Danny Wright

Mon 12 April 2021 19:55, UK

Kevin Campbell has labelled VAR a “disgrace” after Mbaye Diagne saw a goal wrongly ruled out for West Brom in their 3-0 win over Southampton on Monday night.

Early on in the game when the score was still 0-0, Diagne saw a headed effort flagged offside after he connected with a Darnell Furlong volley.

However, VAR replays suggested the goal was about to stand as it was Kyle Bartley who was marginally offside and not goalscorer Diagne.

Much to the shock of everyone watching, the on-field decision of offside stood and it was later confirmed that due to VAR being unable to draw lines on Diagne, they could not prove whether he was onside or not.

Diagne was clearly onside – you didn’t need lines to see it – and at half-time on Sky Sports Main Event on Monday night, ex-Albion striker Campbell ripped the VAR to shreds.

“To be honest with you, I’ve had enough of VAR and the way it’s been officiated,” he said.

“That was a perfectly good goal. The fact that West Bromwich Albion have scored two goals has kind of got the linesman and the VAR officiating out of jail, as far as I’m concerned.

“For me, it’s a disgrace.”

Jamie Carragher also looked at the incident and concluded that the goal should have stood as it was way more obvious that Diagne was onside than offside.

The ex-Liverpool defender said: “This is one of those decisions where the referee’s assistant on that far side when this goes in, it looks miles offside when he heads it in. So him putting the flag up, not a problem one bit.

“I totally get that but this is what VAR is for -you almost say, ‘wow, how often do you see that? He’s actually onside’.

“He’s onside – I have no doubt that he’s onside.

“I know it’s a tight call but you look at the feet, yes, I thought initially had he used the wrong West Brom player but you can’t see the shoulder of Diagne in the middle.

“My problem with it is you don’t know, no one knows and there’s more evidence he’s onside than there is evidence he’s offside. You can see where his foot is.

“That’s why I think, in that situation, they can’t go against decision but for me, there’s more evidence he’s onside and that’s why I would have liked to have seen the goal.”

Farce

The explanation for not allowing Diagne’s goal is a pathetic one.

As Carragher says, there’s more evidence pointing towards him being onside. Plus, let’s face it, there’s zero evidence that Diagne was offside.

VAR and the PGMOL will be relieved that West Brom won the game so convincingly and that there wasn’t any other major controversies because that was by far the most farcical application of VAR yet.

We’ve seen offsides given for a pixel of a player’s sleeve being offside yet they’re saying they couldn’t come to a conclusion that the original decision on Diagne’s goal was clearly wrong?

It really makes no sense.

While we won, relegation still seems likely and if we go down, one of the plus points will be that we won’t have to endure VAR hell in the Championship.

If the linesman had flagged that goal as offside, we’d have left it at that really. It was a tight call and it was a tough decision to make.

It was wrong but we could accept that more than the VAR mishap.

In other West Brom news, this 45-year-old is favourite to be the next Baggies manager.

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