While the meeting between Manchester United and Liverpool at the weekend was hardly the most exciting of affairs, one issue has continued to be discussed in the aftermath of the game. As always, it was VAR that was the centre of attention.
Many could not understand why Divock Origi was not awarded a foul in the buildup to Manchester United's opener, and they were even more confused when VAR decided not to overturn the decision.
It seemed like referee Martin Atikinson had a good view of the incident, which meant incurred the wrath of Liverpool supporters after the game. However, it appears that is not the simple.
On Monday Night Football, Jamie Carragher broke out his trademark virtual reality gear to show why Atkinson was right not to award a free-kick. He thinks it was definitely a foul, but that the referee could not see it from his angle. For this reason, the blame for the decision should lay solely at the feet of the VAR official.
He can't see it, that's the problem. Martin Atkinson hasn't made the mistake.
If you look at it now, he can't actually see it to give it. You can see that Lindelof makes an attempt for the ball, you can see a little bit of the ball, but you can't see the challenge.
He can't give the foul, so forget criticising Martin Atkinson for this...
When a referee can't see it for me there is no threshold, he hasn't seen it. There has to be communication there 'is it a foul, yes or no?'
That's why I think that was a massive error within that.
This clears up a lot about Atkinson's role in the incident, but only raises further questions about the role of VAR. This seems like exactly the type of situation where it should make a difference, but it was found wanting yet again.
We have spoken previously about how the Premier League have made a balls of this whole process and we expect to have that conversation a number of times over the remainder of the season.
