Sheffield United suffered their first defeat in seven Premier League outings at Bramall Lane on Thursday, going down 2-0 to Newcastle United.
The Blades went 1-0 down early on after Allan Saint-Maximin rose highest to head past Dean Henderson, though Chris Wilder’s side went on to dominate for the rest of the first half and the start of the second.
Indeed, between the 15th minute and 70th minute, the Blades had 73.9% of the possession, took nine shots compared to Newcastle’s three and had five corners (via WhoScored).
However, despite all of that, they ended up going 2-0 down when Jonjo Shelvey scored a bizarre goal which was ultimately given by VAR.
The ball was lofted forward and Andy Carroll won a flick-on for Shelvey. However, the linesman had his flag raised for offside which was seen by the Sheffield United defenders who stopped playing.
Shelvey, on the other hand, didn’t stop and walked through and put the ball into the net despite offside being given. VAR ended up reviewing the goal and giving it, which caused outrage from everyone connected with the Blades, including their fans.
After the game, many supporters of the South Yorkshire club took to Twitter to vent their frustrations at VAR, suggesting that it is ruining the game. Here is what some had to say…
Right, so now what we’re supposed to do is COMPLETELY ignore the officials in the ground because they have no control over the game & their whistle means nothing eh? @premierleague #twitterblades #sufc
— S24SU.com (@s24su) December 5, 2019
VAR NEEDS TO GO. WHAT A JOKE
— Tommo (@FPL_Blade) December 5, 2019
The point is it is ruining it for the fans in the stadium. It’s a farce – you can’t celebrate a goal any more, you’ve no idea what is going on. It’s all very well these TV viewers wading in with opinions having seen numerous replays.
— Steven Kay (@SteveK1889) December 5, 2019
It has to go. Completely ruined another game.
— Ben Liversidge (@ben_liversidge) December 5, 2019
I agree we should play to the whistle, BUT, every single offside was blown last night apart from the one which cost us the second goal. VAR is a mess and needs a serious rethink in the @premierleague but everyone seems to have their head in the sand with it! #twitterblades #sufc
— Nathan Taylor (@NTY_1106) December 6, 2019
VAR has ruinied football, flag was already up and everybody had stopped absolute joke #twitterblades #SUFC
— Grace Hession (@hession_grace) December 5, 2019
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Sheffield United fans, what were your thoughts on Newcastle’s second goal? Let us know in the comments below…
