VAR got big call right in the end

aLL we can ask is: did VaR do its job? The answer is: yes, it did. Showing a red card to Kieran Trippier for stopping a Manchester City attack by bringing down Kevin de Bruyne was harsh. as cynical as it was, he didn’t catch de Bruyne badly, so it was a yellow, no more. I can understand why a few City fans will disagree. But then if this was the other way around — if de Bruyne had brought down Trippier — they’d be arguing it was a yellow, not a red.

It was good that VaR Peter Bankes gave referee Jarred Gillett the chance to have a second look at this incident on his pitch-side monitor. Gillett had overreacted to Trippier’s foul in real time, which can happen in the heat of the moment, and was able to use the replays to make a more balanced judgment. The correct call was reached in the end, so we can say that VaR did its job at St James’ Park.