Following the disastrous incident involving Liverpool and Tottenham last week, the Premier League and PGMOL have announced fundamental changes to their VAR process. From now on, VAR managers must consult with their VAR assistants before making a judgement.
It follows the erroneous use of VAR to throw out Luis Diaz’s first-half goal against Tottenham Hotspur last week. A misunderstanding between referee Darren England and assistant Dan Cook resulted in a blunder in Liverpool’s match versus Tottenham. The referees ruled that a check was complete, resulting in an erroneous offside ruling against Luis Diaz.
The recent publication of the audio tape revealing the mistake underlying the judgement has sparked uproar. Jurgen Klopp even indicated that a rematch would be the most equitable option. The Premier League has stated that this would not happen.
However, things will be done differently in the future to prevent making the same error. The protocol modification aims to improve communication between on-field officials and the VAR staff. Most people would agree that this is a much-needed intervention.
Following the error, the PGMOL said on Tuesday that it will be examining the process moving forward.PGMOL will now propose a ‘VAR communication mechanism’. As of October 7, PGMOL instructed the VAR referees to validate the conclusion of any check procedure with the assistant VAR referees before alerting on-field officials of the final decision.
Fans, players, and coaches will be hoping that the procedure adjustment has the desired impact. Thus improving communication and avoiding a repetition of last weekend’s unfortunate blunder. However, many individuals will see the adjustment as insufficient. The calls for VAR to be eliminated are becoming increasingly vociferous.
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