Chris Wilder says Premier League 'think everything's fine' with VAR - here's why he disagrees

This is the fifth season the Premier League has been using VAR having seen it adopted in the 2018 World Cup and it remains controversial.

Saturday's game between Sheffield United and Fulham highlighted one of the complaints supporters have with the system – which allows certain decisions to be reviewed from a television studio and potentially overturned if there is a "clear and obvious" error or an offside not spotted.

Ben Brereton Diaz thought he had scored his second goal of what ultimately was a 3-3 draw with Fulham but a VAR check was so lengthy that the Bramall Lane crowd slow handclapped their frustration.

VAR Andy Madley was apparently checking for a potential handball before Diaz scored, and for a possible red card in the melee that followed as Blades players tried to recover the ball from the net and Fulham's tried to delay proceedings. Eventually, Madley backed up referee Tim Robinson's decisions to award the goal and not issue any cards.

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The video screen at Bramall Lane only told supporters there was a check for a possible red card for violent conduct.

Madley later correctly identified Vinicius Souza was offside in the build-up to what should have been Sheffield United’s fourth goal and deemed him to be interfering with play.

That it takes so long to identify "clear and obvious" errors is a bugbear of some critics of VAR, and of Wilder.

"I've played, coached and managed and all through that time I'm a supporter, so I can imagine what you're thinking is what we're all going through – how long it takes," he said.

"It wasn't brought in for this, it was brought in for Hand of God 86 when a referee, two linesmen and a fourth official didn't see something everybody in the world saw (as Diego Maradona infamously scored for Argentina against England).

"For me it's for that not to the extent of how it is now with everything getting dissected and how long it's taking over every decision. That's how it is, and I don't think it's going away."

A recent study of 1,000 football supporters by Betway found that 33 per cent wanted a time limit on how long VARs took over decisions. Despite so many suggesting it, it was only the third most popular suggestion, behind being able to hear the discussions between Stockley Park and the on-field referee (40 per cent) and seeing the footage the VAR watches (39 per cent).

But Wilder does not see much changing any time soon.

"We were on a Premier League managers meeting (recently) and they think everything's fine and going in the right direction and they're getting a percentage (of decisions) right," he said.

"I'm not getting involved in any of that, I'll let the bigger voices in the room take that on. From my point of view I'll keep my opinions to myself."