Another VAR farce - Inept or corrupt?

PGMOL have a lot to answer for. After another frankly inept refereeing/VAR performance, that should have no place in the top division of English football, or the supposed ‘best league in the world’, you start to wonder what's going on.

Wednesday's 3-3 draw with Liverpool was a Premier League classic and brilliant game between two good sides, but it could've been very different had VAR done their job to help out Andy Madley.

To start with, Van Dijk should’ve seen red, or at the very least a booking that led to a penalty. His elbow ‘challenge’ on Gordon was late and reckless. I can forgive the ref for not being in the best position with the move coming on the counter, but for VAR to just ignore it is criminal.

Isak was then brought down for a stonewall penalty in the second half after a clear trip from Quansah. He tries to stay up and gets nothing, suggesting a more theatrical fall is needed to convince officials?

If the ref is in great position and can’t see it then that’s a failure of training, and if he’s subconsciously scared to give it because of online fallout or the reputation of the opposition, that’s a failure of character and the recruitment process. But, Madley aside, how can VAR check that and agree that it's not a foul? Baffling.

Stoppage time howler

Then to stoppage time. Madley's decision to blow the final whistle with Newcastle with a clear 3-on-2 opportunity is bordering on pure, unadulterated corruption. It was such a blatant error and left many inside St James' Park tearing their hair out.

We are forever being told added time is a minimum amount when Andre Marriner permits Liverpool an extra three minutes to score a winner two years ago, or when a team breaks away with ball still in an attacking phase of play and scores beyond the added ‘minimum amount’ of injury time, but it appears to be one rule for them and one rule for us.

The clock had passed 95, but I was expecting at least 96 or 97 minutes based on the VAR check for Diaz's penalty shout and the stoppage in play before Isak's free-kick was fired over. It's also worth noting the five added minutes was confirmed BEFORE Schar's equaliser, making Madley's decision to blow even more absurd. 

To make matters even worse, Madley then booked Pope in the aftermath too. He totally bottled it and acted like a referee keen to protect one of the 'big boys.' And I say this on a wider scale - this sort of thing happens too often - not just because it left Toon fans furious at the end of last night's game.

It's deeply, deeply frustrating and with all the advantages these ‘top teams’ have, surely it shouldn’t be too much to ask for the ref’s to be objective and fans don’t have to wait for ‘Ref Watch’ for an ex-ref to say, ‘yep he got it wrong, but, oh well, that result is in the book’. It’s shocking.