The overriding problem with VAR is it doesn’t deliver what was promised. It doesn’t correct the clear and obvious. It rules on the finest margins; it makes matters of opinion black and white. Then, faced with injustice, it is indifferent. And that’s not as advertised.
At Nottingham Forest on Sunday, Michail Antonio accidentally ran into a defender, Orel Mangala, in the build-up to a West Ham goal. He wasn’t directly involved in the move, his was a decoy run, and referee Robert Jones saw no foul. He was contacted, however, by over-reaching VAR Michael Salisbury and asked to look again.