VAR takes a very long time, so is a time limit the solution?

There is a tendency to believe that all things will remain equal. That VAR would make decisions as it does now while time was passing.

Last August, Graham Scott, who retired from VAR at the end of last season, described how “an imaginary clock starts ticking in your head and the feeling of anticipation becomes palpable.”

If it’s the case when time is only psychological, imagine the pressure if the seconds are already counting down before the eyes of VAR.

PGMO knows that reviews sometimes take a long time, but the nature of VAR means you can never get away with longer delays.

From the VAR clips shown on Match Officials Mic’d Up, it is clear that there often has to be some level of discussion. Not all reviews can be clear.

Sometimes there can be a lot of debate.

There was a four-minute stoppage to rule out Aston Villa’s goal against Brentford.

Five minutes and 30 seconds were needed to rule out Manchester City’s goal against Newcastle in the EFL Cup, due to a questionable offside call against Erling Haaland which PGMO admitted was a very legitimate ruling.

“It’s frustrating for the fans and the players,” Troy Deeney told BBC Sport.

“When they score, you don’t celebrate yet. For me, it’s gotten to that point now where you feel like they’re looking for a reason to score a goal.

“Football, especially as a form of entertainment, is about goals.”

Delays are all part of this.

It’s a perception that VAR as a concept will always have to wrestle with. Although this season tackles have resulted in 21 goals scored and 22 goals disallowed.

Perhaps the VAR team could be made more aware of how long a timer takes without having a hard limit.

There is a balance to be found. But this should not be achieved by accepting more errors as a result.