PGMOL has confirmed that the two VAR officials at the center of the Tottenham-Liverpool controversy have been replaced for the upcoming matches.
On Saturday, Luis Diaz appeared to have given his side the lead against Spurs before his first-half goal was controversially ruled out for offside following a VAR review.
It later emerged that the decision was the result of a miscommunication between the field officials and those of the VAR.
Darren England was the man in charge of VAR duties for the match, with Dan Cook acting as assistant VAR.
It has also been revealed that England and Cook were in the United Arab Emirates two days before their colossal mistake.
PGMOL has confirmed that VAR official Darren England (left) and VAR assistant Dan Cook (right) will step down from their roles for the upcoming matches
It comes after VAR ruled out a Liverpool goal against Tottenham despite replays showing Luis Diaz was played onside by Cristian Romero
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England and Cook officiated Thursday’s UAE Pro League match between Sharjah and Al Ain, which started at 8pm local time. They completed their 16-hour tour by flying back to London on Friday, ahead of Tottenham against Liverpool on Saturday.
That has raised eyebrows among Premier League insiders, who feel this was hardly the best preparation for the biggest game of the weekend as they worry about workload and fatigue.
In a statement on Sunday, the PGMOL said: ‘Darren England and Dan Cook have been replaced for the Nottingham forest v Brentford And Fulham v Chelsea matches.
‘Craig Pawson will now take over England duties as 4th official at the City Ground, while Eddie Smart will take over from Cook as assistant referee at Craven Cottage.’
Almost immediately after the match, PGMOL admitted that Diaz’s strike had been wrongly disallowed for offside and apologized to Liverpool.
“PGMOL acknowledges that significant human error occurred during Tottenham Hotspur’s first half against Liverpool,” the statement began.
‘The goal, but Luis Diaz was disallowed for offside by the team of match officials on the pitch. This was a clear factual error and should have resulted in the goal being awarded via VAR intervention, but VAR did not intervene.
“PGMOL will conduct a full investigation into the circumstances leading to the error.
‘PGMOL will immediately contact Liverpool at the end of the match to acknowledge the error.’
The incident drew criticism from fans, analysts and even managers, with Jurgen Klopp lashing out at the mistake during a post-match interview.
After hearing the statement, Klopp said: ‘Does that help? No. We had that situation in the Man United game (against Wolves last month) – did they get points for that? No. We don’t get any points for it today, so it doesn’t help.
‘No one expects 100 percent correct decisions on the field. I think we all thought that if VAR came in it might make things easier. I don’t know why people act under so much pressure. Today the decision for the goal was made very quickly. It changed the momentum of the game.”
Diaz appeared to beat the offside trap and convert before the ball was disallowed for offside
Replays showed the decision was the wrong one, with PGMOL coming out to issue a statement after the match
The goal came when Liverpool countered shortly after Jones was sent off. Mohamed Salah played through Diaz, who shot in, but the goal was immediately ruled offside.
Replays appeared to show that the attacker was onside and that has now been confirmed by the refereeing organization.
Gary Neville slammed the decision on Sky Sports, saying: ‘We have the lines on the pitch. These terrain people never get it wrong. They are so accurate. Look at the lines on the field.
‘By the way, I defended VAR offside. There are a few that I thought were wrong. For me, there it is… just no. It all happened too fast. It went so fast. It wasn’t right. At that point I thought, “Okay, let’s move on.”
“That’s clearly Romero’s foot and Diaz’s shoulder. There are only two players in shot. It’s almost now: what are they doing? They choose the wrong cameras to run the lines from the wrong angles. It’s just weird! Something doesn’t feel right.’
Richard Keys also took issue with the VAR officials, tweeting: ‘Why was Michael Oliver in the UAE refereeing the match between Al Sharjah and Al Ain on Thursday? Darren England assisted with VAR.
‘Oliver wasn’t involved yesterday. He is VAR today. Too tired? If so, why didn’t England abdicate? Better yet, stop this freelancing.”
Richard Keys took to social media to express his frustrations following the drama surrounding Spurs’ victory