EPL FREE KICKS: Did VAR go too far on opening weekend?

Welcome to the Premier League, VAR.

And welcome even more criticism of the Video Assistant Referee.

It didn’t take long for controversy to take centre court around VAR as a call in the second game of the season – Manchester City vs. West Ham United – was taken upstairs.

Now, let’s just get it out of the way that we feel that VAR is a great tool for referees and helps catch things that may have been missed in the heat of the action on the pitch. But this was ridiculous.

City had just scored on a beautiful looking play which saw Raheem Sterling latch onto a throughball and then square it for a wide-open Gabriel Jesus, who had just been played onside by the move.

After the celebrations and a lack of complaint from the West Ham players, the ref blew the whistle and called back the goal.

At first glance, you would think that Jesus was somehow still offside, but that wasn’t the case. In fact, according to the eye in the sky, Sterling had gone past his marker ever-so-slightly before the pass was delivered.

How slightly?

This or this.

That’s right. Mere millimeters. Pixels.

We’re all for technology removing judgment errors from the game, but this is beyond a reasonable doubt – which should be the standard in going to VAR for these calls. Literal pixels of a difference shouldn’t even require a call for VAR.

There were more instances in which VAR overturned on-field rulings this weekend, but none as questionable as that. We saw two mildly questionable ones in the Burnley-Southampton tilt, as well as Leander Dendoncker having a potential winner called back for Wolves. But Sterling’s “offside” certainly takes the cake in what could become a weekly debate over the usefulness of VAR.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Manager Pep Guardiola has tipped Sterling to shine in more of a striking role this season and the Englishman certainly got off to a great start.

Sterling netted the first hat trick of the season and was also robbed of an assist by the aforementioned VAR decision.

With the injury blow to Leroy Sane – who looked to be leaving anyway – Sterling should be one of the first names on the teamsheet, week in and week out, as close to immune from Pep’s “wheel of rotation” as they come.

And if you didn’t see a blowout in City’s favour coming, you haven’t been paying attention to history. In just five games in all competitions at London Stadium, the Sky Blues have accounted for 22 of the 98 total goals the Irons have conceded.

FIRING AT GUNNERS

Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil and Saed Kolasinac missed the trip to Newcastle amid security fears. The duo had been held up last month in a moped raid and are now under “24-hour watch” according to the Daily Mail. Reportedly, a gang of “Eastern European thugs” have vowed to protect them, which has sparked a “gang war” with a North London outfit. To say the least, this whole situation sounds pretty crazy. We’re more used to seeing Ozil miss seemingly every other game with a common cold, not threats against his well-being in gang wars.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Poor Jack Grealish set an unfortunate record in his first game back in the top flight. The Aston Villa midfielder has now lost 19 Premier League games in a row, going back to Villa’s previous run. That’s the longest losing by a player in the league’s history … Norwich’s Teemu Pukki scored on his first shot of the season, a feat he’s no stranger to. The finishing Finn has scored on his first shot in the past eight season, spanning his career with Schalke 04, Celtic, Brøndby IF and Norwich City careers … Norwich’s Onel Hernandez is first Cuban to appear in the Premier League. That’s the 114th different nationality to hit the pitch in the Prem … Liverpool got the season off to a roaring start, but that first goal of the season was a howler. We hope Grant Hanley can quickly put that own goal out of his memory … Perhaps bigger than the Reds win was the loss within the game. If Alisson’s calf injury keeps him out months instead of weeks, that’s bad news for a title challenge. It does make the Adrian signing just days before the season look pretty brilliant, though … For a team that’s supposed to be as attack as Bournemouth, you wouldn’t expect the Cherries to fail to get a shot in the first half … Two teams we didn’t expect to get big wins came through. We’d consider the wins by Brighton and Burnley to be the shockers of the weekend … Ashley Barnes probably should have had the hat trick. It was simply bad luck not to have scored on his final chance … Is there any name more fitting for a team nicknamed the Blades than Billy Sharp? The veteran striker played the hero with a late equalizer to net United its first goal and EPL point in 12 years … Harry Kane finally scored a goal on opening day, having failed to so in his career until Saturday. The timing couldn’t have been better, either, netting the winner and an insurance goal late against Villa … Pretty funny scene on Saturday when Crystal Palace keeper Vicente Guaita couldn’t take a goal kick. Every time he went to put the ball down, the wind would cause it to roll away. He eventually stamped a divot into the ground big enough to settle the ball in … Chelsea ended a day in the Premier League relegation zone for the first time since Sept. 30, 2000 … Manchester United’s thumping of the Blues was its biggest win over the London club since March 1965. George Best, who was only 18 on the day, scored in that one … Since when did Watford become a “London club?” We heard the reference at least twice this weekend, but hadn’t in the previous four years the Hornets have been in the Premier League.

THE LAST WORD

If you had any doubt that Jose Mourinho was going to be an ace analyst for the Premier League, he answered his nay-sayers on Sunday.

The former Chelsea and Man United boss was commenting on Sunday’s marquee matchup between the two clubs and didn’t mince words about Frank Lampard’s first regular-season game in charge of the Blues.

Mourinho first criticized his former midfielder’s team selection – Lampard left Christian Pulisic, Marcos Alonso and Olivier Giroud out of the starting XI – and noted how many players failed to put in much effort to track back on defence.

The Special One would also go on to say how Lampard’s job isn’t necessarily as hard as it seems since there’s very little pressure to win, given the Blues’ transfer ban.

If Mourinho is this harsh about guys that we thought he genuinely likes, imagine what sparks will fly when he calls out some teams he doesn’t (cough, cough, Arsenal).

Mourinho also had a pretty great take on which teams could contend for the title this season, picking “Manchester City, Tottenham, Liverpool and Man City’s B team.”

I mean, he’s not really wrong, is he?