VAR: Premier League referee chief Mike Riley admits four mistakes this season
VAR has made four errors so far throughout the Premier League season, referees’ chief Mike Riley has admitted.
The illustrations, including Fabian Schar’s equaliser for Newcastle against Watford and Leicester midfielder Youri Tielemans’ postage on the Callum Wilson of Bournemouth, were mentioned in Thursday’s meeting of Premier League shareholders.
The other two errors were that the referee’s decision to not award Manchester City a punishment when Jefferson Lerma stood on David Silva’s foot in the Bournemouth box and a decision not to 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 are learning as we go along and we are continuously improving.
“Out of those four game rounds, there are some really good examples where we’ve intervened.
“There are six incidents where VAR has advised the referee and we have a much better choice because of this.
“There have been four incidents where VAR didn’t intervene and had they done, we would have a better comprehension of the role VAR plays from the match.
“[The errors ] are all about the conclusion of VAR and also the process we embrace.
“All these are examples were VAR may have experienced a benefit and intervened to help the referee daily.”
When pressed about why those mistakes were made, Riley added:”A combination of factors. That’s the fascinating thing because this project evolves, and we’re constantly learning.
“We are trying to not interrupt the flow of the match but on these events, the conclusion ought to have been that it was a very clear and obvious mistake.
“One of the really positive things about the first four game rounds has been the quality of on-field performances.
“Each of the referees have integrated what we will need to do with VAR into their refereeing whilst still focusing on making real-time conclusions ”