Alan Shearer says VAR has damaged refereeing standards after Newcastle’s cup win

With video technology not used until the fifth round, the officials had to rely on their own judgement in the all-Premier League tie.

Alan Shearer has criticised the impact of VAR on refereeing (Adam Davy/PA) (PA Archive)

Alan Shearer lambasted the decision-making in Newcastle’s FA Cup win over Aston Villa, suggesting a reliance on VAR is diluting refereeing standards.

With video technology not used until the fifth round, the officials had to rely on their own judgement in the all-Premier League tie, which ended with the Magpies winning 3-1.

And the results left plenty to be desired.

There was widespread bemusement when Newcastle were awarded a free-kick rather than a penalty after Lucas Digne handled well inside the box, with the Frenchman also lucky not to be sent off for a dangerous high challenge on Jacob Murphy. Villa’s opener from Tammy Abraham should also have been called offside.

Former Newcastle and England favourite Shearer offered a withering assessment on BBC One, highlighting assistant referee Nick Greenhalgh’s role above that of match referee Chris Kavanagh.

“There was perhaps a small excuse for the referee to not see this (handball 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,” he said.

“(Greenhalgh) 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.”

Shearer’s fellow ex-England captain Wayne Rooney was seething about the failure to award a spot-kick against Digne.

“That decision is one of the worst decisions I have ever seen in football,” he said.

“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.”