
How did the VAR system fare after a week under the spotlight?
The VAR system was under the spotlight in the Premier League this weekend following the error in last week’s match between Tottenham and Liverpool. New VAR guidelines were introduced in time for the latest round of fixtures after Liverpool forward Luis Diaz’s goal was wrongly disallowed for offside at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Here, the PA news agency looks at how VAR operated at each of this weekend’s top-flight fixtures. Arsenal 1 Manchester City 0 Until Gabriel Martinelli’s late winner, referee Michael Oliver’s decision not to send off City’s Mateo Kovacic in the first half was set to be the biggest talking point at the Emirates Stadium. The VAR, John Brooks, reviewed the City midfielder’s poor challenge on Martin Odegaard, but did not advise Oliver to go to the pitchside monitor and review whether to upgrade his booking to a red card. Kovacic stayed on the pitch and avoided another yellow card shortly afterwards. Brighton 2 Liverpool 2 Brighton’s draw at the Amex Stadium saw the VAR, Craig Pawson, called on to verify a penalty awarded by on-field referee Anthony Taylor at the end of the first half when Pascal Gross hauled down Dominik Szoboszlai by his collar. The video referee upheld the decision, but despite Gross appearing to be the last man, there was no red card shown to the Brighton midfielder. Burnley 1 Chelsea 4 The VAR, Darren Bond, was called on twice in the second half at Turf Moor, first to check whether Vitinho’s foul on Raheem Sterling was inside the box once referee Stuart Atwell had awarded a penalty, and then to check if Sterling was onside in the build-up to scoring Chelsea’s third. Both of the on-field decisions were confirmed without controversy, although Chelsea fans made their feelings known about both delays. Crystal Palace 0 Nottingham Forest 0 It was a quiet afternoon for VAR Michael Salisbury and his assistant Sian Massey-Ellis in this stalemate at Selhurst Park. In a game of few chances in Palace boss Roy Hodgson’s 400th game as a Premier League manager, no VAR checks or interventions were needed. Everton 3 Bournemouth 0 There was a slightly longer check for Everton’s third goal, scored by Abdoulaye Doucoure on the hour-mark, but nothing too delaying or taxing. Five minutes later, there was a baffling check by VAR Simon Hooper, match referee for Liverpool’s defeat at Tottenham last week, for a Bournemouth handball in their own penalty area. But by the time the stadium announcer had revealed the VAR check was taking place, the decision had already been made that no offence had been committed. Fulham 3 Sheffield United 1 It was a routine VAR performance at Craven Cottage. Paul Tierney reviewed a potential offside in the build-up to Fulham defender Antonee Robinson’s second-half own-goal, but deemed a team-mate to have been behind Blades left-back Yasser Larouci when the cross was made. Video footage supported the decision and referee Sam Barrott was able to award the goal. Luton 0 Tottenham 1 The VAR was only called on once, in the 39th minute, at Kenilworth Road when Tom Lockyer headed in from close range for Luton before his effort was immediately ruled out. Referee John Brooks gave a foul for Elijah Adebayo’s push on Tottenham defender Cristian Romero and video replays via VAR showed his decision to have been correct with the review taking minimal time. Manchester United 2 Brentford 1 With United trailing 1-0 in the 89th minute, Anthony Martial flicked on a cross and Kristoffer Ajer inadvertently directed the ball into his own net. Assistant referee Harry Lennard immediately raised his flag and the VAR, Peter Bankes, confirmed Martial had been offside in the build-up, ruling out the equaliser. In the end it mattered little for United as substitute Scott McTominay’s stoppage-time brace sealed a turnaround. Wolves 1 Aston Villa 1 The VAR, David Coote, checked a violent conduct claim against Douglas Luiz when he clashed with Wolves forward Hwang Hee-chan, but the check was completed within a minute with video replays exonerating the Villa midfielder. There were no further VAR incidents at Molineux. West Ham 2 Newcastle 2 Alexander Isak’s first goal for Newcastle was checked by VAR, Andy Madley. The striker looked offside when he stabbed home a loose ball, but video replays showed the ball had come off the head of West Ham’s Edson Alvarez and the goal correctly stood. Read More Gabriel Martinelli snatches last-gasp victory for Arsenal against Man City Jacksonville Jaguars clinch back-to-back London wins by beating Buffalo Bills Louis Rees-Zammit focused on Wales glory over bid to be World Cup top try-scorer Aberdeen held to goalless draw by bottom side St Johnstone at wet Pittodrie Gregor Townsend eager for Scotland’s old heads to prolong international careers Kieran Hardy gets World Cup call as Wales look to boost scrum-half options
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Brighton’s new midfield gem Carlos Baleba stays calm in the chaos of Liverpool draw
Carlos Baleba finished his first Premier League start in tatters. The 19-year-old had given everything to Brighton’s cause, and in the final minutes, he could be seen bent double, gasping for breath, telling his goalkeeper to keep hold of the ball for a few seconds longer, like a man begging for mercy. By this point, he looked a little disheveled, with his socks fallen down and shorts rolled up. His final act was to chop down Liverpool’s galloping Ryan Gravenberch, for which he was rightly booked. And when the whistle blew on this wild 2-2 draw, he dropped to the grass in relief and stretched out the cramp coursing through his legs. Baleba hobbled over to shake the hands of various Liverpool players, most of whom wouldn’t have known anything about this Cameroonian teenager before their team meeting on Friday. But after a performance full of energy, guile, skill, outrageous confidence and physical dominance in midfield – one that sapped his body dry – they do now. Ask people inside Brighton who will be the next diamond in the rough, the player who will be sold for five times their asking price after doing wondrous things on this Amex Stadium pitch, then you might be pointed to Kaoru Mitoma or Evan Ferguson, Mahmoud Dahoud or Joao Pedro. But those really in the know will point to Baleba. That includes the manager, Roberto De Zerbi, who said without hesitation on Baleba’s signing this summer: “He will be the future of the club.” If that sounded like hyperbole, there was enough evidence in this 100-minute sample to suggest the Italian is right, as he has tended to be about most things in his short Brighton career. After a Carabao Cup start and a couple of league appearances off the bench, De Zerbi showed enormous faith in Baleba with this full Premier League debut against Liverpool, and that faith was repaid in spades. This was Baleba’s kind of match, stretched and full of holes, with little fires popping up all over the pitch that needed putting out. As the defensive shield, he rushed to cover off counter-attacks and snuff out threatening direct balls. He stood in front of his back four checking over his shoulder for Mohamed Salah’s movement, and then cut out the through ball when it came. When Lewis Dunk pressed so high up the pitch that he left a void in Brighton’s defence, Baleba instinctively slotted back and filled the space. In possession, he was calm and composed and occasionally he injected little jolts of energy, like early in the first half, in his own half, where he threw in a stepover before charging away from Liverpool’s midfield and setting Brighton’s attacking players away as the crowd urged him on. Or a few minutes after Brighton had scored their first goal, when he dribbled through the centre of the pitch from the halfway line, jinked away from a defender on the edge of Liverpool’s box and hit his shot just wide. Baleba was a source of calm in what was a wild game. The first half could have been the subject of an art installation simply titled: ‘Get rid’. All three goals were the result of kamikaze passing at the back that went disastrously wrong, enough to boil the blood of proper football men everywhere. First, it was Virgil van Dijk plodding a pass to Alexis Mac Allister, which Brighton’s Simon Adingra (like Baleba, the 21-year-old winger was exceptional) stole and quickly swept past an out-of-position Alisson Becker for Brighton’s opener. Liverpool hit back with two goals of their own, first when Dunk misplaced a pass and Salah finished off a flowing counterattack, and then just before the break when Pascal Gross lost the ball in his own box and hauled down Dominik Szoboszlai, and Salah scored from the penalty spot. Brighton went into the break 2-1 up, so it was a compliment to the Baleba-Gross partnership when Jurgen Klopp brought on Ryan Gravenberch at half-time to stabilise Liverpool’s overrun midfield. It worked, and for a period Liverpool took control, but they failed to score a third and Brighton went hunting for an equaliser, which came late through Dunk’s close-range volley. Baleba never stopped, and his defensive nous regularly kept counter-attacks at bay. “I have to congratulate the club on finding two more amazing players, in Adingra and Baleba,” De Zerbi said after the game. “Baleba is very young and I think this club needs the characteristics of Baleba. He is a great replacement for Caicedo. But we can’t forget Ansu Fati, Mahmoud Dahoud, Joao Pedro.” In other words, there is plenty more where that came from. Why give Baleba his first start now? “I gave him the right steps. He played a part of the game with Bournemouth, played 70 minutes in Stamford Bridge [in the League Cup] in a big stadium. I gave him time to understand the new style of play, the timing of when to receive the ball, the right line of passing: our idea. It is not so easy [to learn] because our style, in the defensive phase we can change depending on the opponent, our build-up play can change. “He’s very young, a very good player with incredible potential, and he can be one of the most important midfielders in Europe in the future.” De Zerbi believes. And after this performance, we’re all Balebas now. 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