Roy Hodgson says VAR system is right on despite Brighton clawing past his Crystal Palace side in the FA Cup
Confusion abounds as to how involved the new technology was in match referee Andre Marriner allowing Glenn Murray’s game-winning goal
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson praised the video assistant referee (VAR) system after its debut in English competitive football following initial confusion around Brighton’s winning goal.
That Marriner did not indicate as such or use the pitchside VAR monitors contributed to the confusion, and Hodgson said: “We had suspicions. The people close to it seemed to be incensed, and from our angle it looks as if he’s guided the ball in with his arm.
“You’ve got to congratulate the system: when you watch it lots of times like they’ve been able to do, from different angles, it would have been very harsh (to disallow it).
“It was a genuine goal, and the referee was helped by the fact he had Swarbrick in the VAR studio making a judgment that’d help him out, so I have no complaints.”
The VAR system is currently being trialled in Italy and Germany and was employed for the first time in an official game in Britain during the international friendly between England and Germany in November, when it was not called on.
Criticised by some fans for slowing the game down, it is used for “clear and obvious errors” relating to goals, penalty decisions, straight red cards or mistaken identity for red or yellow cards.
Marriner did not feel the need to consult the pitchside monitor after Murray’s goal as he felt it was legitimate. The system allows for dialogue between the on-pitch referee and the VAR without a formal review.
Former England striker Gary Lineker tweeted: “So VAR so good.”
But former Palace forward Mark Bright said the referee should have looked into the incident more carefully. “The debate in the boardroom is did the ball or did it not touch Glenn Murray’s arm before it went into the net?” he tweeted.
“Clearly & Obviously missed? Should have been viewed #VAR.”