Referees in the Premier League made six incorrect VAR interventions before the winter break for the World Cup, according to an independent panel.
The panel, made up of three former players and a representative from the Premier League and PGMOL, reports back to clubs on which key match incidents across a weekend have included a mistake – one of which includes Newcastle United’s disallowed goal against Crystal Palace back in early September.
If you had managed to forget about the injustice suffered at the hands of Michael Salisbury, the ‘error’ that drew the referee to the VAR monitor it was as clear and obvious as your vision through the thick fog of the Tyne.
Kieran Trippier’s brilliant delivery from a deep free-kick to the far post was met by Sven Botman who nodded it back across goal, with Joe Willock being shoved in the back by Tyrick Mitchell before the defender turned it into his own goal.
However, somehow after going to the monitor, Salisbury deemed that Willock had fouled Palace goalkeeper Vicente Guaita following the Mitchell push and disallowed the goal – leaving the game to finish nils apiece, and Newcastle two points to the deficit.
PGMOL followed with an apology shortly after for their error, so it is perhaps of little surprise that this instance is among five others listed as mistakes made by officials so far this season.
The six ‘game-changing’ incidents VAR got wrong can be seen below:
