Paul Merson loses cool with Mike Dean in heated row live on Sky Sports News
Mike Dean #MikeDean
Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson lost his cool during a heated row with ex-referee Mike Dean over VAR live on TV.
VAR has dominated the news agenda after Luis Diaz incorrectly had a goal ruled out despite being onside during Liverpool’s match against Tottenham last week.
2
The PGMOL admitted their mistake in Diaz’s goal being incorrectly ruled outCredit: Premier League 
2
Merson was left raging with Dean’s take on VARCredit: Sky Sports News
The fallout has led to calls for the match to be replayed and VAR being scrapped altogether.
One suggestion made on Sky Sports News was that ex-players are involved in the decision-making process.
But former Premier League referee Dean, who now works as a pundit for Sky Sports, tore down the idea, leading to an on-screen bust-up with Merson.
Dean said: “If you let players in, half of them don’t even know the rules of the game.
“As you can tell by what you’ve just said about restarting games for the sake of it…”
At this point, a furious Merson jumped and said: “For the sake of it! For the sake of it!
“What do you mean for the sake of it! You’ve got Liverpool against Tottenham, one of the biggest games and you are saying for the sake of it!
“Come on, there is no law. No one is going to die. So stop the game! You’re all scared!
“You are all like ‘oh my god I am going to get in trouble!’
“Stop the game! Stop the game and then take the circumstances. Because you know the rules, that is different.”
At this point, Sky Sports presenter Simon Thomas implored Merson to calm down while the rest of the panel looked visibly stunned.
While the debate continues to rage on over VAR, changes have already been made as match official Darren England has been taken off all Liverpool games this season.
England was in charge of VAR last Saturday when the incident occurred while the PGMOL have released the audio, showing a clear lack of communication as the problem.
The new talkSPORT match centre
Keep up-to-date with all the latest football fixtures, results and standings in our new match centre.