Head of the PGMOL Howard Webb has now given a rundown on some of the key VAR decisions from recent weeks.
And one of those in question was an incident which took place on the weekend in Tottenham Hotspur‘s defeat to Arsenal.
Ange Postecoglou‘s side were inflicted with their second straight loss in the Premier League on Sunday after losing 3-2 in the North London Derby.
It was a dismal first half for Spurs which saw the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium rocked by three Arsenal goals.
But it was also a game which threw up some controversial refereeing decisions with one of the Premier League’s ‘best’ in charge in Michael Oliver.
And the 39-year-old made one huge call on Sunday which has caused a lot of frustration among the Tottenham fans.
In the wake of the game, the former referee, Webb, has now offered a rundown on the decision made by Oliver.
What Howard Webb admitted about key Michael Oliver decision in Tottenham v Arsenal
It was an afternoon of football where Tottenham fans will have felt the big decisions did not go there way.
Having only been awarded one penalty all season long prior to the game, Spurs had a number of penalty shouts during the 90 minutes.
And one of the biggest calls was when Dejan Kulusevski was tripped inside the box by Leandro Trossard and nothing was given.
To rub salt into the wound, Arsenal went up the other end on the counter attack with Bukayo Saka and scored their second.
However, perhaps the standout decision which initially went against Tottenham was the penalty which they were eventually awarded.
Having seen Ben Davies kicked inside the box by Declan Rice, Oliver waved play on before being told to review it by VAR.
Speaking about the incident in the latest Mic’d Up, Webb admitted he knows this is a decision which Oliver will have been very disappointed he got wrong.
“I know Michael will be really disappointed. He had a really good game. He’s one of our top referees, he’s one of the top referees in the world. He’s been selected for the Euros in Germany this summer, together with seven other English officials, and he had a really, really good game in the way he managed it.
“But I know he’ll be disappointed he misread that in the moment and we all can misread things in the moment. I did that many times myself. But thankfully we’ve got VAR that can look at these situations very quickly. You’ll hear Jarred Gillett at the VAR check it, stop the game in a neutral zone so nothing else can happen.”
What Ange Postecoglou said about the refereeing display in Tottenham v Arsenal
Sunday’s result could have worked out so much different for Spurs had the key refereeing decisons actually gone in their favour.
Of course, they were still the architects of their own downfall having failed to address their issues from set pieces.
But the rub of the green was not in the favour on Sunday, but Postecoglou would not be drawn into any conversation on blaming the referee.
“But it’s the road that everyone wants to go down. Some of it’s self-inflicted because we all complain about decisions every week. It’s nothing new, but in the past, we got on with it. We didn’t find the need for a miracle cure for it,” he told Sky Sports.
“I don’t think that’s a viable option, as we seemed to have opened that door and allowed technology in. Now, we want transparency, and I can guarantee the next thing is that we will have referees mic’d up explaining decisions.”