Steven Gerrard blasts three-and-a-half minute VAR delay before Danny Ings’ equaliser was ruled out against Manchester United as Aston Villa boss says it ‘took a bit of sting out of the game’ when his side were on top
- Steven Gerrard has bemoaned the long delay to disallow Aston Villa’s goal
- Danny Ings’ equaliser against Manchester United was ruled out on Monday
- It took a mammoth three-and-a-half minutes for a decision to be reached
- Gerrard said the delay took the wind out of his Villa side’s sails at Old Trafford
Steven Gerrard criticised the long delay before Danny Ings’ goal was disallowed at Old Trafford last night, claiming it took the wind out of Aston Villa’s sails.
The game was held up for more than three-and-a-half minutes after VAR advised referee Michael Oliver to take a look at the pitch-side monitor and rule the goal out for Jacob Ramsey’s foul on Edinson Cavani.
Asked about the decision, the Villa boss said: ‘How long have you got? The officials took three-and-a-half minutes to settle that one.
Steven Gerrard has bemoaned the lengthy delay to disallow Danny Ings’ goal at Man United
‘The linesman said it was to do with Jacob impeding Cavani’s run. It wasn’t that complex to need three-and-a-half minutes and it’s disappointing as we were in a good place at the time and that took a bit of sting out of the game.’
BBC pundits Alan Shearer and Micah Richards were both scathing about the decision, not least because not all FA Cup ties have VAR.
Shearer said: ‘We should not be using VAR in this game if we can’t use VAR in every FA Cup game.
‘We were at Hull on Saturday where they should have had two penalties if VAR was there. They got dumped out of the cup partly because of that.’
Michael Oliver was advised to consult the pitchside monitor after three-and-a-half minutes
He ruled out Ings’ goal and Villa boss Gerrard said it took the wind out of his side’s sails
Richards added: ‘We don’t know if Cavani is going to get there. He (Ramsey) didn’t exactly hold him, he was holding his ground. He stepped to the side and Cavani ran into him. It took so long to make a decision – it was just ridiculous.’
Gerrard was verbally abused by United fans but the former Liverpool favourite shrugged it off, saying: ‘I’ve been to noisier stadiums than this. In terms of what I got, it’s water off a duck’s back.’
United will now host Middlesbrough at home in the fourth round after an unconvincing win.
Interim boss Ralf Rangnick said: ‘To say that this was a perfect game, nobody would believe that. Of course it was not.’