Blood Red: Fulham boss Scott Parker says 'VAR will destroy football'
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Pep Guardiola has echoed the thoughts of Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp once again over VAR after Manchester City thumped Southampton 5-2 on Wednesday.
With the match poised at 1-1, City midfielder Phil Foden burst through on goal - only for the on-rushing Alex McCarthy to catch the England international as he went round the goalkeeper.
McCarthy didn't touch the ball in the incident but after initially going down, Foden jumped back to his feet to try and score - only to then recycle possession after being crowded out.
Referee Jon Moss waved play on and VAR Andrew Madley decided there had been no 'clear and obvious error', much to Guardiola's surprise.
The manager told Sky Sports: "Jon [Moss] cannot see it, but the VAR is there, they don't whistle the penalty, it's incredible. For a long time, maybe four or five years, never complain about the referees, but this action really is in-cred-ible. In-cred-ible.
"The VAR exists for when the referee doesn't see the action, they can make a mistake, that's why they review. But if there is a review and they didn't whistle the penalty for this action, I don't understand. Honestly. Maybe one day they will explain the rule for all of the managers and players."
VAR's intervention in the City game, or lack thereof, is just the latest in a long line of contentious incidents that have managers, players, pundits and fans alike perplexed at what is going on behind the officiating scenes this season.
Guardiola himself noted calls in both the Fulham vs Tottenham and Burnley vs Arsenal matches during his criticism of VAR.
The first of those saw a goal disallowed for the home side due to an utterly ridiculous handball ruling while the second left Gunners boss Mikel Arteta perplexed after defender Erik Pieters handled the ball twice inside the area under pressure from Nicolas Pepe, only for the officials to believe no offence had been committed.
And Guardiola called for referees to explain the rules again to players and managers.
"I don't understand why Fulham disallowed the goal against Tottenham," he added. "I don't understand the hands from Arsenal vs Burnley. Another example is the penalty today.
"Maybe one day they will explain the rule for all of the managers and players. Hopefully one day they can explain what is going on. Jon, the referee, can't see it, but VAR, oh my god.
"Losing 2-5 I don't make a comment, after you win you can do it, otherwise it looks like an excuse. Ask the right people why they do it. It is incredible. Maybe one day they will explain the rules and the VAR. Hopefully one day they can explain what is going on."
Comments from the City boss simply echo the sentiment of Liverpool manager Klopp this season in that there are problems with VAR.
The German was once a great advocate for the implementation of a VAR, previously admitting he was initially boosted by the hope of 'right decisions', but he has come out this season to say he 'wouldn't be saying that again'.
"This is one of those things I don't like being asked," Klopp said back in December. "When we played in Midtjylland it was freezing cold, we had three or four decisions and together it was for sure 10 or 12 minutes [to decide] and it's really cold.
"Of course with all the things and how we deal with it here in the country, and in the Champions League was not much better to be honest, why would anybody say 'it's brilliant let's stay like this.'
"We stop celebrating after goals and wait constantly, we have less than millimetre offside decisions and things like this, a lot of things are not like they were before that's the truth.
"When it first came up the idea of VAR I was rather in favour of it to be honest, I thought right decisions would be nice if it could have right decisions, but I'm not sure we've all thought it through properly, and how long will it take to get a right decision?
"How much will that take away from the game we loved before? So it's all true but I don't have expectations about it.
"It would be really nice if other people have an opinion about it and write it down, don't make the stories with only what we [managers] say.
"I've said things before and I might have been wrong. It's nothing to do with the tight decisions against us, it's in general. A few things are not like they were before and they were better before. I think if you change something there should be just improvement and that's for sure not the case."