“VAR OFFICIALS have been slammed by football fans for taking over five minutes to decide on an “obvious” offside call in Wolves’ clash against Nottingham Forest. Forest star Igor Jesus thought he had put the away side ahead just before the half time whistle at Molineux. Sign up for the Football newsletter Thank you! VAR”, — write: www.thesun.co.uk
Forest star Igor Jesus thought he had put the away side ahead just before the half time whistle at Molineux.
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VAR officials angered fans after taking five minutes to disallow Forest’s goal against WolvesCredit: Premier League
Supporters said it was ‘the most obvious offside’ after Igor Jesus had put the ball in the netCredit: Premier League
There were frustrations on show inside Molineux as players waited for the lengthy delayCredit: PA Jesus had got on the end of a corner and nodded home, before VAR chiefs at Stockley Park took a look at the goal.
Replays showed Dan Ndoye quite clearly offside and blocking the view of Wolves goalkeeper Sam Johnstone.
The Premier League confirmed in a statement: “After VAR review, the referee overturned the on-field decision of goal.
“Referee announcement: ‘After review, [Nottingham Forest] 14 is in an offside position, in line of vision of the goalkeeper. My final decision is no goal and offside, in-direct free kick.’”
But fans were baffled over why the decision took so long to be made despite it looking like a routine one.
One pointed out that even the commentators had determined it was an offside long before they came to their own conclusions.
They wrote: “How’s it taking so long for the most obvious offside ever? The commentators said it was offside about 3 minutes ago.”
A second added: “Just tell the referee it was offside. Why they need to send the ref to the monitor to see the same thing they saw?”
Eventually Jesus struck again with the only goal of the game to seal a 1-0 winCredit: Getty BEST ONLINE CASINOS – TOP SITES IN THE UK
A third said: “VAR has gone backwards two years in this game. Awful.”
And another wrote: The offside goal that took five minutes for the officials to make a decision should not have even taken a solitary minute. It was bleeding obvious.”
One Forest fan called the delay “beyond embarrassing” and claimed it “totally killed our momentum”.
However, Forest eventually did take the lead as Jesus struck again – and this time it did count.
After a superb delivery into the area, Jesus rose up against to nod it into the net.
The goal proved enough for all three points after a timid game that yielded just one shot on target from the struggling hosts.
VAR officials have come under fire on a number of occasions this season, including when Newcastle were controversially awarded a penalty against Tottenham on Tuesday night.
There was also a farcical moment earlier in the season when Josh King was denied a fabulous solo goal against Chelsea – and officials later admitted they made a mistake.