Does football need a video assistant referee?

I AGREE with Martin Samuel’s assessment of VAR that ‘V’ for video is efficient while ‘AR’ for assistant referee is a letdown (Sportsmail). Part of the problem is all the dithering. If the unfathomable delays continue, the VAR system is dead in the water.

ALAN DYSON, Folkestone, Kent. I DON’T understand the critics of VAR. The delays involved are brief. Surely it is better to spend one minute to get the right decision than continue with the wrong one. VAR might well stop cheating by players falling over at the first opportunity in an attempt to get free kicks and penalties. England fans will remember being cheated out of the World Cup by Diego Maradona’s ‘hand of God’ and being denied a goal against Germany when Frank Lampard’s shot crossed the line, which may well have seen England gain the momentum to win the game. It appears that the football establishment seems highly averse to change.

JOHN COX, Taunton, Somerset.

FOOTBALL could easily show there’s no need for VAR — just get players and managers to accept the referee’s decisions.

COLIN PICKERING, Howden, E. Yorks. THE standard of match officiating has reached an all-time low, but if the way forward is stopping the game to examine footage looking for a millimetre of a player’s knee in the wrong place, then as an entertaining sport, football is doomed.

J. MALCOLM THOMPSON, Ponteland, Northumberland.

I AM all for the video referee, and I suggest each team should be allowed to call one or two timeouts in a match to give the referee and fourth official the opportunity to review any decisions the managers are unhappy about. ALAN HICKS, Margate, Kent.