The audio that led to Luis Diaz’s goal being wrongly disallowed by VAR in Liverpool’s defeat at Tottenham has been released publicly by the PGMOL; former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has provided his reaction to the audio release
Wednesday 4 October 2023 13:14, UK
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher says the match officials were in no position to overturn their decision to disallow Luis Diaz's wrongly disallowed goal for Liverpool at Tottenham once the game restarted.
The audio that led to Luis Diaz's goal being wrongly disallowed by VAR has been released publicly by the Professional Game Match Officials Limited.
VAR Darren England and his assistant Daniel Cook did not overrule the incorrect on-field decision of offside after Diaz had scored at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
PGMOL said in a statement on Tuesday evening that "standards fell short of expectations" and it has identified three key learnings "to mitigate against the risk of a future error".
Speaking on Sky Sports, former referee Gallagher said: "It was a terrible mistake to make. Everyone has acknowledged that, we have all acknowledged that. It's the biggest talking point of the season, let alone this weekend.
"It's now about the process and one of the processes is they will have to undertake from now is the VAR will have to ask the referee: 'what is the on-field decision?'
"If that little question had been asked and [Simon Hooper] said "offside" then you've got a starting point. Then you can go forward. Unfortunately, because that question wasn't asked, they were under the impression the goal had been given on the field and that's how everything unfolded."
"I think it's easier just to get a process which everyone is comfortable with and everyone can work to.
"It might seem like a trivial question, but that simple question would have alleviated all that went on next. If I said to you, 'what's the on-field decision?' You would tell me it was offside.
"I could then look and say, 'I'm checking for offside'. He didn't check for offside. What he was checking was if the player was not offside.
"That's how it unfolded."
Liverpool said on Sunday they would explore their options given the "clear need for escalation and resolution," and PGMOL has provided a detailed report alongside the audio to the Premier League, which it has in turn shared with Liverpool and the other 19 top-flight clubs.
PGMOL will stress the importance of accuracy ahead of efficiency to its video match officials, while a "new VAR communication protocol will be developed to enhance the clarity of communication between the referee and the VAR team in relation to on-field decisions".
But do we need to hear the fourth official's audio moving forward?
"At the moment, there are constraints," continued Gallagher. "We can't put everything publicly. It's brilliant they've been transparent and they've come out and taken ownership of this mistake.
"It's been admitted very quickly and everyone is now aware of what's happened.
"Whilst you might not like what's happened, at least you can now understand why it's happened. They've got an understanding of why that mistake was made.
"That's good because once you understand why a mistake was made, you can then alleviate that happening again.
"The learning point is that this must never, ever happen again."
But once they realised a mistake was made, did they make the right decision in not stopping the game?
"Unfortunately, he can't," added Gallagher. "Once you decide the decision you're going to make and the game restarts, there's no going back. You've got to carry on.
"That's what Darren England realises. He cannot go back as that's the laws of the game. The referees have to abide by them."
"We are the worst body in the world for beating ourselves up. Speaking for myself, if I came off the field and I was told I'd made a mistake and I'm driving home, it actually contracts my life.
"I want to get home, get to sleep and wash it away. I want to get my next match under my belt because I want to wash it away.
"These guys will be absolutely beating themselves up and this is when their colleagues need to support them. They've got to ringfence their colleagues to ensure they're protected and they need to get back onto the pitch."
Sky Sports News chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol:
"Pep Guardiola said earlier today that he felt that referees had taken centre stage too much and that people are talking about them too much.
"I'm not sure referees want to be in the spotlight. They just want to do their job and they know that if we're not talking about the referees, it means they have done a good job.
"But with all the technology that is around now, they are under more and more scrutiny. Listening to the audio, I keep wondering why they were in such a rush to make that decision.
"They are being put under pressure to make these decisions really quickly. When VAR was first introduced, and they were taking a long time to make these decisions, everyone was complaining about the fact it was taking too long.
"People in the stadiums don't know what was going on either, so I think that's why they've tried to speed up the decision-making process.
"But listening to the audio, it's obvious that if you do anything at that speed, and so many people are watching and depending on your decision-making, mistakes are going to be made.
"I think it's important what it says at the end of the clip, which is that the protocols are going to change. Lessons will be learned.
"I know a lot of people have hammered officials, but we should make it clear that Liverpool as a club have not hammered the officials. They don't want the game to be replayed.
"They're not blaming Darren England, they've not blaming PGMOL, what they have asked for is that the process and the protocols are improved so mistakes such as this don't happen again."
