FA Cup: Huddersfield Town 0-2 Manchester United - 5 Talking Points

#3 VAR comes into play as Mata’s goal is ruled out for offside

Manchester United's players await Kevin Friend's decision after consulting VAR

The encounter was hand-picked as one of those that would be part of the trial run for the Video Assistant Referee system in a bid to iron out close calls that may potentially affect the result of a game like offsides, challenges inside the penalty area and controversial sendings-off.

Before long, the system was called into action as the ball struck Chris Smalling’s arm as he tried to deal with a Huddersfield corner. After on-field referee Kevin Friend briefly consulted the VAR, Neil Swarbrick at the VAR Quarters in London, a decision was reached that the ball came too quickly amongst the crowd of players inside the box to Smalling to deem that he had not intentionally handled the ball. No penalty.

However, the actual competency of the system was called into question at the stroke of half-time, when Juan Mata latched onto a Ashley Young cross before rounding the keeper and smartly slotting into an empty net to make it 2-0 to the visitors. Apparently.

The linesman had kept his flag down, so the Huddersfield players asked the question of offside. After a lengthy delay, Friend finally signalled the box to indicate that the VAR had overturned the decision and Mata was inches offside when he received the ball from Young. It was nothing more than Huddersfield deserved after a breathtaking performance; going 2-0 down would have been a cruel blow for the hosts.

The lines used to review the offside call are clearly not parallel to the edge of the 18-yard box

The controversy had only just begun. As the teams were having their half-time team-talks, replays showed that the digital lines used to review offside calls were not parallel to the lines on the pitch, questioning the very basis on which Mata was ruled offside. The time taken to arrive at the decision was also a massive talking point, claiming to interrupt the flow of the game.

This was shown to viewers only during the second half, where Mata is correctly adjudged to be offside

It took almost until midway through the second half for the blue lines to be rectified and showed to viewers that Mata was indeed offside, quelling initial concerns about the use of VAR in football. This was a live example of the challenges of the VAR system and one hopes that in due course, the flaws are rectified.