Howard Webb has claimed that VAR made a mistake by not sending an Everton star in the Merseyside Derby earlier this month.
After a spicy 2-2 draw in February-both parties were reduced to 10 men-organizing Liverpool their arch rivals and achieved a 1-0 victory that further brought them out of reach in the title race.
However, the result was overshadowed by two controversial decisions by the officials; The only goal of the game and an early challenge on Liverpool star Alexis Mac Allister.
Although PGMOL chef Webb believes that the first was the right decision, despite a potential offside in the structure, he admitted that the latter was an incorrect call from the officials.
With just 11 minutes played in Anfield, James Tarkowski flew out to intercept Mac Allister, and while he was given the whole ball and cleaned up the danger, his follows, his laar crisis in the leg of the midfielder of the Argentina.
The challenge was accepted with a yellow card and nothing more, with the Var -ruling that the referee's decision was the right one, but Webb saw things differently.
“It is a Red Card -challenging, it is a mistake on the part of the competition officials not to send James Tarkowski,” Webb said on Match Officials Mic'd Up.
'The referee acknowledges on the field that Tarkowski plays the ball and the way he does this is reckless. The VAR then checks that decision on the field of a yellow card – and focuses too much on the fact that Tarkowski plays the ball.
'You hear him talk about where his foot can go – but Tarkowski makes the choice to play the ball that way.
'When do you go on or play the ball close to an opponent, you have to think about the opponent and the way in which you go into that challenge, think about the safety of the opponent.
“He lunges towards Mac Allister in the way he does and you see the contact – it is excessive power and it endangers the safety of the opponent and it should be a red card.”
The program can be heard in the program of the decision -making process, whereby referee points out on the field that the 'Foot of Tarkowski has to go somewhere' in his justification for booking the defender.
The VAR then notes that Tarkowski got 'All the Ball' and that there was 'not a secondary movement' from the foot of the defender to the leg of Mac Allister, with their assistant who supports this thinking process.
Host and former Reds star Michael Owen asked Webb or the context of the game – it is a Merseyside Derby, one of the greatest rivalry in football – perhaps influenced the referee's decision.
“The game asked us to protect the safety of players,” Webb replied. 'That is our most important as a competition officer.
'We will never try to read the thoughts of a player, we will only work on the physical proof that we are presented in the way a player plays.
'We see the defender coming in, freeing the ball, but continuing with real high levels of power. There is contact with a player who stands in front of him, it is not a player who steps for him from a position in which he was previously.
“It wasn't the right outcome. We take learning as a group, regularly analyze these situations to try to reduce the occasions that we fail. '
Although his side fell on the wrong side of this specific decision, Liverpool -Baas Arne Slot remained philosophical about the nature of the game, and the reality that mistakes would never really be deleted.
'I think it is always good that if they think they have made a mistake, they acknowledge it. And we all know that mistakes are made in football matches – by us, by me, players, referees, said Slot.
'Everywhere around the world, mistakes are made, it was in the competition where I also come from (in the Netherlands). We all strive for a competition without errors and I strive for a season without making one mistake with the line -ups that I make.
'But unfortunately this will probably never happen. Not with me and not with decisions about referee.
'Mistakes are made. I follow the Dutch competition in Holland and there is so much criticism of referees in the Netherlands, so I think it's in this world. If there is a possibility to be negative, eight out of 10 people will be negative.
“Mistakes are made, but the most important thing is that it has no influence on the competition table and the only answer is when we see it at the end and we say:” Has it had influence, yes or no? “. Errors are part of our lives and referees. '
After the game, PGMOL contacted Liverpool and acknowledged their fault. Although they have not issued an explanation on the record, it is clear that the PGMOL believes that the nature of the order in the challenge has entered into the threshold for serious error game.
The opinion of the PGMOL is that a VAR assessment, led by Paul Tierney, should have been recommended and eventually destroyed the original decision.
It comes as part of PGMOL's mission to be more open and transparent, who have received Slot and Liverpool warm.
Mac Allister, who was on the receiving side of the Tackle, played by the rest of the game and played the full 90 minutes against Fulham four days later.