Real reason behind Newcastle vs Man City VAR farce that left Pep Guardiola livid - The Mirror

Officials took nearly six minutes to rule out Antoine Semenyo's second goal for Manchester City in their Carabao Cup semi-final clash against Newcastle at St James' Park

Pep Guardiola's extraordinary VAR rant has put referees and video technology firmly back in focus.

Referee Chris Kavanagh was in the eye of the storm after a 5 min 30 secs delay before disallowing Antoine Semenyo’s effort in Manchester City’s win at Newcastle in the Carabao Cup semi final.

That followed an exhaustive VAR check which ruled that Erling Haaland was offside and he impacted on Newcastle defender Malick Thiaw’s ability to clear the ball.

However, it can be revealed that the semi-automated offside technology did not fail through a breakdown in the equipment but because it was such a crowded six yard box the players blocked the view of the cameras.

That meant the VAR then had to manually draw the lines which caused the delay and is clearly a major flaw in the semi-automated offside in that when the cameras are blocked they do not work.

There is an acknowledgment from the PGMO - The Professional Game Match Officials - that it was frustrating and the delay was too long.

It also negatively impacted on the game but the average is now below 50 seconds for VAR checks even including the stadium announcement.

That is the best in Europe, according to the PGMO, who also say they remain utterly committed to to using the referees’ call.

They also boast the lowest VAR intervention rate which they believe points to good refereeing and also the use of the referees’ call.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola rightly pointed to the fact he rarely complains about officials and is generally respectful and reserved when it comes to big decisions.

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But Guardiola pointed to several inconsistencies which, again the PGMO, will say that some decisions come down to a subjective decision.

Sometimes, as was the case at Newcastle, the decision is right in law but then must come down to the referee having the final say.

But it appears this time the vast majority of pundits, fans and neutrals believe that Kavanagh ultimately got it wrong - and took forever doing so.

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