Paul Parker: Shambolic VAR has brought chaos to football

VAR has already missed too much at this World Cup to be declared a success.

In an unhelpful addition to the sport, players are making the TV sign to referees, and getting away with it when it should be clamped down on by the officials with bookings, but nothing is being done.

It has also increased play-acting at the tournament, not stopped it.

There are a lot more fouls passing by at these finals without any yellow cards. In the Premier League, there would have been bookings galore doled out without any thought.

It seems like the referees have been told to go easy on handing out yellow cards because they are concerned about too many players getting suspended for the key games.

They are worried about hitting quality at the tournament with suspensions, but that allows bad players, like the Panama team, to get away with murder as they tried unsuccessfully to show by roughing up England on Sunday.

I don’t know how the Paraguayan referee gave a penalty for handball when the Portuguese defender Cédric Soares legally challenged Sardar Azmoun of Iran in the air on Monday night. It is disgraceful when someone is penalised for merely going to head the ball.

When I read people say: 'well, his hand shouldn’t be there when he’s jumping..'. Someone tell me where his hand should be when he jumps? Anyone who plays football will tell you the same.

It is not going to be tucked into his pockets when he is jumping because if it is, you are going to be sacked as a player.

It is terrible when someone is making an honest attempt at a header to see that penalised by using a video replay. He went with his head to win the ball, and the ball has come off his hand on the way down.

That was disgraceful how that penalty was given.

You look at the situation with Cristiano Ronaldo in the second half. That was a clear-cut sending off.

One for the missed punch attempt on Iran's Morteza Pouraliganji and then there was the elbow. Why was that ignored? If the referee has seen the incident using VAR then Ronaldo gets a straight red for the missed punch attempt. It was never a yellow card.

In the Premier League or La Liga, he would be off. But they used VAR, and made the wrong call. Are they being told to avoid sending off the superstar players? You have to wonder what is going on within FIFA.

People should be sent off after the game if you have seen the incident.

When you look at Ronaldo going down to win a penalty last night. Even that wasn’t proven to be conclusive with VAR.

The ball seemed to be away from him. TV replays didn’t prove it was a penalty yet the referee bought it using VAR after initially ignoring it.

I agree with Alan Shearer's assessment. He is bang on: VAR has failed as a trial at this World Cup for use at a major tournament.

I don’t think it is going to be rolled out in leagues after this World Cup because it is too flawed. And it can’t happen everywhere because it is too expensive.

The whole thing is wrong. Leave the man in the middle to make the decisions, and get him to be given more help from the officials at the side.

Give them a voice. At the moment, they’ve got half a dozen people looking at a few screens. That could be construed as too many cooks spoil the broth when one bloke should be making the call via video.

There are too many ifs and buts surrounding VAR that is not helping the game, but merely adds to confusion. It is a shambles at the moment.

In my opinion, I’d like the referees, his assistants and the fourth official to have more of an input to help the referee in the middle rather than just be there to stick up a flag now and again.

They are meant to be a team, the four of them should all be working together as a team like the football sides at the World Cup.

Between the four of them with microphones, everyone knows they are talking together in ear pieces, but the referee shouldn’t be the kingpin. He should be part of a team with everybody having an equal input from their own vantage points.

They are on the same team, and they all win together and lose together.

So far, VAR has been firmly on the losing side at these finals.