The Premier League have announced a major change to VAR protocol ahead of this weekend’s games in order to avoid another calamity after Liverpool’s game against Tottenham last week.
The PGMOL and VAR have come under heavy criticism this past week after a ‘significant human error’ cost Liverpool an opening goal in their 2-1 loss to Spurs last Saturday evening.
Luis Diaz had his first-half opener incorrectly ruled out for offside due to a communication error between the VAR official and referee.
The PGMOL released a statement shortly after full-time apologising to Jurgen Klopp’s side for the mistake with Liverpool following up with a formal request for the raw audio files.
In order to avoid any future such incidents, the PGMOL has announced that it will be changing the VAR protocol.
From now on, the VAR official must confirm his decision with his assistant before relaying it to the on-field referee.
In Klopp’s press conference on Thursday, he stated that a replay of the game would be a good resolution but that it would never happen.
“It’s important we really deal with it in a proper way. I mean all of the people involved, the referee, linesman, fourth official and VAR – they didn’t do it on purpose. Yes it was a mistake, an obvious mistake.
“I say this not as manager of Liverpool but as a football person – I think the only outcome should be a replay. Probably will not happen.”
