List of All Articles with Tag 'ag'

By Saturday evening, as has become protocol but also a frustrating norm, Howard Webb felt he had no choice but to apologise to Liverpool for the Luis Diaz decision. Jurgen Klopp might well repeat the question as to who that actually helps, but a failure to communicate such a sentiment would have made it worse. That’s partly because it is actually a failure of communication that is at the core of the controversy, which now poses a genuine credibility crisis for the Premier League. "It's an image problem," as one involved figure put it, with Liverpool themselves describing the situation as “unacceptable” in an unprecedented statement. Because, for all the focus on the nature of VAR, this is an issue that really comes down to basic human error. The details at the root of the story, though, are remarkable. If we are to take the referees’ body Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL)’s explanation at face value – that this represented a “momentary lapse in concentration” – the VAR didn’t actually know what it was supposed to be looking at. Darren England and Dan Cook thought they were checking whether a goal should stand, rather than an offside call as referee Simon Hooper ruled, which was partly why the decision was made so quickly. It ended up creating the farcical situation that a communication of “check complete” led to a fair strike being wrongly disallowed in a completely preventable fashion. After that, how was it that play was allowed to proceed, given those involved would have had immediate knowledge that this was wrong? The IFAB rules dictate that play cannot be called back once it has resumed, but was no one watching in the meantime? Would hasty shouts not have been made as soon as they saw Spurs shaping to take the free kick? It has since emerged that the VAR and fourth official team of England, Cook and Michael Oliver were officiating a game in the UAE Pro League as late as Thursday evening, which has raised fair questions within the game over fatigue was a potential explanation for that “momentary lapse in concentration”. Whatever the reason, it has created a credibility crisis, to go with much wider-reaching controversies like the unresolved Financial Fair Play cases involving Manchester City and Everton. That is all the worse for the Premier League since this is an issue the competition prides itself on and is seen as a significant factor in its status as the most popular league in the world. Fans could trust what they were seeing. Instead, this latest controversy also comes on the back of a long-term and increasing hostility and suspicion of VAR from a significant part of football's support. It was for this reason that Webb was recently brought in as PGMOL chief in the first place, and many within the game say he has been gradually realising the scale of the challenge. Hostility to VAR goes hand in hand with a widely perceived “crisis” in the level of refereeing, which is commonly cited as the worst in years. It should be stressed that this is all in circumstances where officials are under far more scrutiny than ever before. There are more cameras to reveal every element of a decision – and whether they should have taken a different one – in a manner that was unimaginable in the supposed golden days right up to the mid-2000s. Even Klopp acknowledged the extreme “pressure” on officials, which undoubtedly plays into errors that they obviously don’t make “on purpose”, as the Liverpool manager put it. Discussions such as this should never go without mentioning how the real crisis with refereeing is at lower levels, and the scale of the abuse they receive. It has undeniably affected the talent pool at the top, and there is a bigger debate to be had over whether it should be a better-remunerated profession to match both the talent they are overseeing and their necessity in getting the game played. The introduction of VAR itself was nevertheless supposed to be a remedy for all of this and – at its core – an “aid” for referees. It has instead had the inadvertent effect of making all discussion much more poisonous and pressurised. That comes from a disconnect between the implied expectation and stated intention of VAR, the actual application and the communication. The very nature of the technology has created an expectation of perfection, even though it was only ever supposed to improve accuracy to around 98 per cent. This has happened, but the fundamental problem is that the remaining 2 per cent tend to be hugely high-profile errors. That is by definition given the threshold for VAR to get involved. There has previously been very little communication on how those decisions were made, which has had the effect of only deepening suspicion among supporters. The vacuum of information inevitably leads to speculation and then to conspiracy theories. While this isn’t to say there is any legitimacy whatsoever in the latter, since the most likely explanation is always basic human error, it does have the real-world effect of further toxifying the atmosphere around refereeing. This in turn puts even more pressure on them, because their integrity is unfairly questioned. It is why the very technology of VAR has deepened this problem. Whereas error could previously have been written off as officials going off their own sight and instinct – even if the reason VAR was introduced was because of criticism of referees in the first place – they now have access to so much more technological aid. Many more fans consequently see the only possible explanation as some kind of corruption. You only have to take a glance on social media. This is why better communication is essential. Webb’s great mission has been to improve that, and he has generally done a better job, but it’s fair to say the response to Saturday made this worse. Liverpool were perplexed at how long it took for a statement to be made about the offside, the PGMOL eventually only commenting in the middle of Klopp’s post-game press conference. It was actually The Independent that made him aware of their statement, to the Liverpool manager's increased bemusement. The explanation that the VAR actually checked for the wrong call then came even later, as it felt like every development deepened the crisis. There are at least a number of logical steps that can be taken to address that. One of those is not to just remove VAR, since this is a non-starter that goes way beyond England and up to Fifa. It is here to stay. That’s also why it’s just vital that cases like this lead to improvement. One first step is to limit this extra work abroad – as England and Cook’s appointment in the UAE was within the rules and actually approved by the FA. Another is to improve the communication so there is absolutely no ambiguity. It is simple to go from “check complete” to “the decision should be a goal”, or equivalent. That also raises the most obvious solution of all. All of the communication between the referee and VAR should be made audible and accessible, so as to eliminate any ambiguity. People might still disagree with decisions, but they would at least be able to understand why they are made. That goes a long way to creating acceptance of VAR. When it was raised whether the audio from this decision would be made public, one response was that Match Officials Mic’d Up is now a monthly show so it will likely feature on that. The reality is that the Premier League could do with it coming out now, because of the number of questions that are being asked. Liverpool themselves called for the review to have “full transparency”. "This is vital for the reliability of future decision making as it applies to all clubs with learnings being used to make improvements to processes in order to ensure this kind of situation cannot occur again,” the club said. It doesn’t help that this comes amid even greater credibility questions for the Premier League, as everyone awaits the outcome of the charges against Manchester City and Everton over alleged Financial Fair Play breaches. Many of the sport’s “stakeholders” are now livid at this. Even for broadcasters, this affects the credibility of the product they put on television. That trust is what the game is founded on. In the meantime, Liverpool are exploring “the range of options available, given the clear need for escalation and resolution”. An apology, evidently, is not enough. Read More Every VAR apology so far: From Liverpool offside to Man City handball Liverpool to ‘explore options’ in response to ‘unacceptable’ VAR error VAR officials who made Liverpool error took charge of UAE match just 48 hours before Every VAR apology so far: From Liverpool offside to Man City handball More VAR disapproval as Nottingham Forest and Brentford both berate decisions Liverpool to ‘explore options’ in response to ‘unacceptable’ VAR error

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Liverpool have vowed to “explore every option available” after VAR failed to overturn Luis Diaz’s wrongly disallowed goal in Saturday’s defeat to Tottenham, in what the club described as an “unacceptable” error. The referees’ body PGMOL admitted VAR officials Darren England and Dan Cook failed to act after Diaz’s 34th-minute strike at Tottenham was wrongly ruled out for offside, with chief Howard Webb later apologising to Liverpool after the match. England and Cook were then stood down from duty from the rest of the weekend’s fixtures, while questions have also been asked after the pair took charge of a league match in the United Arab Emirates in midweek. A statement from Liverpool later read: “It is clear that the correct application of the laws of the game did not occur, resulting in sporting integrity being undermined.” While the “significant human error” was undoubtedly the biggest mistake VAR has made since its introduction to the Premier League in 2019, it was not the first time a club have received an apology from PGMOL after a game. Here’s a run-through of every major incident that has led to an apology in the past two seasons. Tottenham 2-1 Liverpool Luis Diaz’s goal for Liverpool at Tottenham was incorrectly ruled out for offside because the VAR checking the decision mistakenly thought that the on-field decision was onside. The referees’ body, PGMOL, admitted after the match that a “significant human error” was made when checking Diaz’s goal. VAR official Darren England drew the lines to check for offside and followed the process correctly to determine Diaz was onside for the goal. But in reaching their decision, the VAR team failed to realise that on-field referee Simon Hooper and his assistant officials had initially ruled the goal out for offside. Therefore, when the VAR relayed a message of “check complete” to the on-field referee, Hooper and his team disallowed Diaz’s goal and awarded a free-kick to Tottenham. Howard Webb spoke to Liverpool after the match and there was an apology from the referees’ chief. Manchester United 1-0 Wolves Wolves manager Gary O’Neil received an apology from the Premier League after his team were denied a stoppage-time penalty in their 1-0 defeat to Manchester United. Andre Onana clattered into Sasa Kalajdzic deep into time added on, but Simon Hooper did not react and VAR Michael Salisbury deemed there was no foul. Tottenham 2-1 Brighton Brighton received an apology from PGMOL due to the failure to award a spot-kick following Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s foul on Kaoru Mitoma. VAR official Michael Salisbury was dropped from the next round of Premier League fixtures. Brighton also had two goals disallowed in the defeat. Everton 0-1 Man City Referees’ chief Mike Riley personally apologised to Everton manager Frank Lampard for mistakes made in a 1-0 defeat to Manchester City in February 2023. Lampard blasted VAR official Chris Kavanagh for being a “professional who cannot do his job right” after the loss to the Premier League champions. Kavanagh failed to advise referee Paul Tierney over a handball by Rodri which would have given the Toffees a late chance of a penalty equaliser. Arsenal 1-1 Brentford Arsenal received an apology after Ivan Toney’s equaliser was not fully checked by VAR. Lee Mason did not fully investigate an offside call against Christian Norgaard, who provided the assist for Toney’s leveller, with no lines drawn on the screen to determine whether the Denmark international should have been penalised. Mason left PGMOL by “mutual consent” the following week. Crystal Palace 1-1 Brighton VAR John Brooks wrongly ruled out Pervis Estupinan’s opening goal after drawing the offside lines in the wrong place. The referee was then dropped from the next two Premier League fixtures. Brighton 2-1 Liverpool PGMOL accepted Fabinho should have been sent off for a challenge from behind on Brighton’s Evan Ferguson, which was only given as a yellow card despite a VAR review. Aston Villa 3-1 Manchester United A review into Lucas Digne’s free kick in Aston Villa’s win against Manchester United concluded that the defending team’s wall was positioned too far back by referee Anthony Taylor. After the defeat, Erik ten Hag said: “I think the free-kick is stoppable because the wall is too far. Okay, a small detail but details make the difference in top football.” Newcastle 0-0 Crystal Palace The PGMOL accepted Newcastle had an own goal by Crystal Palace’s Tyrick Mitchel wrongly disallowed after Joe Willock was determined to have impeded goalkeeper Vicente Guaita. Chelsea 2-1 West Ham On the same weekend, West Ham were denied a late equaliser at Stamford Bridge when Maxwel Cornet’s goal was ruled out, with Jarrod Bowen said to be impeding Edouard Mendy. PGMOL accepted the VAR had made an error - with Declan Rice saying it was “one of the worst VAR decisions since it came into the game”. Read More The Premier League now faces a credibility ‘crisis’ — and latest VAR farce is just the tip VAR officials who made Liverpool error took charge of UAE match just 48 hours before Liverpool to ‘explore options’ in response to ‘unacceptable’ VAR error More VAR disapproval as Nottingham Forest and Brentford both berate decisions Liverpool to ‘explore options’ in response to ‘unacceptable’ VAR error VAR officials who made Liverpool error took charge of UAE match just 48 hours before

Fantasy Premier League managers will have experienced another weekend of frustration or elation after some surprise results, plenty of red cards and controversial moments - so this week is another opportunity to reset in some cases or make the tweak to your team to bring success next gameweek. Here are five players we think could impress in gameweek 8, with managers needing to decide whether using a transfer or two earlier in the week is a gamble worth taking, or if waiting until midweek European action is finished with will aid the search for starters in their FPL teams. Note: Our FPL tips come out every Monday but this week there are still two matches to play in GW7, with Fulham vs Chelsea on Monday night and Luton vs Burnley on Tuesday. Micky van de Ven - Tottenham, defender (4.5m) Spurs remain unbeaten after their crazy and contentious weekend win over Liverpool and have a favourable run coming up against Luton, Fulham, Palace and an out-of-form Chelsea. While they haven’t been super tight defensively so far, we fancy there are a couple of clean sheets on offer here and new centre-back signing Micky van de Ven is quickly proving a big part of the team. He has the lowest tally of points of their regular back four so far, but he’s also cheapest - and is less of a yellow card hazard than partner Cristian Romero. If you have a spare 0.3m extra you could go for left-back teammate Destiny Udogie for potential assist points, but we like the look of Van de Ven as a low-cost pillar at the back for a few weeks. Darwin Nunez - Liverpool, forward (7.4m) Jurgen Klopp has rotated his attack this season but there’s not much scope for that right now: Diogo Jota will be suspended for the next match, Cody Gakpo is likely to be out for a few weeks injured - possibly until after the international break - and even potential midfield options being pushed forward is unlikely given Curtis Jones will also be missing after a red card. As such, Darwin Nunez should return to the lineup as long as a knee issue doesn’t sideline him; the Uruguayan has been in good scoring form and would have already been in the XI against Spurs if not for a bone around his knee causing pain. Brighton and Everton have both looked leaky - two of the six worst defences in the league right now - and the powerful attacker and add to their woes if he’s restored to centre forward. Moussa Diaby - Aston Villa, midfielder (6.7m) If you’ve been considering the speedy, forward-thinking Aston Villa man early on this term, now is perhaps the time to dive in. He’ll likely be rested for a midweek Europa Conference League clash with Zrinjski, but then it’s Wolves, West Ham, Luton, Forest and Fulham in a very nice looking run for the Villains - three of those matches at home. Diaby, whether central or from the flank, is a real threat with his ball-carrying and desire to get shots away, and only Ollie Watkins has a better goals-plus-assists tally than him in the Villa team in the Premier League. Diaby has already picked up bonus points twice this season too and he’s a big candidate to add to that in the coming gameweeks if Villa keep performing. Bernd Leno - Fulham, goalkeeper (4.7m) Slightly expensive as far as players at non-elite clubs go, but there’s a reason many FPL managers have selected Bernd Leno and his price has risen accordingly. He’s the top-scoring goalkepeer in the game so far, 35 points to his name, and that’s on the back of three clean sheets - but also three occasions where he has picked up bonus points on account of his shot-stopping antics. He’s averaging 4.5 saves per game and has kept the actual goals conceded by Fulham below the expected goals tally in every match except against Man City, which is forgiveable. Fulham face Sheffield United at home next time out, who haven’t scored in their last two, so further points for the German could be on the board. Callum Hudson-Odoi - Nottingham Forest, midfielder (4.9m) For our final choice we’ve decided on a potential differential gamble for the next couple of gameweeks up to the international break. Nottingham Forest have a lot of attacking options for Steve Cooper to choose between but Callum Hudson-Odoi has started two of the last three and has had seven shots or key passes across those two starts, scoring once. Away to Palace and home to Luton, the expectation will be on Forest to be on the front foot whether countering or dominating play in spells and Hudson-Odoi’s speed and ability to get into dangerous final-third areas will be paramount to both. It is a bit of a risk to start him and he hasn’t had a full 90-minute run-out yet, but it could have a big short-term pay-off if injuries and rotations in your squad are starting to hit elsewhere. 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