VAR right not to give Liverpool a penalty against City
REFEREES’ chief Howard Webb has said the video assistant referee was right not to interfere as Liverpool were not given a late penalty in their recent 1-1 draw with Manchester City.
City winger Jeremy Doku caught Alexis Mac Allister with a high boot in the area in the final seconds of the match.
But on-field referee Michael Oliver did not award the Reds a spot-kick, and VAR Stuart Attwell agreed.
“It’s split a lot of opinion, hasn't it?" said Webb.
“It’s one of those, for sure — if the referee gives it on the field, it would have been a ‘check complete’ by the VAR.
“Equally, having not given it, it's also ‘check complete’. You hear Michael Oliver say the ball's in between two players going together.
“The ball is too low to head. Doku lifts his foot to play the ball, and he does make contact on the ball.
“And yes, we know there's some contact on Mac Allister as well. Mac Allister comes into him. Mac Allister is not really playing the ball either. So, I understand why it's split opinion.”
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and Mac Allister both felt the challenge should have resulted in a penalty for their side.
“The VAR stays out of it. I think that is what we would we would expect,” added Webb on Match Officials Mic'd Up, a Premier League Productions programme which analyses VAR decisions from previous games.
“The VAR looks at it and doesn't see a clear-and-obvious situation. You see something that's pretty subjective and therefore stays out of it, and the feedback we've had from people within the game is that this is a pretty subjective situation. It’s split opinion.
“So on that basis, the VAR, working to that high threshold kind of followed the right course in not getting involved.”
Webb previously said that Liverpool should have had a penalty in December's 1-1 draw against Arsenal, while the Reds were also on the wrong side of a decision when VAR wrongly ruled out a Luis Diaz goal in a 2-1 defeat by Tottenham - an error acknowledged by referees’ governing body PGMOL.
On the show Webb was also asked about the time VAR decisions are taking and said the average length of check is 38 seconds “normally completed before the game even restarts after a goal is scored or penalty is awarded”.
He added that delays due to the VAR when the game has to stop “comes out just over a minute on average per game”.
Webb added: “We’re always working to be as efficient as we can be. We go through training sessions where we're working on accuracy first and foremost, but also speed, embedding some good processes."