VAR? We just stand around like kids

JAMIE VARDY is not happy with a VAR system that leaves players standing around on a football pitch “like schoolkids” and warned it must be perfected before the World Cup this summer.

The Leicester striker scored his first England goal for a year and a day on Tuesday to put Gareth Southgate’s team ahead against Italy at Wembley, only for VAR to intervene and deny his team a win.

German referee Deniz Aytekin belatedly decided to consult the pitch-side screen after England debutant James Tarkowski collided with Italy striker Federico Chiesa as he raced into the area three minutes from the end. Aytekin ruled there had been a foul, even though it looked as if Chiesa was already falling, and Lorenzo Insigne’s penalty earned Italy a draw from a game which England had largely dominated.

“The worst thing about VAR, not just for the players but fans as well, is that it just says VAR’s in use. You are stood around not knowing what’s going on and the crowd is sat there waiting,” said Vardy.

“The fans don’t know whether to celebrate. We had one in the FA Cup against Fleetwood for Leicester, where Kelechi Iheanacho scored.

“The referee’s gone to VAR, Iheanacho’s not had a chance to celebrate with his team-mates, and then at the end of it all it’s like schoolkids running around everywhere – ‘Yeah, we’ve scored, where is he? Let’s go celebrate’. It needs a lot of work.

“It won’t stop players, we will still go into challenges. They use it in other sports where it’s up on a big screen so that everyone can see what the video referee is looking at.

“It’s still down to the referees to try to get to the right decision in the first place.”