IT was clear AND obvious VAR had its worst day yet.
Chelsea boss Frank Lampard spoke for players, coaches and fans when he said the latest terrible decision from officials at Stockley Park raised a huge question mark about the system.
Giovani Lo Celsos horrible challenge threatened to break Cesar Azpilicuetas leg and the failure of the officials to even book him may be the duff call that finally forces a review.
Some felt the issue would have been resolved if on-pitch ref Michael Oliver was told by VAR David Coote to rewatch the incident on the monitor.
Oliver is a far more experienced official and would surely have given a red card if he had seen it again. But for Lampard and anyone with any feeling for the game whatsoever it was plain that Lo Celsos lunge was a red-card offence.
Lampard said: The prime example is when theres a doubt and we think it may be, he might have got it wrong. I agree, go to the monitor then, which theyre not doing.
This one doesnt need the monitor. Its a clear decision, human decision Stockley Park, red card.
Up to a point. A VAR system is only as good as the officials using it.
In this case, Coote was not good enough and the refereeing standard is something PGMOL must address fast. But the inconsistency in the use of VAR, across the world and within the Prem, is turning it into an unforgiving weapon that undermines officials and trust in the games laws.
The VAR row was the days biggest talking point and you expected Spurs boss Jose Mourinho would have welcomed it as a distraction.
Because the second most obvious thing in the match was how much better Chelsea were than Tottenham.
But rather than allow debate to rage on other subjects, Mourinho all but wrote off Tottenhams season after his injury-hit team slipped to a 2-1 defeat.
It felt like he was waving a white flag as he warned of three difficult months to come this season.
The Tottenham head coach said: I would love to be at July 1. I would love to be in pre-season, working with Harry Kane, Sissoko and Sonny. Thats not possible. We have three long months and three competitions.
Its going to be three long months.
I have no complaints about my players. That is for sure.
The only thing I can say is with what we have at the moment, its very difficult to do better, especially when the opponent scores first.
Opponents know if they score a goal before us were in trouble.
That is a startling admission, despite Tottenhams striker crisis.
With Kane and Son Heung-min out long term, Mourinho has no fit senior players to play up front and Steven Bergwijn was horribly isolated.
Spurs had tried to sign France ace Olivier Giroud from Chelsea in January but the former Arsenal forward and World Cup winner opened the scoring against them instead. Mourinho said: Chelsea played a world champion striker.
On the bench was the second striker of England after Harry Kane (Tammy Abraham), in the stands the second striker of the Belgium national team (Michy Batshuayi).
We have zero strikers on the pitch, the bench or the stands. We have two in the hospital. Thats the situation, its an incredible, negative situation.
But that is an incredible message for the manager of a club of Tottenhams stature to broadcast.
Blues chief Lampard also raised eyebrows by claiming before kick-off that perhaps Mourinhos connections at the clubs training ground had tipped him off about his tactics.
When asked how serious he was about that, Lampard said: Serious.
Thats the world we live in, Im not being sinister about it. I think that can happen. Wed been working on a back three for two or three days.
Mourinho said it was obvious Lamps would revert to a back five and bring back Marcos Alonso as it is what he did after previous bad runs.
The former Chelsea boss added with a smile: No one leaked me anything. They are loyal to him.
Bosses at Stockley Park tried to be loyal to Coote. But after a few minutes, they realised they could not defend the indefensible.
Especially as so many ex-players had united in disbelief the moment Lo Celso was let off.
Ex-England striker Dion Dublin asked: What are they seeing at Stockley Park that were not?
Former Scotland striker Andy Gray fumed: If a fully qualified referee sitting in Stockley Park sees that and doesnt think it is a sending off he shouldnt be sitting there.
He saw it seven, eight, ten times. We saw it once and thought, Wow, thats off! That could have snapped Azpilicuetas leg, easily.
Former referees chief Keith Hackett was not impressed with Coote or whoever decided to tell the world of his cock-up.
He tweeted: Come on David Coote VAR. That is a red card every day. Its not a difficult decision.
Now I want to know who is the person at the centre of the PGMOL statement. I suggest that he updates himself on the LOTG (laws of the game).
