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Premier League introduces new VAR protocols after Diaz offside mistake

An incorrectly disallowed goal in the Tottenham-Liverpool game sparked an outcry
An incorrectly disallowed goal in the Tottenham-Liverpool game sparked an outcry

New VAR guidelines introduced in the wake of the controversy involving Liverpool will be in use in the Premier League this weekend.

Miscommunication between VAR Darren England and referee Simon Hooper led to a Luis Diaz goal for Liverpool being wrongly disallowed for offside at Tottenham last Saturday.

Audio of the incident was released on Tuesday, with referees' body Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) saying it would develop a new VAR communication protocol in an effort to avoid similar mistakes being made in future.

It is understood that protocol will now be in force right away.

PGMOL said the protocol would "enhance the clarity of communication between the referee and the VAR team in relation to on-field decisions".

VARs will now also confirm the outcome of the checking process with the assistant VAR before confirming the final decision to the on-field officials.

England mistakenly thought the on-field officials had ruled Diaz to be onside, which meant that when he told them 'check complete’ they believed he had upheld their on-field decision and restarted play with a free-kick.

Once play had restarted, there was nothing the VARs could do to revisit the decision under existing protocols.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp called for the match to be replayed on Wednesday, something the Premier League is understood not to be prepared to consider.

The league did release a statement on Tuesday, though, saying the Diaz incident had highlighted "systemic weaknesses" in the VAR process and said a wider review would take place "to seek consistently higher standards of VAR performance".

PGMOL and the Football Association will also review the policy allowing English officials to cover domestic league matches overseas.

England and his assistant Daniel Cook had been part of a team of officials who had taken charge of a match in the United Arab Emirates on 28 September, arriving back in the UK the following morning, the day before the game in London.

"It's a significant error but it’s a human being that’s made that error. I don’t think that there’s anything that needs to go too far reaching" - Ange Postecoglou

Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou has acknowledged Liverpool were denied a "legitimate goal" in last weekend's 2-1 win for his side.

Ahead of Saturday’s trip to Luton, Postecoglou said: "The facts of it are that it was a legitimate goal Liverpool scored that wasn’t given.

"You kind of look at why it’s not given because that’s the first thing you question: obviously something has broken down.

"It became clear it wasn’t an integrity issue, it wasn’t a misappropriation of the law, it was an error in communication, a mistake, a mistake which cost Liverpool.

"I get that it’s an unusual one in that it’s never happened before, but at the same time we’re in a new space anyway with technology where I think they’ll be a lot of firsts with the way we deal with these things."

The fallout from the incident has seen referee England reportedly told he will not officiate another Liverpool match this season, but Postecoglou railed against critics of the official.

"I don’t know if that’s been decided," the Spurs boss added. "I’d be surprised if they have gone that way. It’s a significant error but it’s a human being that’s made that error. I don’t think that there’s anything that needs to go too far reaching

"From my perspective, when I listened to that audio, saying 'check complete’, someone obviously thought it was a good way of finalising things and it’s worked up until now.

"I would have thought the logical thing is to say ‘goal for Liverpool’ but I’m saying that with the ignorance of not knowing how it’s truly set up.

"When listening to that you probably think there’s better ways of communicating a clear decision in such a big situation.

"I hope that’s what they’re addressing, not the individual that made the mistake. I think that’s a dereliction of the game.

"That’s like me hanging out a player to dry just because he made a mistake. My role is to go in and help that player to improve not say ‘now you’re never playing again’."

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