PGMOL have confirmed that the two VAR officials at the heart of the controversy between Tottenham and Liverpool have been replaced for upcoming fixtures.
On Saturday, Luis Diaz looked to have given his side the lead against Spurs before his goal in the first half was controversially ruled out for offside following a VAR review.
It later emerged that the decision was a result of a miscommunication between the on-field officials and those on VAR.
Darren England was the man tasked with VAR duties for the match, with Dan Cook acting as assistant VAR.
It has also been revealed that England and Cook were in the United Arab Emirates two days before their colossal error.
PGMOL have confirmed that VAR official Darren England (left) and VAR assistant Dan Cook (right) will step down from their roles for upcoming fixtures
It comes after VAR ruled out a Liverpool goal against Tottenham, despite replays clearing showing Luis Diaz was being played onside by Cristian Romero
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England and Cook officiated a UAE Pro League match between Sharjah and Al Ain on Thursday, kicking off at 8pm local time. They completed their 16-hour round trip by flying back to London on Friday ahead of Tottenham versus Liverpool on Saturday.
ENGLAND AND COOK’S RECENT ITINERARY
THURSDAY – Sharjah 2-3 Al Ain in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Referee: Michael Oliver
Assistants: Stuart Burt, Dan Cook
Fourth official: Amer Aldhubiea
VAR: Darren England
Assistant VAR: Nawwaf Alzeyoudi
SATURDAY – Tottenham 2-1 Liverpool in London, England
Referee: Simon Hooper
Assistants: Adrian Holmes, Simon Long
Fourth official: Michael Oliver
VAR: Darren England
Assistant VAR: Dan Cook
That has raised eyebrows among Premier League insiders who feel it was hardly the greatest preparation before the biggest match of the weekend, citing concerns over workload and fatigue.
In a statement on Sunday, the PGMOL said: ‘Darren England and Dan Cook have been replaced for the Nottingham Forest v Brentford and Fulham v Chelsea matches.
‘Craig Pawson will now assume England’s duties as 4th official at City Ground while Eddie Smart will take over from Cook as assistant ref at Craven Cottage.’
Almost immediately after the match, PGMOL admitted that Diaz‘s strike was incorrectly ruled out for offside and issued an apology to Liverpool.
‘PGMOL acknowledge a significant human error occurred during the first half of Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool,’ the statement began.
‘The goal but Luis Diaz was disallowed for offside by the on-field team of match officials. This was a clear and obvious factual error and should have resulted in the goal being awarded through VAR intervention, however, the VAR failed to intervene.
‘PGMOL will conduct a full review into the circumstances which led to the error.
‘PGMOL will immediately be contacting Liverpool at the conclusion of the fixture to acknowledge the error.’
The incident drew criticisms from fans, analysts and even managers – as Jurgen Klopp lashed out at the error during a post-match interview.
After hearing the statement, Klopp said: ‘Does that help? No. We had that situation at the Man United game (against Wolves last month) – did they get points for that? No. We will not get points for it today so it doesn’t help.
‘Nobody expects 100 per cent right decisions on field. I think we all thought when VAR came in, it might make things easier. I don’t know why people are acting under that much pressure. Today the decision was made really quickly for the goal. It changed the momentum of the game.’
Diaz appeared to beat the offside trap to convert before it was ruled out for offside
Replays showed that the decision was the wrong one, with PGMOL coming out after the match to issue a statement
The goal came about when Liverpool countered just moments after Jones was sent off. Mohamed Salah played through Diaz, who slotted home, but the goal was immediately flagged offside.
Replays seemed to show the forward was onside and that has now been confirmed by the refereeing body.
Gary Neville slammed the decision on Sky Sports, saying: ‘We have the lines on the pitch. These groundspeople never get a line wrong. They are so accurate. Look at the lines on the pitch.
‘I’ve defended VAR offsides as a matter of fact. There’s been a few I thought that’s not right. To me that one there… just no. It was all too quick. It was so quick. It wasn’t right. At the time I was like, “OK let’s move on”.
‘That is clearly Romero’s foot and Diaz’s shoulder. There’s only two players in shot. It’s almost now like what are they doing? They’re picking the wrong cameras to do the lines on… the wrong angles. It’s just weird! Something doesn’t feel right.’
Richard Keys also took issue with the VAR officials, as he tweeted: ‘Why was Michael Oliver in UAE to ref Thursday’s game between Al Sharjah v Al Ain? Darren England assisted in VAR.
‘Oliver wasn’t involved yesterday. He’s VAR today. Too tired? If so why wasn’t England stood down? Better still – stop this freelancing.’
Richard Keys took to social media to vent his frustrations following the drama in Spurs’ win
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