A ROW’S NEVER VERY VAR AWAY

Walker’s on-off red adds a touch of farce to a day poor City will want to forget

IT seems a lifetime ago when we were up in arms about VAR every week. In reality, it has been only a month or so since the all-new common sense approach to refereeing was introduced and the video referee receded into the anonymity of Stockley Park. We had almost forgotten what a good VAR rant was like.

But like a sepia-tinted nostalgia fest, here was one from the good old days, and on which the match turned in the 61st minute. Adam Armstrong broke dangerously into the City penalty area and Kyle Walker dived in somewhat recklessly to tackle, getting much more man than ball.

Immediately referee Jon Moss gave a penalty before sending off Walker. After a lengthy delay, we had the ‘VAR checking penalty’ message. Which is bizarre in itself, as all penalties are checked anyway. It cannot be said often nor loudly enough just how bad the user experience is for the fan in the stadium as they are left to guess and puzzle it out.

So when the referee is asked to jog over to the monitor, fans are more or less invited to rejoin the action again when we’re ready. Prime-time entertainment it ain’t. Eventually, we had Moss trotting back to rescind Walker’s red card, which seemed correct, as unless you haven’t attempted to play the ball, no player should be sent off while conceding a penalty on the principle of double jeopardy.

And yet he also overturned the penalty, which seemed odd as Walker’s aggressive challenge wasn’t the clearest penalty ever awarded, but it certainly didn’t seem a clear and obvious mistake.

Ralph Hassenhuttl was magnanimous. ‘We have the feeling that it [the award of the penalty] was not a clearly wrong decision. When the referee thinks it is, he has to overrule it and he did it, which is a pity for us…’

That moment provided the peak drama. There was precious little else to get excited about. Except on 90 minutes when City celebrated a winner before a flag was raised and on an industrial estate in west London, checks were made.

It was Kevin De Bruyne’s cross for Phil Foden, headed goalwards, that appeared to break the deadlock. Alex McCarthy saved magnificently but on the rebound, Raheem Sterling got the ball over the line. Alas, he had come from an offside position, something VAR would confirm. Had Sterling left it for the onside Foden, City would have had their three points.

Yet the disallowing of the goal was not the most significant part of that action. It was the fact that it was City’s first attempt on goal, in the 90th minute. Even after the A-team — De Bruyne, Foden and

Riyad Mahrez — had joined the action, there wasn’t much to show for it. The team that hit five against Norwich and Arsenal, six against RB Leipzig, had come over all shot-shy.

Those goalfests have prevented us from asking Pep Guardiola the obvious question. ‘What would Harry Kane do?’ More specifically, what would he have done with the 22nd-minute Walker cross which Bernardo Silva allowed to bounce off his head and wide.

‘The question is not that,’ insisted Guardiola. ‘Today we didn’t not win because we didn’t have a centre forward. We didn’t win because our crosses, [our ability] to make, to adapt, to create, to play better and give better balls for the players that were up front weren’t as good.

‘Of course we had one shot on target but there were four or five that were blocked in the six-yard box. They were there. But that’s not the reason. The reason is because we didn’t do the passes from our back four and Fernandinho, the five guys who have to bring the ball to the other players. In these passes, we fly, we live all together to make transitions, this is the way. This was not perfect, not what we wanted.’

Only Guardiola could make a banal football passing sequence sound like a passage of magical realism but, in a sense, he was right. City simply weren’t fluid in their creative energy and when they are, they can almost do without a world-class finisher. Almost. In the final analysis, against the best teams, in the title run-in and Champions League final stages, they will rue their inability to do a deal with Daniel Levy.

The most significant first-half action came from the crowd. Three minutes in, they roared repeatedly, a favourite anthem

‘We’ve got Guardiola’ to the tune of ‘Glad All Over’. The lover’s tiff between iconic coach and hardcore fanbase appeared resolved after Guardiola criticised the lack of atmosphere and numbers here in midweek and fans’ groups responded angrily. The fans, at least, were here and in force. The team, not so much.

Another benefiting from the reaffirmation of affection was Sterling, picked to start for the first time since the opening day’s 1-0 loss against Spurs. Supplanted by Ruben Dias in the leadership group at City and by Jack Grealish on the left of attack, his best work seems reserved for England these days. Here he played centrally, with City’s only recognised centre forward, Gabriel Jesus, on the right and Grealish left.

At times, that trio fizzed with excitement and passed with elegance. But not often. City allowed Southampton plenty of the ball, lost possession cheaply and looked some way short of their best.