A series of contentious VAR decisions is sparking more unrest in the Premier League as clubs are questioning its efficacy and whether they should have won their matches.
According to some pundits, the introduction of VAR has failed so far to remove all questionable incidents from the game.
This weekend, if there was a need to prove that point, with all the incidents that VAR got wrong according to EPL clubs, was the one where the technology caused more controversy than ever.
The managers of several teams were furious after the game due to a string of decisions that were either thrown out due to VAR’s intervention or not made despite the presence of the review system.
Among the incidents were:
- West Ham’s Maxwel Cornet’s late equaliser against Chelsea was overturned because Jarrod Bowen had fouled Edouard Mendy
- Despite Tyrick Mitchell pushing the midfielder into the Crystal Palace goalkeeper, Joe Willock’s foul on Vicente Guaita resulted in the winning goal for Newcastle being reversed
- When Leeds lost to Brentford, Aaron Hickey’s tackle on Crysencio Summerville was not penalised
- The assistant referee incorrectly flagged Philippe Coutinho’s goal against Manchester City as offside, and VAR was unable to overturn the decision because the whistle was blown before the ball was in
That’s too many even for the EPL with its fast-paced matches and large number of games every week.
West Ham’s coach, David Moyes called disallowing Cornet’s goal was a ridiculously bad call.
West Ham was denied a draw at Stamford Bridge after referee Andy Madley ruled Edouard Mendy was fouled.
“It is a scandalous decision, absolutely rotten from one of the supposedly elite referees,” Moyes told Sky Sports.
According to premierleague.com before VAR was introduced the percentage of correct key match decisions stood at 82 percent and after the introduction of VAR, a year later, in the 2019/2020 season it rose to 94%.
In the first year of VAR introduction, over 2,400 incidents were checked and 109 decisions overturned.