Premier League will VAR specialists after mistakes this season

Premier League referee chief Howard Webb will assemble a team of VAR specialists to prevent wrong decisions.

The video technology continues to spark controversy with fans confused and frustrated by what they saw as inconsistent handball decisions last weekend.

Earlier this month, Webb had to apologize to Brighton for the third time this season after they were wrongly denied a VAR penalty when Kaoru Mitoma was fouled by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in their defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.

But the former World Cup finals referee plans to raise the bar by appointing a new VAR manager to replace the outgoing Neil Swarbrick in the summer and bringing on additional coaches.

Referee body PGMOL, together with the VAR coaches, aims to ‘increase the tactical awareness of officials before they step over the white line’.

Brighton are protesting a decision with referee Stuart Attwell in their recent defeat at Tottenham Hotspur

PGMOL says mistakes made by VAR technology have decreased since the World Cup break

The planned pool of VAR specialists will only work with the video technology and are not expected to be in charge of matches.

Webb, 51, who was active in the Premier League between 2003 and 2014, left his role as manager of VAR in Major League Soccer to take up the position of head referee for PGMOL in August last year.

According to the latest Premier League figures released by PGMOL, the number of incorrect VAR interventions had fallen by a third since the World Cup.

Before the interval for the tournament in Qatar, there was a wrong intervention once every 24.3 games, but this has improved to one in 37.5.

They also said the number of missed interventions had been reduced from one in 12.2 matches to one in 21.4.

PGMOL also noted that VAR errors for on-pitch offenses have fallen from 18 to 12 since the Premier League resumed after the World Cup.

But that is unlikely to satisfy some fans and clubs after a spate of controversial decisions in the top flight.

Webb apologized to Brighton and acknowledged that Mitoma should have been awarded a penalty when he was brought down by Hojbjerg in their 2–1 defeat at Spurs on 8 April.

Brighton were not awarded a penalty despite a foul by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg on Kaoru Mitoma

Fabinho went unpunished for this poor tackle on Evan Ferguson in the FA Cup fourth round between Brighton and Liverpool in January

Pervis Estupinan saw goal wrongly disallowed for offside at Crystal Palace after VAR drew the lines in the wrong place

VAR Michael Salisbury at Stockley Park assessed the offense but no penalty was given to Roberto De Zerbi’s side.

Brighton received their first apology after referee David Coote and VAR Neil Swarbrick failed to send Fabinho off for a poor tackle on Evan Ferguson during their FA Cup fourth round victory over Liverpool in January.

The second came when Pervis Estupinan saw a goal wrongly disallowed in their 1-1 Premier League draw at Crystal Palace after VAR misplaced the offside lines on replays.

Last weekend, fans were stunned that Manchester United’s Harry Maguire was not penalized for a handball in the penalty area during their 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest.

Steve Cooper, the Forest manager, described it as ‘a really bad mistake’ and questioned why the VAR is not awarding his team a penalty.

Manchester United captain Harry Maguire (right) handled the ball as he attempted to head away a Nottingham Forest corner – but VAR decided his arm was in a natural position

Steve Cooper was adamant that Nottingham Forest should have been awarded a penalty

West Ham’s Mikhail Antonio conceded a penalty when Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli fired a shot to his outstretched arm on Sunday

There was not much protest from the West Ham players after the penalty was awarded

Earlier in the afternoon, West Ham’s Mikhail Antonio conceded a penalty after Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli hit a shot to the arm.

In the same game, Declan Rice was not penalized for a handball leading up to West Ham receiving a penalty for Gabriel’s foul on Lucas Paqueta.

And on Monday night, Leeds were left furious after Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold was not penalized for handball leading up to Cody Gakpo’s opening goal in a 6-1 win.

Declan Rice was ruled not to have been dealt intentionally after Thomas Partey bounced the ball on his arm leading up to a penalty awarded to West Ham

Leeds were left furious after Trent Alexander-Arnold got away with this ‘handball’ ahead of Liverpool’s opening goal of their 6-1 win on Monday night