"We're all disappointed" - PGMOL chief Howard Webb speaks out about the disallowed Luis Diaz goal in Liverpool's loss to Tottenham
PGMOL chief Howard Webb has spoken about the disallowed Liverpool goal and admitted that no one is more disappointed with the result than the officials themselves.
Speaking to Michael Owen on Sky Sports' Match Officials: Mic'd Up, Webb stated that it was a lack of concentration that led to the 'human error' while using VAR in the Tottenham vs Liverpool match. He added that it was his job to ensure mistakes like that don't happen in the future. Webb said:
"We took the unusual step of releasing the audio from this situation not long after it happened. We wanted to show everybody what was very quickly apparent to us that it was a significant human error and loss of concentration. We're all disappointed the VAR system didn't step in to rectify the clear error we'd seen on the field with the disallowing of the goal."
He added:
"Nobody is more disappointed than the officials themselves. They take pride in their work, they want to be a positive influence on the game, but in this situation it wasn't the case. Of course without VAR that disallowed goal would still have been a disallowed goal but VAR exists to step in when we make a wrong decision on the field. So of course we're disappointed. Our job then was to try to find out what happened and what we can do to prevent that sort of thing happening again in the future."
Liverpool released a statement against the decision and claimed they were looking at what further steps they could take. Darren England, the official who did not communicate the decision correctly, has been removed from Liverpool matches for the foreseeable future.
Referees and VAR are working to avoid Liverpool-esque mistakes in the future, claims Howard Webb
Howard Webb claimed that the officials are now working on getting their communication right. He stated that the VAR will no longer be using 'check complete' but instead using exact terms to avoid the Liverpool vs Tottenham mistake.
He said:
"One of the things that has been brought into sharp focus is we want the on-field referee to communicate to the VAR what the on-field decision is very clearly and the VAR to go back to the referee and acknowledge they've heard that properly. Not just saying 'check complete' - because what are you 'check completing'? We have put a quite lot of steps in place to ensure the error we saw in that important game doesn't happen again."
VAR was under the limelight again last weekend when they failed to spot two tackles from Mateo Kovacic. The Manchester City man caught Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard from behind during the first half of the 1-0 loss to Arsenal but escaped with just a booking.