HOLT: It was a shocking VAR error that denied Liverpool a goal against Spurs

There is a crisis of officiating in English football that has found its perfect storm in the farcical VAR error that stole away a legitimate goal from Liverpool during their game with Tottenham.

Discontent about the VAR system, about the standard of refereeing and about the iniquities of the current interpretation of the handball rule has been simmering and simmering and now it has boiled over.

In the context of the particularly egregious error at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, it is impossible not to have some sympathy with Liverpool and their request to hear the audio surrounding the decision.

Even in the tribal atmosphere of the English game, there are plenty of opposition supporters and even more neutrals who see Saturday’s error as a tipping point and view the prospect of forcing a replay as a kind of revenge against the system.

It is hard to argue against greater transparency in the decision-making process. If nothing else, it would help to debunk some of the wilder crackpot conspiracy theories that are currently floating around.

But while there is obvious sympathy with Liverpool and obvious dismay and disbelief about how such an officiating error was allowed to stand, suggestions from some quarters that the game ought to be replayed are a step too far.

If there is an anarchic tinge to what is happening now, it is nothing compared to what would develop if the Premier League ordered the game to be played again. What happens the next time a mistake is made and the aggrieved club demands a replay, too?

Sure, this was a bad error and feels particularly unjust and it is to be hoped it never happens again. But where do you draw the line? What if a red card is deemed retrospectively to have been too harsh? What if it happened in