Fans were outraged during Crystal Palace‘s clash with Everton, after VAR caused a three-minute delay following Jean-Philippe Mateta’s equaliser against the Toffees.
The goal appeared to be onside when looked at with the naked eye, but the VAR felt it necessary to take their time with the call.
Marc Guehi delivered a lofted pass into a crowded box, following a Palace corner, and it was volleyed into the bottom-left corner by Mateta.
The Frenchman was played onside by Everton striker Beto who blocked the official’s view of Mateta on the replay, likely leading to the long delay.
However, many fans were in no mood to extend this leniency towards the VAR, and argued that the decision should have been wrapped up much earlier.
One user wrote on X: ‘VAR is embarrassing itself with decisions that shouldn’t take that long to make but end up taking ages. JP Mateta’s goal should be onside without 3-4 minutes of scrutiny.’
Fans were outraged as VAR took three minutes to decide if Crystal Palace’s opener was onside
Beto was blocking the official’s view of Palace’s goalscorer, Jean-Phillipe Mateta, on the replay
The official decision was onside, but the margins were a lot tighter than they initially appeared
Another said: ‘Pathetic how long this Mateta VAR check is taking. Anyone with the gift of sight can see it’s onside.’
A third noted: ‘If you can’t see Mateta because the defender is blocking him then he’s obviously onside.’