Human error, it’s a clear red, says Foy
FORMER Premier League referee
Chris Foy admitted Stockley Park blundered badly yesterday on another day of VAR farce.
Giovani Lo Celso somehow escaped a red card for a shocking stamp on
Cesar Azpilicueta during Chelsea’s 2-1 win against Tottenham, a decision which left Frank Lampard fuming and Mail on Sunday columnist Foy acknowledged a ‘misjudgement’ had been made.
‘It was a clear red, it’s as simple as that,’ said Foy.
Neither referee Michael Oliver nor VAR David Coote had deemed Lo Celso’s horror challenge worthy of punishment, the argument from the VAR being that the Tottenham midfielder had nowhere else to put his foot.
Not only was there criticism of that view from Foy but also dismay that Oliver had not been persuaded to use the pitchside monitor for a second look.
‘I can only assume that David thought Lo Celso had no other place to put his foot,’ said Foy. ‘In that case he would not have advised Michael Oliver to go to the screen because it was not an act of serious foul play. That was a misjudgement by David Coote.
‘The referee can still go to the screen but remember that he hadn’t even given a foul, he’d given a throw-in. So, when
David Coote tells him it’s not serious foul play, Michael wouldn’t have felt compelled to take another look. In hindsight, he should have gone to have a look. Basically it’s human error. It was a clear red.’
Foy was not alone in railing against an error which even compelled that Professional Game Match Officials Limited, the Premier League referees’ body, to agree their team had got wrong.
Another former Premier League referee, Keith Hackett, said witheringly that PGMOL need to have another look at football’s laws. He tweeted: ‘Come on David Coote VAR. That is a red card every day. It’s not a difficult decision.’
Former Spurs striker Garth Crooks reckons that referees are now ‘bottling’ the big decisions.
The BBC pundit said: ‘We’re getting to a stage now where VAR is sucking the life out of the game. The man in charge of the game is Michael Oliver, he needs to go and look at the replay.
‘Referees have abdicated their responsibility. They are bottling it. Refs in this country are losing their nerve.’ Sky TV pundit and former England playmaker Matt Le Tissier said: ‘It’s an absolute joke. He’s stamped on him with no intention of playing the ball.
‘He could quite easily have snapped his shin. That’s why VAR was brought in and that’s absolutely shocking. No excuse, no defence for that whatsoever.’
For Lampard, it was the second time in five days that he felt he had been on the rough end of VAR decisions.
On Monday, he was adamant Harry Maguire should have been dismissed for a kick at Michy Batshuayi during Chelsea’s 2-0 loss to Manchester United.
‘I’m sorry but two VARs in two games — it’s always harder when you lose and people think you’re just shouting about it,’ said the Chelsea boss.
‘But maybe you need to shout because that’s not good enough.’
Lo Celso will not face retrospective action for the challenge despite the admission of the error.
Under PGMOL rules, retrospective disciplinary action is reserved for incidents ‘not captured by the match officials or VAR’.