Gary Lineker has promised not to stop in his bid to overhaul the VAR system and have it follow a tennis-like format following Bruno Fernandes’ controversial red card against Tottenham.
Fernandes was shown a straight red for a late challenge on James Maddison with both the assistant and VAR officials agreeing with the on-field decision.
Replays appeared to suggest the challenge wasn’t as bad as it first looked and Manchester United proved successful in appealing the decision.
However, the red card proved crucial in a match United went on to lose 3-0 convincingly at home.
Gary Lineker wants big changes to the VAR system
PA
Lineker was speaking with Alan Shearer and Micah Richards on The Rest is Football podcast about the latest topics in football when their attention turned to Fernandes’ sending off against Tottenham.
The midfielder had his red card overturned on appeal, but Shearer was furious that a red card was shown in the first place.
The Newcastle legend asked ‘how the hell can you get it that wrong’, which sparked an empassioned rant from Lineker.
“I’ll tell you why Alan,” Lineker began.
“They’ve got the high bar.
“This season, they’ve come out and said it’s ‘high bar’, we’ve got the referee’s call – that they’ve pinched from cricket, which is easier to define in cricket.
“So it’s got to be really high now and all of us are going, ‘yep, we want it really high’.
“Then with this they’ve probably looked at it and they’ve gone, ‘well it’s probably not a red but is it enough for us to send him to the monitor to have a look at it? Well we’ll keep the high bar and go with the referee’s call.
Bruno Fernandes was sent off against Tottenham
PA
“Therein lies the problem with the current application of VAR…
“This has happened season in, season out. The bar goes down and then goes up again because everyone says you should be giving a penalty for that and you’re not or you didn’t give a penalty for that and now you’re not overturning it or your overturning things that are too slight.
“They can’t win. I feel they’re in a really invidious position. I feel it’s incredibly difficult for VAR.
LATEST SPORT NEWS:
- Michael Schumacher’s family forced to deny rumour about F1 icon’s condition as he ‘makes public appearance’
- Mike Tyson astonishes boxing fans with unbelievable punching power ahead of Jake Paul fight – ‘Scary’
- Gary Lineker ‘tells reporter to f**k off’ in furious response to BBC Match of the Day speculation
Gary Lineker pointed to tennis’ challenge system
PA
“I’m going to harp on about this until we get it changed. It has to come down to an appeals system.
“The sides on the pitch have to challenge and appeal a decision. Whether it’s one a half, two a half, two a game, three a game. You keep your lives if your decision is upheld, you lose it if you don’t, like in other sports.”
Lineker’s request resembles similarities to professional tennis, where players are given a certain amount of challenges per set.