By Frank Dalleres
The Premier League VAR officials who failed to award Luis Diaz’s goal for Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur were stood down today following their costly mistake.
Video assistant referee Darren England was removed from fourth official duty in Sunday’s game between Nottingham Forest and Brentford, while assistant VAR Dan Cook was relieved of his role as assistant referee for Monday’s London derby between Fulham and Chelsea.
Referees’ body the PGMOL said “significant human error” was to blame for England and Cook’s failure to intervene after Diaz’s first-half strike was wrongly flagged offside.
It would have put 10-man Liverpool 1-0 up in a match that they ended up losing deep into stoppage time on Saturday evening.
Reports suggested the VAR team had wrongly thought that the goal had been given by referee Simon Hooper, so upon checking the footage and seeing Diaz was onside, did not overrule.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said the PGMOL’s statement and an apology from referees’ chief Howard Webb “doesn’t help at all”, while Reds captain Virgil van Dijk said he was “losing faith” in VAR.
Meanwhile, Forest summer signing Nicolas Dominguez scored his first goal for the club as they drew 1-1 with Brentford despite playing more than half an hour with a numerical disadvantage.
The hosts lost Moussa Niakhate to a second yellow card soon after half-time and then saw Christian Norgaard score from the resulting free-kick, but Dominguez equalised seven minutes later with a diving header to keep both teams firmly in mid-table.
