Alan Shearer went on a damning rant about the decisions made by officials during Newcastle United's 3-1 win against Aston Villa in the FA Cup, condemning referees for becoming reliant on VAR.
The game began in controversial fashion thanks to a Tammy Abraham goal for the hosts, as the striker was seemingly in an offside position before scoring. But with no VAR in use during the fourth round, the strike was allowed to stand. And questions over the officiating continued to crop up, as Lucas Digne avoided a red card for a rash tackle in the first half.
However, the Frenchman was at the centre of an even more egregious error in the second half. As the ball was swung into the penalty area by Kieran Trippier, it clearly appeared to strike the arm of Digne inside the penalty area.
Although the referee elected to stop play for a foul, he did not point to the penalty spot. Instead, he gave a free-kick to the visitors, leaving travelling players and supporters irate.
Fortunately for Newcastle, Sandro Tonali scored from the resulting set-piece, before his second goal and Nick Woltemade's effort ensured their place in the next round of the competition. However, the focus after the game remained on the terrible decisions made by referee Chris Kavanagh and his team.
Shearer and Wayne Rooney Tear Into Officials After Villa 1-3 Newcastle
Newcastle United's Sandro Tonali, Dan Burn and Kieran Trippier
Speaking after the match as a pundit for BBC Sport's coverage, Shearer proceeded to rant furiously about the decisions made on the day. The former Newcastle striker believes that officials as a group are too reliant on VAR nowadays.
Specifically focusing on the penalty, he said: "There was perhaps a small excuse for the referee to not see this [Digne being in the box] - and I’m being kind to him – but there was no excuse whatsoever for the assistant who is 10 or 15 yards away.
"The linesman had an absolute nightmare today. If you ever needed any evidence of the damage VAR has done to the referees, today is a great example of that because these guys looked petrified to make decisions because they didn’t have a comfort blanket.
"That’s the damage VAR has done to officials. For me they are actually getting worse. I really don’t think that is a difficult decision at all, in fact it is easy, and at this standard that has to be given. There is no excuse for the assistant not to tell his referee. He has got that totally wrong."
Fellow pundit Wayne Rooney was just as disappointed by the call, saying: "That decision is one of the worst decisions I have ever seen in football.
"At no stage was Digne out of the penalty box. He is three or four yards inside. The linesman is just in front of it and you can clearly see how much he is in the penalty box. The referee looked like he blew and looked like he was listening to someone in his ear, so I’m assuming the linesman gave the decision, and it’s an absolute shocker."
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Shearer's VAR Verdict Has BBC Studio Laughing
Alan Shearer
The FA Cup fourth round tie went a great way to highlight the need for VAR. But Shearer has been a vocal critic of the technology, due to the lengthy stoppages in play for reviews and continuing contentious decisions.
It led to host Kelly Cates asking the Premier League's all-time top scorer whether the poor decisions on Saturday had turned him from a critic to a believer. But Shearer wasn't willing to back down on his position.
He replied: "Nope. I'd just like officials to do their job properly, that's all. It's not too much to ask is it?" And Cates then added: "Don't have a go at me, I was just asking the question!"
Newcastle will find out who they will face in the fifth round on Monday 16th February. The draw is due to begin at 18:35 GMT ahead of Macclesfield's match against Brentford.