SPURS 6 ROCHDALE 1 MATCH REPORT
Too many delays and Llorente’s 12-minute hat-trick spoil Dale’s big night at Wembley
WHAT should have been a memorable FA Cup tie turned into another VAR farce.
And it proved once again that the video assistant referee experiment is not ready to be fully introduced into English football.
Tottenham had a goal ruled out and were given a penalty courtesy of the new system – but no one in the stadium knew what was going on, while referee Paul Tierney lost control of the match.
In fairness, they came to the right decisions but only after Tierney and studio ref Graham Scott seemed to take an eternity before making up their minds.
It meant that we started the night worrying about the snow and freezing temperatures but ended it completely baffled by a string of VAR decisions.
Eventually Tottenham ran out easy winners as Fernando Llorente hit a hat-trick in 13 minutes, but not before the unwieldly reviews had ruined it for fans in the stadium.
If they have any sense, football’s law makers IFAB should not bring it in for the World Cup at their crunch meeting in Zurich on Saturday.
It all started in the sixth minute when Erik Lamela had a goal ruled out after Llorente was judged to have fouled Rochdale’s Harrison McGahey. But VAR is only supposed to intervene on “clear and obvious” errors and it took a string of replays to spot Llorente’s foul.
Heung-Min Son put Tottenham ahead after 23 minutes with a welltaken finish and you thought the Premier League big boys would finally put away League One’s basement side.
But they had not banked on more VAR controversy. Tottenham got a 27th-minute penalty after Matt Done hauled down Kieran Trippier. Tierney first gave a free-kick but the VAR upgraded it to a penalty.
Suddenly Tottenham fans loved the video ref again.
Son stepped up, but stopped before firing home the spot-kick. Tierney made himself public enemy No.1 by disallowing it because Son feigned to shoot after halting his run, and rubbed salt in the wounds by booking the Tottenham forward.
Incredibly, Stephen Humphrys fired Rochdale level with a brilliant finish after 31 minutes after latching onto Andrew Cannon’s through ball. Cannon then hit a post just before the break.
It was no surprise that Tierney had to add five minutes of stoppage time at the end of the first half as the snow began to fall heavily.
Thankfully, Llorente was the story of the second half rather than the VAR. His first two goals in the 47th and 53rd minute were set up by Tottenham’s Brazilian winger Lucas Moura as they finally broke down Rochdale’s brave resistance.
Not even VAR could stop Llorente getting his hat-trick as Son made an excellent run and then his cross set up the Tottenham striker to head home. Son then made it five after 65 minutes with a simple tap home.
And kid Kyle Walker-Peters added No.6 in injury-time.