Tottenham overcame Rochdale 6-1 to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals but video technology reduced the fifth-round replay at Wembley to a farce.
Spurs had two goals disallowed, were denied one penalty and awarded another all at the hands of the video assistant referee during a chaotic first half.
BT Sport pundit Robbie Savage led the latest round of criticism, branding the system "ridiculous, bizarre and shambolic" while Jermaine Jenas called it "comical at times".
The controversy totally overshadowed the efforts of Rochdale, who cancelled out Son Heung-min's goal - the one that was allowed to stand - through Stephen Humphrys.
Sky Bet League One's bottom club also hit the woodwork with the score at 1-1, but were ultimately undone by Fernando Llorente's second-half hat-trick and strikes from Son and Kyle Walker-Peters.
VAR strikes again 👀
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 28, 2018
Spurs thought they had the lead, but Fernando Llorente was judged to have committed a foul.
Robbie Savage was less than impressed 🤔 pic.twitter.com/IePFp0rjWk
FA Cup quarter-final draw and outright odds
- Swansea v Tottenham
- Manchester United v Brighton
- Leicester v Chelsea
- Wigan v Southampton
Sky Bet's outright odds
- Manchester United - 9/4
- Tottenham - 9/4
- Chelsea - 7/2
- Southampton - 8/1
- Leicester - 9/1
- Brighton - 28/1
- Swansea - 28/1
- Wigan - 40/1
Odds correct at 2215 GMT on 28/02/18.
Post-match reaction
Mauricio Pochettino says the VAR confusion in the first half of Tottenham's win was "embarrassing" and fears it could kill emotion in the game.
He said after the victory: "The first half was a little bit embarrassing for everyone. Difficult to keep focus and play football. I am not sure that the system is going to help.
"Football is about emotion, it's a context of emotion if we are going to kill emotion in football. I think the fans of people who love football are not so happy about what they see today.
"I think in my opinion we have the best referees in Europe, in the world, and I think we don't need too much. Football is about mistakes, like us, the players can make mistakes, the refs can make mistakes. And it was always like this, and we understood football in this way.
"I think, if I can help, if my opinion is important, I think it is a lot of work to do, because we need to talk, to explain, because I saw today every one of us confused.
"I think if we try in this direction we are going to change the game we love, that is why I am happy to help, to analyse and to make it better. If we are going to use this system, we need to be clear what is going to happen in every single action, and how."
When asked about the first half VAR incidents, Tottenham defender Kieran Trippier told BT Sport: "It was crazy. The decisions that were happening took some of the momentum out of the game.
"But the ref had to make a decision, so we had to wait."
Trippier paid tribute to opponents Rochdale, adding: "You've got to give a lot of credit to Rochdale. They made it difficult for us at their place and here in the first half.
"They had one chance and they took it and then they hit the post but every opportunity we had today we hit the target and got six goals, so it's important we move forward into the quarter-final."
Fernando Llorente scored his first hat-trick in six years, and he said: "I feel good. I think we played good in difficult conditions, the snow.
"I'm happy because the team have won and it's important to us.
"I know Swansea very well. I think they have improved a lot in their last games, it's going to be very difficult.
