Howard Webb, chairman of the Premier League Referees Committee, says he has taken steps to ensure the VAR mistake that led to the cancellation of a legitimate Liverpool goal against Tottenham is not repeated.
Earlier this month, the Association of Referees in Professional Football Competitions in England said a lapse accompanied by a loss of concentration by VAR referees had led to Liverpool's legitimate goal against Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League being ruled out after a VAR audio clip was revealed in the match.
Liverpool were supposed to take the lead in the first half through Luis Diaz, who fired a low shot into the bottom corner of the goal before the assistant referee raised the flag for offside.
Diaz was virtually not offside but confusion in the VAR room over the original decision led to the resumption of the game with a Tottenham free-kick rather than a goal for Liverpool.
🗣️ "They resumed the game, I can't do anything..."
Part of the conversation that took place between the match referee and the video technology
The Premier League Referees Committee reveals an audio recording of the incorrect offside call that was awarded to Luiz Diaz by the referee of the Tottenham vs Liverpool match #Premier League #توتنهام_ليفربول https://t.co/wDADIAXVfl
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) October 3, 2023
The Association of Professional Referees in England said in a statement: "After the referees ruled out the goal for offside, the screening phase and procedures have begun, which was carried out correctly by VAR has begun. The image of the game simulation showed that Luis Díaz was clearly not offside, without the need to insert a second line into the picture."
"Due to a loss of concentration at that moment, VAR had the correct vision of the decision made on the pitch and incorrectly sent the words 'Right Complete' and thus inadvertently confirmed the decision made on the pitch. He did it without any dialogue with the assistant in the video referee room."
After the match resumed, VAR and AVAR concluded that the VAR protocol of sports laws prohibited the suspension of the match.
What do our analysts think of Diaz's cancelled goal that sparked controversy in the Premier League?#الدوري_الإنجليزي #توتنهام_ليفربول pic.twitter.com/ujsEnQWhiQ
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) September 30, 2023
The referees association later admitted that canceling Diaz's goal was a wrong decision, blaming human error as "the goal should have been awarded through VAR intervention".
The league added that it would introduce a new protocol to ensure clear communication between the referee and the VAR staff regarding decisions on the pitch.
"After we saw what happened in the Tottenham game against Liverpool we analysed the situation and looked at what we could do better to put some safeguards in place," Webb told match officials.
"We worked hard over the following days to look at what we need to do to put those safeguards in place around communications to avoid these things happening again."
When asked why the referee was unable to stop the game after play resumed, Webb said that by the time VAR and his co-op realized the mistake, it was too late to intervene.
"They have realised that the laws of the game established by FIFA and the International Football Council do not allow this," Webb added.
The football law allows the referee to return to his decision as long as he does not resume play yet, but in the event of the resumption of play, it does not return to a previous decision, but writes what happened in the match report only so that the organizer of the match takes what it deems appropriate.