VAR has made referees lazy, says ex-FIFA ref Hackett

Keith Hackett has admitted he has major concerns after VAR had to intervene to award Man City their first penalty in the 6-3 win over Leicester City yesterday (26 December).

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Fifa and Premier League official claimed referee Chris Kavanagh should have spotted Youri Tielemans’ foul on Aymeric Laporte instead of being “lazy” and relying on VAR operator Paul Tierney.

Tielemans brought Laporte to the ground after Man City floated in a corner less than a quarter of an hour into the game, as shown by the BBC’s Match of the Day programme.

As quoted by the Daily Mail (26 December), Brendan Rodgers claimed the decision was “really soft”.

“I don’t think this was soft at all,” Hackett said after analysing the footage with Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley.

“What the area of concern is, is grappling going unpunished in a consistent manner by the PGMOL group of referees.

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“We’re seeing holding, we’re seeing pushing and the referee is not taking action on the field of play.

“Let’s make no mistake, this was seen by Chris Kavanagh and not acted on, that’s my concern.

“Is that a lack of awareness? Is that a lack of courage? Does it go back to the fact VAR promotes lazy officiating? I think it’s that.

“There is an overreliance on VAR. It’s a lifebelt. If a referee is not sure it will come in and tell them. Then the unknown person at Stockley Park carries the can.

“I worry about this referee. I think physically, he’s lazy. I can’t understand why the PGMOL don’t recognise his shortfall on explosive sprinting, because it is there.

“His movement around the penalty area is almost static. I think this opens him up to missing things.

“He’s reactive as a referee, he’s not proactive. That’s not the style of the modern referee.

“It’s easy to warn the players beforehand, that’s the soft easy bit of refereeing. He’s then not made the big decision.”