PGMOL and the Premier League are opening up discussions between the referee and the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) for key incidents this season. In the latest instalment of "Match Officials Mic'd Up" in 2024/25, Howard Webb, chief operating officer at PGMOL, discusses five recent incidents.
Webb and Michael Owen go through the conversations between the match officials to give fans greater knowledge of how decisions are made. The officials on the pitch do not hear all the conversations from the VAR hub in Stockley Park.
The incidents covered are:
- Jota's goal v Everton
- Kovacic's goal v Crystal Palace
- Sarr's disallowed goal v Chelsea
- Tarkowski's tackle v Liverpool
- Davis' red card v Arsenal
Jota's goal v Everton
TV Info - Broadcasters
Incident: Liverpool's Diogo Jota scores after receiving a pass from team-mate Luis Diaz. In the first attacking phase of play (APP) Diaz is stood in an offside position but does not attempt to make a play for the ball as Everton's James Tarkowski clears it away. He then moves into an onside position and sets up Jota for Liverpool's goal.
What the match officials did: The assistant referee does not put his flag up for Diaz as he believes he does not make a challenge for the ball. After review, the VAR says that Diaz does not attempt to play the ball and makes no offence. They then confirm the on-field decision of goal.
Webb: "This all comes down to the point that just being in an offside position, which Luis Diaz is, is not in itself sufficient to be penalised.
"It's all about what you do whilst in that position and you have to do one of the things here [listed in the video], to be penalised for offside interfering with an opponent. We don't see Luis Diaz do any of these things whilst in the offside position, he just stands there.
"Now you can feel a little bit sorry for Tarkowski here because he stretches out to stop the ball going through to Luis Diaz, but that ship sails some time ago, whereby if you're just in that offside position and don't do anything behind a defender you won't be penalised.
"And that's what we see in this situation here. You hear the VAR talking about 'was there a challenge?' There wasn't. He wasn't challenging. He was standing there and that's why they correctly allowed this goal to stand."
Owen: "So he doesn't commit any of those offences. Is he close to committing any? Is he bordering on it? I suppose challenging an opponent for the ball, but he doesn't make any movement towards it, does he?"
Webb: "That would normally be a case where you are in physical contact with an opponent, you come from an offside position to do that and then that will be challenging. That's why you're hearing in this situation, the VAR asking for an angle to see if there is physical contact between the players and if there was, then Luis Diaz would have been penalised. But there isn't.
"He just stands as Tarkowski steps in to touch the ball and that's why he doesn't commit challenging either. So, not an offside offence, but that's just because of the way that the law is written."
See: Rules for offside
Kovacic's goal v Crystal Palace
TV Info - Broadcasters
Incident: Manchester City's Mateo Kovacic scores after receiving a pass from Kevin De Bruyne. In the build-up, Nico O'Reilly is potentially offside, but with the use of semi-automated offside technology (SAOT), the technology sees that he is not offside and the goal is allowed to stand.
What the match officials did: The officials award the goal on the pitch and after review, the VAR and SAOT official use the technology to see that O'Reilly is not offside. The VAR then confirms the on-field decision of goal.
Webb: "They'll now switch to this technology which can offer them, automatically, some information which speeds the process up. It will offer them the kick point, that's the moment the ball is touched or played by the team-mate of the player who may be offside. It also automatically identifies the attacking player that's involved. And also the second rearmost defender.
"That all needs validating by the VAR, it's semi-automated, so the system suggests these piece of information. The VAR then looks and makes sure that it's correct and accurate, and then once they've done that, they can lock that information in.
"That then creates a graphic as well, which we can play out to the stadium so it just speeds up that process of placing those lines. It's not a case of being more accurate, it's just all about efficiency and consistency and we anticipate it will take maybe anything between 30 and 40 seconds on average off a regular offside check, compared to using the previous form of technology that we've had since the VAR came into the Premier League.
"There's approximately 30 cameras that have been installed in every Premier League stadium. They're monitoring and tracking all of the participants in the game. They're tracking the movement of the players and the ball continuously.
"Those cameras have a high frame rate, so therefore those cameras can identify the first point that the ball is touched. That's the moment we make the offside judgement and that gets fed into the system. And on the basis of that, we can then identify the positions of the relevant players, the attacker that's involved and also the second rearmost defender, the one that we're interested in."
See: Everything you need to know about SAOT
Sarr's disallowed goal v Chelsea
TV Info - Broadcasters
Incident: Tottenham Hotspur's Pape Sarr regains possession in midfield from Chelsea's Moises Caicedo before proceeding to run with it and then scoring.
What the match officials did: Referee Craig Pawson does not believe that Sarr has committed a foul and allows play to carry on, the goal is then awarded on-field. The VAR officials then review the incident and believe Sarr has committed a foul, they then send Pawson to the Referee Review Area (RRA), where he checks the APP and sees that Sarr has not won the ball fairly. Pawson restarts the play by cancelling the goal, issuing a yellow card to Sarr and giving a free-kick to Chelsea.
Webb: "You can see on the video that Sarr doesn't play the ball. I think you can understand from the referee's position on the field why he thought he did play the ball. The ball is at the same height as Sarr’s foot and the ball moves forward in the way that it would if Sarr had nudged it forward.
"But the video clearly shows that actually Sarr only makes contact with Caicedo’s knee. But I agree it does take a little bit longer than we would have liked to get to the outcome of disallowing the goal, but we get to the right outcome in the end.
"We didn't want this goal to stand because it was a clear foul. Also, it would have been incorrect to send him off because it's not excessive force, it's a reckless contact, so yellow card. So we used this tool to get to the outcome. It's worth taking a bit of time to do that and that's what we saw in this situation."
Tarkowski’s tackle v Liverpool
TV Info - Broadcasters
Incident: In the 11th minute at Anfield, Tarkowski moved to clear the ball from the edge of the penalty area. In doing so, he caught Liverpool’s Alexis Mac Allister high on the leg with his follow-through after initially playing the ball.
What the match officials did: Referee Sam Barrott awarded a foul and issued a yellow card to Tarkowski. The incident was reviewed by VAR official Paul Tierney for a potential red card, and he concluded that Tarkowski had won the ball first and that the subsequent contact was unavoidable. Tierney and AVAR Adam Nunn confirmed the on-field decision of a yellow card.
Webb: "This is a red-card challenge. It’s an error by the officials not to send Tarkowski off. From the outset with this show, we’ve committed to showing good examples of VAR use and also where we don't use it in the right way, and this was one of those examples.
"The referee recognises on the field that Tarkowski plays the ball and feels that the way he does so is reckless. The VAR then checks that on-field decision of a yellow card and puts too much focus on the fact that Tarkowski plays the ball.
"But Tarkowski makes a choice to play the ball in that way. Players have to consider their opponent’s safety, even when playing the ball. Tarkowski lunges into the challenge using excessive force and endangers Mac Allister’s safety. It should have been a red card."
Davis’ red card v Arsenal
TV Info - Broadcasters
Incident: In the 32nd minute at Portman Road, Ipswich Town’s Leif Davis challenged Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka from behind, catching him on the Achilles.
What the match officials did: Referee Chris Kavanagh showed Davis a straight red card for serious foul play. VAR Darren England reviewed the incident and upheld the on-field decision, concluding that Davis’ challenge endangered the safety of an opponent through full and forceful contact with no realistic chance of playing the ball.
Webb: "Davis catches Saka’s Achilles, causing the foot and ankle to twist. Davis has made a decision to go in that way and the nature of the contact he makes endangers Saka’s safety. [There was] good recognition on the field, and no use of the VAR apart from checking it afterwards to make sure it wasn't a clear error."
Glossary of terms
VAR: Video Assistant Referee; AVAR: Assistant Video Assistant Referee; RO: replay operator; APP: attacking phase of play.
UK users can watch the whole "Match Officials Mic'd Up" video on Sky Sports and TNT Sports. International users can access the full video with their local rights-holder.
Also in this series
