Leicester City are a perfect case of how VAR isn’t working

Having a VAR is a great concept, yet it is currently a fatally flawed system. Leicester City’s recent matches provide simple insight as to why.

Leicester City can consider themselves unlucky not to get a point from their most recent top-flight outing. Naturally the Foxes had chances and opportunities to show their metal and skill, but it didn’t really materialize.

Gabriel Jesus ultimately won the match for Manchester City – which was predictable in a sense. At least, that’s the way this writer perceived his entry as a substitute for the usually deadly Sergio Aguero. In what was another strange, almost surreal contest for Leicester.

However, what shouldn’t be expected, so prevalent and a consistent theme is the King Power club being on the wrong end of questionable decisions, or a lack there of, from the Video Assistant Referee. In fact, the team’s recent run of ‘bad luck’ in matches from VAR is an indictment of a failing system.

Leicester City should formally complain

As a general policy, Foxes of Leicester never entertain – to be honest we ridicule the accusers – the notion that the English premiership is corrupt. That’s in the traditional sense of the word: money being exchanged for decisions or results etcetera.

Nor do we believe that favouritism is applied; apart from when honest professionals make uncharacteristic challenges and are spared punishment. Think N’golo Kante being unusually overzealous and avoiding a red card, as an example.

Yet the fact that Brendan Rodgers’ outfit were not awarded obvious penalties without VAR against Aston Villa in a Carabao Cup semi-final – an extremely important fixture – versus Chelsea and then arguably twice against Manchester City, is unacceptable.

When you are aware that two of those sides were given similar, sometimes less obvious decisions on occasion in the same contests – then it is time for the East Midlands club to demand an independent investigation, commissioned by division heads.

That is wishful thinking, unfortunately: an examination probably won’t take place. Anyway if it does, it’ll most likely be an in-house Premier League procedure and they’re unlikely to suspend or criticise their own staff and system, sadly. Self regulation at its most transparent.

The FA should be made aware of the selectivity of VAR as well as possible choosing. No, I never thought I’d think let alone mildly suspect corruption – but how is Dennis Praet’s handball any worse than Kevin De Bruyne’s? And since when are goalkeepers – yes Ederson on Kelechi Iheanacho – allowed to almost knockout a player with a punch in midair? For VAR not to check the incidents is unforgivable. To think, we’re not even discussing offsides today!