Brendan Rodgers’ team had a very dull and nervous first half before defeating St Johnstone 3-1.
They found it difficult to penetrate a resilient St Johnstone defense, and they were concerned when the Perth team decided to go after Joe Hart’s goal.
St Johnstone’s goal at the conclusion of the first half was a reward for Craig Levein’s team’s effort, but Richard Gordon, the BBC Sportsound presenter, has subsequently acknowledged that VAR might have missed a call that would have disallowed the goal.
“Just returning to the St. Johnstone goal, there is some suggesting that there might have been a handball that the replays have seen,” Gordon stated [BBC Sportsound].
“I don’t know if they’re all together definitively.
“The fact that not much came of it, that not much was made of it, would definitely indicate that it wasn’t evident and plain if there was a handball.
“You would be back in this whole situation of the accusations that games are being rerefereed if VAR had gotten involved.”
To be fair, it was hard to see in real time, but when you slow it down, you can see that the St Johnstone player’s arm did indeed get struck by the ball.
Callum Davidson dismisses Celtic’s VAR intervention.
The viewpoint of former St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson about VAR’s lack of intervention truly caught me off guard.
“This is where we have this debate, and I don’t want to start it again,” Davidson remarked. “I think sometimes as well when you start looking at every small minut detail.”
“Therefore, I believe you just need to let the referees officiate the game and assist them when needed.”
How come? Isn’t that the VERY purpose of VAR? Isn’t that the point of it? to identify athletes attempting to obtain an unfair advantage by breaking the rules in a way that the referee failed to notice?
Both Davidson’s remark and VAR’s choice to ignore the shirt pull-up were really odd. It appears that they can see a lot of other players. It should come as no surprise that Brendan Rodgers is annoyed with technology.
There might have been more discussion if the goal had cost Celtic three points, but instead, Brendan Rodgers’ team moved on after securing the three points.
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