Liverpool-Tottenham VAR farce proved Sky Sports are ‘in bed with PGMOL’, ex-Prem star claims
Sky Sports have been accused of being “in bed with” VAR officials and the PGMOL after Liverpool’s controversial 2-1 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur.
The PGMOL have been heavily criticised in the aftermath of Liverpool‘s loss at Tottenham over the weekend.
Jurgen Klopp’s side finished the game with nine men but their fury was centred around Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal in the first half when the score was 0-0.
Diaz found the net after being set up by Mo Salah but he was flagged for offside. Replays showed that the winger was narrowly onside but the game’s VAR officials failed to overrule the referee’s decision in Liverpool’s favour.
The PGMOL have since admitted that this mistake was made as a result of a “significant human error” and Liverpool have received an apology.
Former Manchester United and England goalkeeper Ben Foster was not happy with how Sky Sports covered this incident.
He can even “guarantee” that Sky were “under direct orders to not say a single word about it”.
“The bit that I found really disappointing is that they showed one very quick replay and the game was moved on,” Foster said on his YouTube channel.
“Every image we saw it looked onside but they didn’t show another replay for the rest of the half. They didn’t mention it once at half-time until 10 seconds before the start of the second half.
“That tells me that Sky are in bed with the people at VAR, PGMOL or whatever it is. They must have got straight on the phone and said: ‘do not highlight the fact we copped up here, do not show it, do not talk about it, do not bad mouth us’. I guarantee that is what happened.
“That is why Sky were under direct orders to not say a single word about it.”
READ MORE: Vertonghen, Berti, Rijkaard, Tommasi… Ten even worse offside decisions than Luis Diaz v Tottenham
Some have called for VAR to be scrapped in the aftermath of the Spurs-Liverpool game, but journalist Ben Jacobs has explained why he thinks this would be a mistake.
“Some may simply say just scrap VAR, but I strongly disagree. Let’s not forget Diaz would also have wrongly been given offside without VAR as well because that was the on-field decision,” Jacobs told Caught Offside.
“VAR also works quite effectively to review reckless tackles and even look at handballs. The issue with the latter is not the technology itself but the rules as to what constitutes a handball. I think Luton’s equalising penalty against Wolves a few weeks ago was a good example of that. I don’t think Joao Gomes deserved to be penalised.
“The main technology-related rather than rule-related issue appears to be offsides. So with VAR specialists, clearer language used and allowing play to be called back under exceptional circumstances would all help prevent another Diaz-type situation.
“I still believe VAR is not the problem so much as properly training officials (which in turn ensures a better chance of consistency) and PGMOL prioritising clearer communication.”
READ MORE: VAR farce is a Liverpool injustice – but also very funny. Stop trying to make football flawless…
