Referees chief Howard Webb expressed his frustration over the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) not intervening when Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes was shown a red card during their 3-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.
Fernandes received the red card in the 42nd minute for a high challenge on James Maddison at Old Trafford last month but ultimately evaded a three-match suspension after United successfully appealed the decision.
“We released the audio; you can hear the assistant referee – who’s got a good view of it – just saying, ‘That looks awful, 100% red (card) for me,’” PGMOL head Webb said on the Stick to Football podcast.
“From his angle it looked it because it looks like the studs have gone in. But then there’s another angle shown on the replay on Sky Sports. Straight away I’ve gone, ‘That’ll be an overturn,’ but it wasn’t.
“I was frustrated that we didn’t step in to rectify it because it was clearly wrong in my opinion, and he didn’t drive the studs in. If he had, then it would have been a red card.”
VAR was introduced in 2019 to assist on-field officials with key match decisions, but the technology has been at the center of controversy, with complaints ranging from its extensive analysis to delays that can take several minutes.
Teams voted in favor of keeping VAR in June despite significant criticism of the technology-aided officiating system last season.
Webb said VAR has made far fewer errors this season.
“We have this independent panel that has ex-players on it, and they judge each decision each week. According to the panel – which is independent from us (PGMOL) – there have only been two VAR errors this season compared to 10 at the same time last year,” he added.
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