ANYONE watching Match of the Day a couple or so weeks ago may remember the incident in the Manchester United-Arsenal match between Danel James of United and Ben Godfrey of Arsenal.

They were pursuing the ball in the Arsenal penalty area when James went down.

The match referee, Stuart Atwell, did not consider it a foul, but he was told to give a penalty by VAR.

This incident and several others recently, I think highlight a couple of reasons for concern.

Firstly, the PGMO which controls Premier League referees has apparently told its referees not to consult the touchline monitor to check such instances for themselves.

This I believe, is because many people elsewhere in the world, have complained about the amount of time this takes.

Let’s be clear, the VAR will be a Premier League referee or equivalent.

On Saturday he may be in the middle but on Sunday in the VAR room.

However, in the Laws of the game it says, the decision of the referee regarding facts connected with play, are final.

Obviously in this case it was not.

Atwell saw no foul, but the VAR gave the penalty.

Every week, I watch an American television programme from the PRO (Professional Referees Organization), their equivalent of the PGMO.

In this they run through several games where there has been a VAR intervention and we hear the VAR’s voice.

If the VAR thinks the referee has missed something, he calls out ‘recommend a review’ and the referee goes over to consult the incident on his monitor before deciding.

Shouldn’t this happen here?

On Australian television, I have seen where the referee has rightly disagreed with the VAR and not given the penalty.

The other concern is whether the VAR angles are good enough? Are they as good as we see on television?

On three occasions at least recently, television has shown the VAR decision to be clearly wrong,

Perhaps, if the referees had reviewed at their monitors, they might have made a different decision, if they get the angles right.