As several Premier League games produced contentious decisions on Saturday, managers clashed about how the video assistance referee should be used.
VAR forgot to draw offside lines to check Brentford’s goal at Arsenal
Video Assistant Referee Lee Mason failed to mark the lines for Brentford’s equaliser during Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with the Bees at the Emirates, which cost Arsenal the match.
Leandro Trossard’s first goal for the club gave the Gunners confidence that they had achieved a crucial victory, but Ivan Toney’s close-range header ended Arsenal’s chances of winning the match.
However, it has now been shown that Christian Norgaard was ineligible to assist Toney’s header since he was offside.
If the VAR lines had been drawn correctly, the equaliser would have been disallowed, but Mason is accused of forgetting to use all the necessary lines while deciding whether the goal was legitimate.
Former Premier League referee and PGMOL official Chris Foy told MailSport: “VAR was checking for offside and to see if Ethan Pinnock had stopped Gabriel during the buildup.”
“He looked at the prospective foul and found there hadn’t been one, so referee Peter Bankes hadn’t made an apparent error. Christian Norgaard, whose cross Toney heads in, is offside in the sequence leading up to the goal.”
?ļø Chris Foy (PGMOL): The truth is that VAR didnāt fully investigate with the lines. The lines, simply, didnāt go down. And that counts as human error. Had the lines gone down the goal would have been disallowed for offside. pic.twitter.com/SEhok8Gcr5
— Gooner Chris (@ArsenalN7) February 12, 2023
“In actuality, though, VAR only partially looked into the lines. Simply put, the lines didn’t get shorter. That represents a human error. The goal would have been ruled offside if the lines had fallen.”
Mikel Arteta, the manager of Arsenal, was furious at the time and complained in front of the media after the game that the goal shouldn’t have counted.
The Gunners’ boss said, “I just looked back, and it is offside. Has the reason why it wasn’t permitted been stated? No. Although it is annoying, they will presumably explain later this week. We don’t have one today.”
VAR missed Tomas Soucek’s handball in a controversial finish
The decision not to give Chelsea a late penalty during their 1-1 draw at West Ham on Saturday afternoon left everyone connected with the club angry.
Conor Gallagher’s shot in the second half certainly struck West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek’s hand, but Craig Pawson refused to call to the spot amid a loud outcry from Chelsea players who claimed a handball.
A VAR review of the situation was conducted, but the Stockley Park authorities found no evidence to overturn Pawson’s on-field judgement.
The PGMOL, the official organisation for all FA competitions, has argued that because the hand the ball impacted was the “hand that broke the fall,” a Soucek a spot-kick should not have been awarded.
After the game, Potter talked about the choice and jokingly said Soucek had made a good save.
“Sometimes you need your goalkeeper to give you the points. It is one of those things that, if provided, would not have been reversed, but it was not given.” He joked, “It was a good save.”
Tomas Soucek. https://t.co/1jdH2D5SLM pic.twitter.com/WfENv2lQv1
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) February 11, 2023
Brighton’s goal was incorrectly ruled out for offside
In their Premier League match at Crystal Palace, Brighton had a goal mistakenly disallowed for offside due to a human error by the VAR operator.
Pervis Estupinan appeared to have given the Seagulls the lead in the first half.
The Ecuadorian defender received a pass from Pascal Gross when VAR John Brooks intervened and declared him offside.
However, Marc Guehi, a fellow Palace defender standing just behind James Tomkins, should have been in the offside line instead.
Brighton’s left-back would have been onside, and the goal would have stood if the line had been drawn from Guehi.
