THANKFULLY, it didn’t matter a jot at the end of the day and Brendan Rodgers could even afford a wry smile after analysing the incident.
However, it would have been an entirely different matter if the contentious VAR decision to nullify what looked like a perfectly legitimate goal from Kyogo Furuhashi against Philippe Clement’s Ibrox club had proved to be a pivotal moment in the derby confrontation at the weekend.
The cheers of the joyous fans were stilled when the technical assistant, sitting in front of the TV cameras in the Glasgow office, intervened to flag up a perceived offside infringement.
Apparently, Nicolas Kuhn was in an illegal position when he raced onto a pass from Callum McGregor before sliding a cross in front of Kyogo to tuck behind Jack Butland.
ON THE RUN…Nicolas Kuhn prepares to race onto Callum McGregor’s through pass.
ALL YOURS, KYOGO…Kuhn prepares to slide a pass in front of his onside team-mate.
PICK IT OUT…Kyogo Furuhashi applies the finishing touch. And then VAR intervened.
While the celebrating reverberated around the stadium, referee John Beaton received a word in his ear and the effort was chalked off. I have to say my immediate thought was that the VAR official must possess the laserbeam vision of a particularly alert hawk.
It took something like a remarkable 40 seconds to review the entire movement and make a swift judgement.
You and I are united in applauding speed when it comes to calls from the technicians. No-one wants the game paused for any longer than is necessary.
However, to come to such a decision in such an extraordinary short span of time is quite bewildering. On how many occasions was the episode actually assessed?
Certainly, it deserved a whole lot more than a cursory glance.
Afterwards, Rodgers shook his head and grinned when asked about the lightning-swift n0-goal call. “I would like to see those lines in the VAR room,” he said. “One of the angles I have seen it looked like he [Kuhn] was onside.”
The image with the VAR calibrated markings proved to be utterly inconclusive. That is not acceptable.
INCONCLUSIVE…VAR’s image that attempts to show Nicolas Kuhn is offside. Note the referee’s assistant who is in a perfect position to view the incident and keeps his flag down.
It was all a bit mystifying until you remember who was sitting in front of the screens across the city. Andrew Dallas. The same Andrew Dallas who once awarded Rangers FOUR penalty-kicks in one game against St Mirren back in February 2019.
Asked for an opinion on the referee’s performance by a national newspaper, I recall a former SFA match official stating quite categorically that THREE of the decisions were wrong. That’s a fairly damning verdict.
I also recollect that one of the spot-kick decisions simply bordered on the laughable when Daniel Candeias was tackled outside the box and managed to dive and roll over the line.
The Portuguese winger wasn’t the only one on a roll at Ibrox that afternoon.
That may help to shed some light on the preposterous decision at Parkhead on Sunday.
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