VAR BETTER!

Goals fly in and are allowed to stand while cheap penalty appeals are ignored... rule changes for a new season prove a winner with the fans

THE changes to VAR have been welcomed as a big success on the first weekend of the Premier League season.

Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes was the biggest beneficiary of the new “thicker lines” used for offside decisions – as it meant his third goal stood against Leeds at Old Trafford.

Last season, Fernandes would have been denied a hat-trick with his third effort ruled out by a marginal offside decision after he collected Victor Lindelof’s through-ball to score. This term, Premier League bosses have introduced thicker lines to get rid of the ‘armpit’ or ‘toenail’ offside calls from last season, following consultation with the clubs.

It means the benefit of the doubt is given back to the attacker and should see more goals allowed to stand this season rather than being ruled out. Ex-Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher, who now works as a pundit for Sky and the league’s in-house TV channel, said: “This is a prime example of what we wanted to change.

“We want to see football played in the right way. We’ve brought in the thicker lines and it was a really good goal. “It was his hat-trick goal... do you want to disallow it for something so tight? “Everyone except Leeds fans would say no. It was the right thing to do, it’s worked on the opening day and it’s a great way to move forward.” The new guidelines for penalty decisions have also brought in a higher threshold when there is minimal contact. Liverpool’s Mo Salah went down under Todd Cantwell’s challenge at Norwich, but got straight up and no penalty was awarded. West Ham were given a penalty after Jacob Murphy was adjudged to have fouled Pablo Fornals and Newcastle boss Steve Bruce was incensed VAR did not overrule referee Martin Atkinson. Arsenal also claimed a penalty when Folarin Balogun went down under slight contact.

Gallagher added: “There were a couple of borderline decisions like this over the weekend. Cantwell goes in and there’s minimal contact. What I find really interesting is that the players have embraced it.

“If you look at Mo Salah, he just gets straight up. “Whereas if you look at last season when there were no crowds, the players

would lie down longer and perhaps the referees would’ve heard more from them.” The one decision from the weekend which has divided opinion the most was Burnley star James Tarkowski’s opener against Brighton.

He pushed Seagulls striker Neal Maupay out of the way to head in a corner, but referee David Coote let it stand.

Maupay was there simply to block his opponent’s run, but was thrown to the floor by Tarkowski, who then nodded the ball into the net.

Gallagher said: “I thought it was a foul.

“True, Maupay never once looks at the ball. He is there solely as a blocker, so there is a mitigating circumstance.

“But if a foul is given I don’t think Tarkowski would have had too many complaints.”