KIERAN GILL: Howard Webb is afforded the easiest of rides by wooden Michael Owen on Match Officials Mic’d Up… the former England star is no Jeremy Paxman and avoids the tough questions
- Howard Webb was asked by Michael Owen about Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal
- Webb addressed previous comments and was not pressed on crucial issues
- Listen to the latest episode of the Mail Sport podcast ” Everything starts ! »
For too long the refereeing fraternity has rivaled the Freemasons in their level of secrecy and for that reason this sudden shift towards transparency on the part of Howard Webb deserves applause.
The referee chief broke his silence on Luis Diaz’s debacle on Tuesday night and used audio clips – including Manchester United’s disallowed goal at home to Brentford for an Anthony Martial offside on Saturday – to illustrate the changes in VAR communication that have been implemented. since Liverpool were robbed of that opening match at Tottenham.
Other revelations covered by the Match Officials Mic’d Up program included: why Manchester City’s Mateo Kovacic should have received a red card against Arsenal for a ‘bad tackle’ on Declan Rice; why Tom Lockyer’s disallowed goal for Luton against Tottenham for an Elijah Adebayo push on Cristian Romero was handled correctly; why Malo Gusto’s straight red for Chelsea against Aston Villa was dangerous enough for a dismissal; why the penalty awarded against Wolves at Luton for Joao Gomes’ handball was correct because the deflection was irrelevant.
It’s all quite entertaining, although Stockley Park’s audio feed does most of the heavy lifting in our enjoyment of the 26-minute episode. Back in the studio, however, it’s hard to shake the feeling that Webb is getting the easiest ride from the show’s wooden host, Michael Owen.
Jeremy Paxman, he is not. Owen is never willing to answer questions that a more journalistic mind would ask, such as: “Will you stop sending your referees to Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates in light of the Diaz mistake?” Or: “Will Darren England officiate at Liverpool again? Or: “What did you think of Jurgen Klopp’s comments about a replay?” Or: “Have you put in place a support system for England and Co when these mistakes are made? »
Howard Webb was easily guided by Michael Owen when questioning decisions
Webb’s explanation for Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal for Liverpool builds on previous comments
The PGMOL chief said refusing to stop play after the mistake was the right course of action.
This is believed to be the case, as Paul Russell is the resident head of the psychology and mental health department at PGMOL, although it would be nice if Webb were pushed towards such topics.
The absence of these requests can make the show seem sanitized and scripted, like a well-rehearsed PR exercise, and Webb’s explanation for Diaz’s denied goal relied heavily on one-liners key to their previous statement, as he stated: “We wanted to show everyone what was very quickly, we noticed a fairly significant human error: a loss of concentration. We are all disappointed that the VAR system did not intervene to rectify an obvious error. And no one is more disappointed than the officials themselves.
As juicy as this conversation was the revelation that Simon Hooper, the referee on the day, was blissfully unaware of the error made by VAR until he was on full-time duty. “It’s better if you don’t know,” Webb said. “You want to stay focused. You don’t want to have this in mind when trying to make decisions during the rest of the game. It’s better that he doesn’t know.
Still, we’ll take what we can get for now. At least the communication between the referees and the VARs is still enlightening, even if the chatter between the two friends in the studio is not.
Webb was not asked about Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp’s call for the match to be replayed.
