Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg derides VAR's controversial offside calls

Another day, another VAR controversy. On a day when Premier League clubs were frantically trying to work around the busy December fixture pile-up, VAR made things all the more difficult for the likes of Wolves, Crystal Palace, Sheffield United, Brighton and Norwich. Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg had a few words regarding VAR calls this weekend. 

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Mark Clattenburg calls for scrapping of VAR's offside calls

In a column in a leading English daily, Mark Clattenburg said that the excitement and spirit of the game is in danger of being damaged by the precise nature of the VAR technology when it comes to offsides. He then called for the Premier League to go back to assistant referees flagging for offside. Mark Clattenburg believes that the offside rules should not be changed. He then concluded by saying that the Premier League should make offside decisions totally dependent on officials on the pitch and live with the margin of human error. This would, in turn, remove the debate over the ‘armpit’ offside calls and also allow players and fans to celebrate goals more freely without the fear of a marginal offside ruling it out.

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VAR once again took centre stage this weekend in the Premier League. Wolves' Pedro Neto thought he had slotted in an equaliser against Liverpool at Anfield just moments after Sadio Mane's opener. On closer observation, VAR ruled Neto to be marginally offside. Sadio Mane's goal, in turn, proved to be the decider of the contest. Manchester City were also involved in a fair bit of VAR controversy over the last couple of games. During Sheffield United's visit to the Etihad, referee Chris Kavanagh impeded John Fleck, which led to Sergio Aguero hammering the ball in the roof of Dean Henderson’s net seconds later. VAR did have a look at the goal, but the goal stood since the referee did not directly touch the ball. 

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