The PGMOL can’t catch a break, can they? No sooner would they have been patting themselves on the back for the latest ‘innovation’ for VAR than their officials were causing yet more controversy.

I use the word innovation very loosely there. Considering the fanfare that Stuart Attwell’s mid-game announcement to the crowd has been met with by some, you’d be forgiven for thinking you might have missed him revealing the meaning of life to everyone inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

One prominent football writer in the UK grandly pronounced it as “one giant leap for English football”. Really? An official deafening everyone by blowing his whistle straight into his microphone before declaring that a possibly offside goal was in fact offside - it’s hardly walking on the moon, is it?

READ MORE: Sean Dyche fired by Everton as club legends take charge of Liverpool's rivals

READ MORE: Liverpool boss Arne Slot criticized for two decisions vs Tottenham as 'craziness' awaits

• 'I heard Trent Alexander-Arnold message loud and clear as next Liverpool step now obvious'

• Liverpool transfer news as $93M Darwin Nunez successor 'targeted' and Nico Williams boost emerges

Yes, announcing overturned decisions to the crowd is a step in the right direction, but it’s not going to revolutionize soccer forever. Let’s face it, most of the people in that crowd would’ve known exactly why Dominic Solanke’s goal had been disallowed without any sort of explanation, given Attwell then had to stick his arm in the air to signify the offside.

It’s nothing more than a token gesture to try and appease the fans who have complained about being left in the dark at games for a long time now. The bigger truth is VAR simply doesn’t work, and we saw exactly why it needs much bigger changes moments later.

The decision to not show Lucas Bergvall a second yellow card for his late challenge on Kostas Tsimikas was a huge mistake from Attwell, compounded just seconds later when the 18-year-old scored the winner. Unfortunately for the referee, there was no VAR to save him from the rage emanating from Arne Slot and Sipke Hulshoff on the Liverpool bench.

With the powers that be deciding that the system can only be used for major incidents, rulings on yellow cards are left solely to the officials on the field. The explanation that is often trotted out is that VAR is only there to cut down on the ‘howlers’ made during games - the problem is, that reasoning just doesn’t wash.

Missing a potential yellow card might seem innocuous at the exact moment the incident happens, but as Bergvall perfectly demonstrated, it can become a massive, game-changing mistake almost instantly. Who knows how much of an impact that goal could have on this semi-final, but there is every possibility that it could deny Liverpool a place at Wembley, and potentially some silverware.

And that is the exact problem with VAR. You can’t eradicate the controversies that come from any decision, however big or small they are, without making judgements on everything that occurs in the game.

That is obviously not feasible for VAR to do, but you can’t escape the fact that a throw-in given the wrong way or a corner wrongly being awarded can completely change the course of a game. In which case, take the power away from the officials, and give it to the teams.

There are already countless examples of sports utilizing review systems that are instigated by the athletes or coaches themselves. If a team in the NFL disagrees with a decision made by the referee, it can be looked at again, but crucially it is down to them to make that call.

Following a similar system in soccer and giving teams three opportunities to review a referee’s decision during a game would surely work better, and might enable them to look over such decisions as the Bergvall incident. Hopefully then we might not be left bemoaning another error that could turn into a huge mistake with massive ramifications.

Such innovation is never likely in soccer though. For now, we’ll just have to make do with referees telling everyone what they’ve already just seen. One small step for man and all that…