Tottenham v Aston Villa play should have been halted due to VAR issue
We’re delighted to welcome former Scotland right-back Alan Hutton as our exclusive columnist as each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium…
Alan Hutton believes out of a matter of fairness, Tottenham versus Aston Villa should have been halted at the start of the game as VAR wasn’t working properly.
As reported by The Mirror on 26 November, match officials were unable to watch VAR images for a good chunk of the Premier League clash at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday.
It was fully operational after around 10 minutes, just in time to rule an Ollie Watkins goal out for being offside.
Hutton doesn’t have any issues with the game being played on Sunday because there were no issues while the pitchside monitor was down.
However, the former right-back – who played for both teams – believes that there needs to be a black-and-white rule on what to do if this happens again.
“If you look back and something had happened and it wasn’t working, you’re probably saying the game shouldn’t have started,” Hutton told Villa News. “But because there were no real issues when it wasn’t working, it’s fine.
“I think it happened once before at a Scottish game at Hampden Park but they played on. There was an issue, they kept on stopping and checking it to see if it was working.
“It’s probably something they’ll have to look at and ask, ‘if this happens again, do we stop the game or do we continue?’.
“For the old-school fans, you’d say just crack on and see how it goes. But in terms of fairness, they maybe should try to fix it and then continue the play.”
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