Football fans are calling for VAR to be scrapped after a weekend of debacles in the Premier League. 

Brighton, Crystal Palace, Norwich, Wolves and Sheffield United all had goals ruled out for offsides which needed the most meticulous of measurements and several replays. 

In the cases of the latter three, all those 'non-goals' arguably robbed them of a potential result against a top-six side. 

Quite apart from the fact that VAR has done anything but remove the controversy surrounding such decisions, it is indisputably damaging the spectacle of the game. 

That is being felt both by match-going fans and those watching from home. Those in the stadia, in particular, do not even get the benefit of replays or commentary explaining why a goal has been given or otherwise.  

For all that, VAR does have its benefits - case in point, see Sadio Mane's opener against Wolves.

The Senegal international's strike was initially chalked off because of an alleged Adam Lallana handball, before it was rightly reinstated. 

So should the technology be scrapped altogether? 

Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg has given his perspective in the Daily Mail and has argued VAR does have its uses - but that the precise nature of offsides means it is killing the " excitement and spirit of the game". 

"I believe it could be time to remove offside decisions from the VAR process," Clattenburg writes. 

"So why not go back to assistant referees flagging for offside and we stick to their decision?

"I do not believe in changing the laws of offside. So either we accept that offside is a matter of fact — which it is — and learn to live with the small margins, or we make it the call of the officials on the pitch and accept that mistakes will happen.

"The latter would remove the debate over the 'armpit' offside and also allow players and fans to celebrate goals more freely without the fear of a marginal offside ruling it out.

"What we cannot have is a 'margin for error' with offside - how far would you go?"

The ex-official has a point here. There's little point reviewing offsides if many fans feel 'slight offsides' should be permitted. An attacker is either offside or they're not.

VAR just highlights that to a degree we've never seen before. 

Clattenburg insists the Mane goal was "a good example of VAR". Wolves might feel differently. 

Aside from the Lallana incident, which was correctly reviewed, replays showed Virgil van Dijk also handled the ball in the build-up to the goal. 

VAR looked at the footage but deemed it inconclusive. 

There has always been a feeling that once VAR was introduced, there would be no going back. In its current state, it needs to be refined at the very least.