out of Emi Martinez.
The controversial element came earlier in the game as Alex Moreno smashed home an effort from the edge of the box. This decision and VAR have been heavily discussed in the media post-game.
Micah Richards on VAR decision
This goal came around via a short corner routine. This involved Douglas Luiz, John McGinn and the man in question, Leon Bailey. A pass back to the Jamaican appeared to find him in an offside position.
There was a VAR check which lasted three minutes and 45 seconds and the obvious decision was eventually made.
Now Micah Richards has voiced his frustration about the time it took and how the system works during games.
Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast, Gary Lineker said: “VAR had an interesting day. It took them about five minutes to work out the offside. The first replay I thought.”
They took their time and reviewed whether or not Bailey was offside or not as Arnaut Danjuma may have played him on. This left Richards very frustrated.
On that, he said: “Why are they looking at the offside? I’m watching the game losing my marbles. It’s a foul! On Danjuma. It’s a foul anyway, the only reason he’s in that position is because he’s being fouled.
“I don’t understand why their looking at the offside when it’s a foul anyway. It took three and a half minutes or whatever it was to come to that conclusion, it’s just getting frustrating.”
It is safe to say that whether you were in the ground or not, no fan had any idea what was going on at Stockley Park. This has seen criticism of the use of VAR.
With that being said, Richards wasn’t for bashing the referees. On that, he added: “I never want to put VAR away. They’re trying to make the game better but they’re just taking too long now.”
There are plenty of people having their say on VAR and it is largely negative. The decision-making process just needs to be quicker.
