Premier League to Open Up VAR Decision Discussions to Fans
The Premier League is about to give Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, and football fans everywhere a rare chance to observe the inner workings of match officials and VAR during Premier League games in a ground-breaking move. This situation, a first for this season, follows a slew of contentious choices that stirred discussions throughout the weekend.
One notable ruling that sparked debate was the ‘goal’ that was initially given to Alejandro Garnacho for Manchester United versus Arsenal but was later disallowed for offside. Erik ten Hag, the manager of Manchester United, launched a stinging attack against VAR after the game, which Arsenal won thanks to two late stoppage-time goals. He listed the alleged mistakes in judgement.
Everyone will now have the chance to learn more about the reasoning behind the VAR and on-field referees’ decisions to overturn Garnacho’s goal and other disputed calls from the weekend, including Ten Hag.
Match Officials: Mic’d Up, an episode, is planned to run on Sky Sports on September 6 at 8 PM, according to reports from ESPN.
Notably, Michael Owen will be a guest on this programme, which will also be televised at 8:30 PM on TNT Sports. Following a fruitful trial in May, in which the chief refereeing officer, Howard Webb, explained a number of calls made between the team at Stockley Park and the match official, it was decided to move further with this effort.
Football fans are equally interested in hearing the VAR audio when ‘incorrect’ decisions are made as they are in learning how the ‘correct’ choices were made. For instance, Webb admitted serious mistakes made by officials earlier in the season, including the inability to give Wolves a penalty during injury time in a game at Old Trafford on the first weekend.
However, it is still unclear if the review show will feature audio from talks that resulted in “incorrect” conclusions. The particular occurrences that will be covered in the programme on Wednesday night have also not yet been made public.
