EXCLUSIVE: VAR Darren England is slammed for his ‘critical concentration lapse’ by refereeing bosses, who say he ‘inexplicably prioritised efficiency over accuracy’ in damning full review of Liverpool’s farcical disallowed goal
- Luis Diaz’s first-half goal was wrongly disallowed for offside against Spurs
- The audio recording of the VAR accident was released later Tuesday evening
- click here to listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport’s ‘It’s All Kicking Off’
PGMOL’s assessment of Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal is damning in VAR Darren England’s assessment, which claims he rushed a routine situation by prioritizing ‘efficiency’ over ‘accuracy’ before ‘inexplicably’ depriving Liverpool of their opening match against Tottenham.
England are taking the brunt of the blame in the ‘VAR incident review’ document – while his assistant Dan Cook is also being criticized for their lack of basic communication – which was sent to the Premier League by the PGMOL but not released to the public .
Despite fans furiously suggesting there was ‘corruption’, the recording dispelled that idea and instead proved that it was, as the PGMOL has admitted, ‘significant human error’.
They say in the Mail Sport review that the error stemmed from ‘a critical lapse of concentration and a distinct lack of focus… by an individual match official who inexplicably saw him ‘check to complete’ an incorrect decision on the pitch.’
The report details five ‘key lessons’ from England and Cook’s performance at Stockley Park in the 2-1 defeat to Liverpool, stating:
Luis Diaz had an opening first-half match against Tottenham wrongly disallowed for offside on Saturday
Darren England is taking the brunt of the blame in the PGMOL review of the incident
Lines drawn by the VAR operators showed Luis Diaz being played onside by a Tottenham defender
1) The situation arose from the video officials not following proper guidelines, which state that there is an “emphasis on the need for efficiency, but never at the expense of accuracy.” The review said: ‘There was no need for VAR to rush this routine sequence.’
2) Referees are told to ‘express very clearly on every occasion what the decision is on the pitch’. For example, Simon Hooper, the referee, should have made it clear that ‘the decision on the pitch is a goal disallowed for offside’ to England and Cook.
3) VARs are reminded at the start of controls to repeat the original decision on the pitch.
4) VARs will be told to talk better to their assistants because, if England had communicated with Cook, it ‘would have exposed the flaws in the direction he was about to take, and therefore the AVAR would have had the opportunity commanded to intervene’.
5) VARs will check the final decision with their assistants before confirming the outcome to the referee, saying ‘confirms goal disallowed for offside, check completed’ rather than simply ‘check completed’.
The review was sent to the Premier League and distributed to Liverpool and the other 19 clubs before the PGMOL published the audio of the conversation between Hooper, England and Cook. That recording showed the video officials stiffening under pressure and panicking when they realized Diaz’s goal should have stood, giving Liverpool a 1-0 lead.
After England told Hooper ‘check complete’, Tottenham restarted the game with their free-kick. Once this happened, the Laws of the Game state that VAR cannot intervene to correct the decision and award Liverpool their opener, hence England could be heard saying ‘I can’t do anything, I can’t do anything, f** * ‘ on the sound.
Audio was released for the VAR check, confirming that the decision was in fact onside, rather than the offside decision being announced during the match
Due to an apparent communication breakdown, VAR was unaware that the on-field call was offside
When they realized they wouldn’t be able to stop the match and get back to the right call, England could be heard saying: ‘Oh f***’