FOOTBALL fans were treated to a unique behind-the-scenes look at VAR but some were not convinced by Howard Webb in his appearance on Monday Night Football.
The PGMOL chief accompanied Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher and offered further insight into VAR’s decision-making process.
Sky SportsPGMOL chief Howard Webb discussed various VAR incidents on MNF[/caption]
Sky SportsOne was the decision to overturn a handball given against Arsenal’s Jakub Kiwior[/caption]
Sky SportsAnother included the decision to award Ivan Toney a penalty against Bournemouth[/caption]
All three watched a series of clips where VAR has played a vital role in overturning a referee’s on-pitch decision, and discussed the communication between refs and the VAR in Stockley Park.
First they watched an incident during a match between Chelsea and Liverpool where Kai Havertz scored with the use of his hand – the ref gave the goal but VAR was able to rule it out for handball after watching a replay.
Webb, Carragher and Neville also reviewed a recent handball incident in Arsenal’s win at Newcastle earlier this month.
Interestingly the footage showed VAR going through all the steps and highlighted their awareness surrounding possible outcomes – including the ball potentially going out of play from an outswinging corner.
For the incident in question the referee blew for a penalty after judging Jakub Kiwior to have blocked a shot with his arm.
However the VAR was quickly on hand to check if the ball first hit Kiwior’s thigh, which it did, and they informed Chris Kavanagh to overturn his penalty call.
The trio also watched replays from West Ham vs Newcastle, Brentford vs Bournemouth and Leicester vs Arsenal but some fans felt certain incidents were cherry-picked to show VAR in a good light.
Other controversial moments where VAR appeared to have got decisions incorrect were left out, leading fans to claim it was a PR exercise.
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One fan wrote: “I appreciate that Sky have gone through some VAR decisions where we can hear them walk through the decisions, but they’ve definitely played it safe with the clips they’ve shown!”
Another added: “That VAR segment on MNF has just made me hate Howard Webb and prem’ refs even more. 35 minutes of cherry picked PGMOL propaganda showing how ‘competent’ they are. Useless.”
A third said: “This is so so embarrassing. they’re only showing easy decisions they got right. How about you show Mitoma v Spurs, Rashford v city, Arsenal vs Brentford, Crystal Palace v Brighton etc and explain those. This is nothing but VAR/referee propaganda.”
And another commented: “Insightful? You must be joking. The first two examples you showed we all knew the outcome of those at the time before they even went to VAR.
“Who picked them Sky or Howard Webb? Where were any dubious decisions? All staged for PR”