VAR has created four mistakes so far throughout the Premier League season, referees’ chief Mike Riley has admitted.
The illustrations, which include Fabian Schar’s equaliser for Newcastle from Watford and Leicester midfielder Youri Tielemans’ apparent stamp on Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson, were mentioned at Thursday’s assembly of Premier League shareholders.
The other two errors were that the referee’s decision to not award Manchester City a penalty when Jefferson Lerma stood on David Silva’s foot at the Bournemouth box and a decision to not give West Ham a punishment after Sebastien Haller was brought down from Norwich’s Tom Trybull.
Riley, the managing director of the elite refereeing human body, PGMOL Ltd, told Sky Sports News:”We’re learning as we move along and we are continuously improving.
“From those four match rounds, there are some really good examples where we have intervened.
“There were incidents where VAR has proposed that the referee and we have a much better decision because of this.
“There have been four incidents where VAR did not intervene and had they completed, we would have a better comprehension of the role VAR plays in the match.
“[The mistakes] are about the conclusion of VAR and also the process that we embrace.
“All these are cases were VAR may have had an advantage and intervened to assist the referee daily.”
When pressed on why those errors were created, Riley included:”A mix of variables. That’s the interesting thing as this project evolves, and we are continuously learning.
“We are trying not to disrupt the flow of this game but on such events, the judgement ought to have been it was a clear and obvious mistake.
“One of the really positive things about the first four game rounds has been the quality of performances that are like-minded.
“Each of the referees have incorporated what we need to do with VAR in their refereeing whilst focusing on making real-time decisions.”
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