VAR

HOWARD WEBB is set for a massive VAR grilling when he addresses the recent set of controversial decisions.The weekend’s football action saw Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta brand the officiating a “disgrace” after his sides 1-0 defeat to Newcastle.
Howard Webb will address the weekend’s VAR decisions in the coming daysCredit: Getty
Newcastle’s winner at Arsenal was controversially allowed to stand
While the Tottenham vs Chelsea game had a host of decisionsCredit: Getty
Arteta questioned the competence of referee Stuart Atwell and the VAR team but did not call their integrity into account.
FA disciplinary chiefs are deciding whether or not to pursue action following his comments.
The Gunners released a statement backing their manager in light of the controversial decision to allow the goal, though it seems likely he will escape with a warning rather than a fine.
PGMOL chief Webb will address the complaints in the coming days after another weekend of VAR controversy.
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He is due to appear on the latest episode of “Match Officials Mik’d Up” which is scheduled to be broadcast at the start of next week in the international break.
The Gordon goal is expected to be given top billing.
Webb has addressed glaring VAR mistakes in the past.
In early October, he responded to Luis Diaz’s wrongly disallowed goal against Tottenham and Mateo Kovacic not being sent off against Arsenal.
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Anthony Gordon’s Newcastle winner being allowed to stand was the most high-profile decision over the weekend’s action before the chaotic Monday evening game between Tottenham and Chelsea.
The game, dubbed the “maddest game ever” saw a staggering 11 major VAR checks.
These included four disallowed goals, three red-card and two penalty checks in the first half alone.
Other games over the weekend where VAR was called into action saw Harry Maguire ruled offside for Scott McTominay’s strike minutes into the Manchester United and Fulham game.
Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker also described the ruling to award a pivotal penalty to Sheffield United at the end of their match against Wolves as a “stinking decision”.
Amid another weekend of controversy, Arteta was slammed for his behaviour by the CEO of Ref Support UK, Martin Cassidy.
He said: “Mikel Arteta’s touchline behaviour is the worst in the Premier League and his behaviour is a large part of the problem in football.
“He has become a Mercedes version of Neil Warnock.”
Ange Postecoglou voiced his support for the referee’s when speaking after the Tottenham defeat.
He said: “You have to accept the referee’s decision, that is how I grew up.
“This constant erosion of the referee’s authority is where the game is going to get – they are not going to have any authority.
“We are going to be under the control of someone with a TV screen a few miles away.
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“The decision is the decision. In 26 years I have had plenty of bad decisions, I have had plenty fall in my favour. It is what it is.”
Elsewhere, Anthony Taylor will return to the Premier League to whistle Chelsea’s match against Manchester City despite making an error in the Championship. More

NEWCASTLE v Arsenal is really becoming a beautiful grudge match.And Saturday’s clash at St James’ Park was a spiteful old-school classic for the delectation of neutrals.
The VAR review of Newcastle’s winner against Arsenal has caused uproarCredit: Sky Sports
I’m not sure whether I agreed with any of the major decisions reached by ref Stuart Attwell and VAR Andy Madley.
On the modern interpretation of the laws, both Kai Havertz and Bruno Guimaraes should probably have been sent off before half-time.
And Anthony Gordon’s winner for Newcastle probably should have been disallowed for a foul or a handball by Joelinton and possibly for offside — and because the ball went out of play.
But in a way, Attwell and Madley officiated the match brilliantly simply by keeping all 22 players on the pitch and allowing us to enjoy such a riveting spectacle.
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It was a feisty, fast and furious game which ended with Mikel Arteta spewing his guts about refereeing standards and Jorginho refusing to shake hands with Jamaal Lascelles, who publicly slated him for it.
All good fun, if you believe that football is a game to be enjoyed for its glorious spontaneity, that you embrace its controversies, and you understand that everyone — including the refs — make mistakes in every match.
For a century and a half, everyone basically accepted this.
Managers, players and fans ranted about refs but in the cold light of the following day, everyone generally shrugged their shoulders and got on with their lives.
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VAR reviewed a possible foul and offsideCredit: Sky Sports
And then came VAR, and with it the idea that football is a business of utmost seriousness, which demands the impossibility of ultimate justice — raising expectations of officials to unreachable limits.
And so you get statements like that made by Arsenal on Sunday, attempting to add gravity to Arteta’s understandable heat-of-the-moment meltdown and insisting that refereeing standards must be ‘urgently addressed’.
This on the back of Liverpool’s statement which talked of ‘escalating’ their issue with match officials after Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal at Tottenham in September.
These statements are self-important but vague and they hint at the idea that there used to be a golden age of officialdom where everybody agreed referees were competent.
Rather than making these grandstanding public proclamations, clubs should address the elephant in the room — that VAR doesn’t work, that it doesn’t make sense, that it causes increased rage and bitterness and that it must be scrapped.
Given that London’s top football clubs keep hiring Fleet Street’s finest reporters as communication chiefs on vast salaries, we really ought to expect more common sense than this.
Because Diaz’s goal at Spurs would still have been wrongly ruled out for offside without VAR and it would have been swiftly forgotten about, as everyone used to realise errors were inevitable before technology was introduced.
Officials felt Joelinton did not foul Gabriel at the back postCredit: Sky Sports
Gordon’s winner for Newcastle may well have been allowed without VAR, too.
Who knows because most top-flight refs have now lost the courage of their convictions and are relying on VAR, which often makes matters worse, to bail them out.
As a case study on why VAR doesn’t work, Gordon’s goal is pretty much perfect. It doesn’t work because such a large proportion of decisions made by football referees are subjective, such as Joelinton’s possible foul and handball.
Interestingly, neither Arteta nor his club have specified which of the four possible reasons they think Gordon’s goal should have been ruled out for.
Because the truth is all four issues were either subjective or inconclusive.
Maybe it should have been disallowed for all four reasons. Maybe none of them.
You win some, you lose some.
Mikel Arteta fumed at the officials after the matchCredit: Sky Sports
Unless you’re Wolves, when every major decision goes against you and refs’ chief Howard Webb grovels to you every Monday morning, either publicly or privately.
Somehow, Wolves seem to accept all of this with remarkably good grace.
Yet Liverpool and Arsenal display the same sense of entitlement with which they, along with the rest of the Big Six, attempted to destroy the English football pyramid by agreeing to join a breakaway European Super League.
Managers have always lost their rag when these big decisions went against them.
But only since VAR have clubs started making po-faced statements, treating controversial refereeing decisions as if they are major international diplomatic incidents.
This is the crux of the matter — you either acknowledge that football is a game, you enjoy its spontaneity, intensity and controversy, you accept mistakes and support the scrapping of VAR.
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Or, like the American owners of Arsenal and Liverpool, you believe that football is primarily a business and that it demands forensic justice.
And I know which option sounds more fun. More

I CAN understand Mikel Arteta’s frustrations after Arsenal’s defeat at Newcastle.There were three VAR checks for Anthony Gordon’s winner and I felt there was a clear push by Joelinton on Gabriel.
Stuart Attwell was at the centre of the VAR controversy as Newcastle beat Arsenal
Ex-ref Mark Halsey believes Gabriel was pushed for Newcastle’s winnerCredit: Getty
Halsey understands Mikel Arteta’s frustrationCredit: PA
Had ref Stuart Attwell disallowed the goal or VAR Andy Madley recommended a review then there would have been few complaints.
On the other two checks, the TV camera angles shown were inconclusive as to whether Joe Willock kept the ball in play during the build-up.
VAR tried to look if Gordon was also offside.
But there was no available angle to see the point of contact from Joelinton so the officials were unable to determine when the Magpies midfielder last touched the ball and therefore if Gordon was offside.
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It was the latest high-profile error and the mistakes are happening every week.
Why is this? The leadership, direction and coaching from Howard Webb’s management team is not up to the task.
Kai Havertz and Bruno Guimaraes were both lucky to avoid a red card.
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Havertz dodged a clear sending-off for a poor challenge on Sean Longstaff which ticked all the boxes for serious foul play under Law 12.
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Guimaraes should also have been dismissed for violent conduct after his forearm smash on the back of Jorginho’s head.
Ref Attwell didn’t see it but that’s what VAR is for. More