Liverpool's Premier League clash with Leicester City this evening will have a lot of bearing both near the top of the table as Liverpool aim for a top four place, while Leicester are bidding to climb out of the relegation zone.
Ahead of the game, the head of the PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited), Howard Webb, was a guest on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football, to analyse various VAR calls and discussions from earlier in the season.
Along with Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville, Webb went through a number of situations, with fans hearing VAR discussions for the first time.
Most of the clips were positive examples, where VAR were provided with clearer angles than the referee and were able to correctly overturn decisions such as a Kai Havertz goal against Liverpool, a Joelinton overturned offside against West Ham, and Leonardo Trossard's disallowed goal against Leicester.
It also gave viewers a deeper understanding of why calls can take such a long time, why linesmen often keep their flags down until the last moment, and also how VAR draws their offside lines.
A Fascinating Insight Into VAR
REVEALED! The audio of officials and VARs when a decision to award Newcastle a penalty against Arsenal was overturned 👀 pic.twitter.com/1r2G41NxhY
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 15, 2023
🗣️ @GNev2: "Interesting that they say sorry! It's so tight. Do they normally do that?!"
How officials & VARs made the decision to award Joelinton a goal, after initially ruling it out for offside. pic.twitter.com/FJTZdWnVjW— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 15, 2023
A fascinating never-heard before conversation between officials regarding Kai Havertz's disallowed goal for Chelsea 👇 pic.twitter.com/fKZw0MWjDR
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 15, 2023
"It was clear and obvious when we saw it from that angle" 🎥
Howard Webb breaks down the use of VAR in Leandro Trossard's disallowed strike against Leicester City 🔎 pic.twitter.com/5B3xsrNy07— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 15, 2023
"The sequence VAR looked at didn't start early enough"
Howard Webb explains that Ivan Toney's penalty for Brentford should have been overturned for a foul by the forward in the build-up 📺 pic.twitter.com/ANs9NSpFo2— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 15, 2023
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Webb also discussed an incident where VAR did not perform its duties well enough.
During a January fixture between Brentford and Bournemouth, Ivan Toney was awarded a penalty. However, Webb admitted that VAR did not go back far enough in their check, and thus missed out on a clear foul from Toney in the build up.
Since being introduced in 2019, VAR has been largely unpopular given its propensity to mess up decision, despite clear angles and sufficient time to review refereeing calls.
The decision from Webb to introduce to allow audiences to listen to VAR audio looks like a positive step forward, but it remains to be seen whether real improvement will come from it or whether it is just a crowd pleasing decision.
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