Lampard left frustrated after VAR denies obvious Chelsea penalty

Frank Lampard unhappy with VAR after Chelsea were denied a penalty against Manchester United

Speaking to the BBC, Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has been left frustrated by VAR following the goalless draw against Manchester United.

Blues skipper Cesar Azpilicueta was grabbed by his United counterpart Harry Maguire when challenging for a header in the first half. However, VAR dismissed our penalty claims after reviewing the incident.

“I thought it was a clear penalty.”

While Lampard admits officials on the pitch may miss things, he is perplexed that VAR has not been able to correct such things.

While the introduction of VAR has been an excellent step. The implementation has been far from impressive.

“They should have taken time and advised the referee to look at the monitor. If he watches the monitor, he has to give the penalty, so it’s confusing.”

With the monitors being made available by pitchside, Lampard believes on-field officials should play a more proactive role in decision making.

This is not the first time that Maguire has got away with a foul against us. He was let off after what looked like a deliberate hit on Michy Batshuayi in the game at Stamford Bridge in February.

He stayed on and went on to score the opener for United that night. Unless implementation of the technology is done right, the whole point of using VAR becomes moot.

Chelsea next face Krasnodor in the Champions League group stage fixture on 28th.

More Chelsea News

• Serie A trio keen on Chelsea star Emerson Palmieri
• Edouard Mendy pleased to work with Petr Cech at Chelsea
• Chelsea struggling to get rid of Kepa Arrizabalaga

It was hardly the single mistake officials have made in recent times, let alone the same night. A foul that occurred outside the penalty area was given as a penalty for Sheffield United at Anfield.

One cannot accuse VAR of being inconsistent. After all, they appear to be making the wrong decisions on a regular basis.