Manchester United decision vs Southampton prompts call for VAR rule change

The delay in ruling out Manchester United's offside goal against Southampton has led to calls for a time limit on decisions made by VAR.

During their draw with the Saints, Bruno Fernandes' free-kick was turned in by Cristiano Ronaldo only for it to be chalked off after consultation from the Video Assistant Referee.

United have been on both the right and wrong end of decisions from Stockley Park this season, including most recently the decision to allow Middlesbrough's equaliser to stand after a handball in the build-up.

Asked about Ronaldo's offside, which took around a minute to confirm multiple offsides, ex-Premier League and FIFA referee, Keith Hackett, believes a change in the ruling is needed to help the "credibility and flow of the game.

He told Football Insider: “This could be the delay in the technology. It may have taken time to pull up the screen and draw the lines.

"We are getting better decisions out of VAR but the delay is too long. There is a long pregnant pause after lots of offside decisions which takes the momentum out of the game. They have got to get quicker.

"In that incident, it took about a minute to come to the decision which was far too long. That can’t be right.

"The training and development of VAR should be to get to these decisions within 30 seconds. For credibility and the flow of the game, there needs to be a time limit on it.

"That should be 30 seconds."

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