Aston Villa 1-3 Newcastle: An announcement about VAR technology? How many big decisions were wrong in an FA Cup match?

Has there ever been a better video assistant referee (VAR) ad?

Newcastle’s 3-1 FA Cup fourth round win over Aston Villa was riddled with controversy with VAR once again the big talking point – even though it was not in use.

For this season and the previous FA Cup campaign, it was not used until the fifth round, with many fans looking forward to a return to football uninterrupted by technology.

But referee Chris Kavanagh had hoped that the VAR would have resorted to Villa Park after an offside goal for the hosts, a blatant penalty kick for the visitors that was not awarded, in addition to at least three other controversial decisions that could have affected the result.

In the end, Newcastle – who were on the wrong side of the majority of the calls – qualified for the last 16, but manager Eddie Howe could not hide his disappointment from the officials.

Tammy Abraham’s opening goal for Villa was ruled offside, Lucas Digne’s second-half handball should have been awarded as a penalty rather than a free kick outside the box, while the French full-back was also lucky to escape a red card for a reckless challenge on Jacob Murphy.

Howe said: “I’m very upset because the game is better without VAR in terms of excitement and spectacle for the fans and for us when we live the moment.

“But it gives accurate results. It makes the game more accurate in terms of decision-making. You have to respect those moments. They are worth their weight in gold.”

“When VAR is there, there’s a tendency to think, ‘Well, I’m not going to give that because VAR is there to check it.’ Then your decision-making process is not as sharp as it normally should be. Maybe there is a difference there.

“I’m always annoyed by VAR because I love the raw emotion when a goal goes in and you don’t see a flag or hear a whistle and you know the goal is going to be scored and no one can take it away from you. But on the other side of that, I wish there was VAR for the goal they scored against us – and maybe for the whole game.”

Villa will themselves reflect on goalkeeper Marco Bezzo’s straight red card in extra time of the first half when they were 1-0 up, and could argue that Dan Byrne was offside in the visitors’ equalizer through Sandro Tonali.

Coach Unai Emery added: “Today it makes sense to understand that VAR technology is necessary. It is necessary to help the referees.”

After a season so far, which has made VAR the talking point on a weekly basis, can you have a weekend without potential problems arising?

Former England striker Alan Shearer told the BBC: “For five or six months, they were relying on VAR and they got to this situation and everything changed.

“In their defence, which is difficult for me, they have VAR for five to six months, and then they go into a big game without it, so it’s difficult for them.

“I’d like the officials to do their job properly. It’s not too much to ask, is there?”

“If you needed any evidence of the damage that VAR has done to the referees, I think today is a great example of that. These guys seemed reluctant to make a decision today because they didn’t have a comfort blanket.”