The recent controversial match between Liverpool and Tottenham continues to make headlines even now. The match at the North London team’s ground saw Tottenham win 2-1. The result, along with the reputation of officiating in the Premier League, has been tarnished due to two VAR officials making a grave mistake.
One mistake led to a perfectly legal goal by Luis Diaz being ruled offside. This has left the club very angry after the match, and currently, the integrity of the Premier League is being questioned. To save face, the PGMOL has decided to extend an olive branch to the club.
PGMOL to send VAR audio to Liverpool
The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) are responsible for officiating in the Premier League. After the match ended, they sent a formal apology to Liverpool, admitting the mistake was due to ‘human error’, which the club have already responded to. The Merseyside club have now asked the association to investigate the two VAR referees’ involvement in the UAE.
The two officials involved in the error were officiating in the Arab country 48 hours before the aforementioned match. It is suggested they were fatigued from the long journey, though the whole lineup was approved by the PGMOL.
PGMOL will send Liverpool the matchday VAR audio from the mistaken Luis Díaz offside call, and the audio will eventually be made public, per multiple reports pic.twitter.com/9Tv2gSZV4M
— B/R Football (@brfootball) October 3, 2023
Liverpool also asked the PGMOL to provide the audio records of the VAR officials during the wrong offside call. They want to review it and then decide to go for legal action. The PGMOL in the face of mass pressure and scrutiny has agreed to hand them over. It is also reported that it will be made public in a few week’s time.
Referees stood down for another weekend
The two VAR officials that made the error are VAR referee Darren England and his assistant Dan Cook. They were both suspended for their next games, which were the games between Nottingham Forest and Brentford, and Chelsea against Fulham. This is standard procedure for anytime a match official is involved in an error.
However, the two have also been suspended for the games next weekend, as the situation has now escalated. The integrity of the PGMOL and VAR in general is tarnished, due to the fact that there have been many alleged mistakes in the past, including this season alone.
It remains to be seen what else develops from this dire incident in the coming days, as it is clear that the officiating in the Premier League is long overdue for a massive change.
