PGMOL chief Howard Webb has defended VAR’s decision to step in and send off William Saliba during Arsenal’s recent loss to Bournemouth.
Initially, the French defender received only a yellow card after pulling down Evanilson near the halfway line.
Referee Rob Jones thought that Ben White was close enough to prevent a clear scoring opportunity, but VAR disagreed with his judgment. After reviewing the incident on the pitchside monitor, Jones reversed his decision. ..Continue Reading
As a result, Saliba received the first red card of his career, Arsenal suffered a costly 1-0 defeat, and Saliba missed Arsenal’s next match against league leaders Liverpool.
Arsenal had considered filing an appeal, but Webb advised against it, citing strong evidence backing VAR’s decision.
He also pointed to Leandro Trossard’s misplaced pass, which put Saliba in a difficult position, as the root cause of Jones’ initial misjudgment.
He said: ‘I think that the offence committed by William Saliba in this situation did deny Evanilson an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
‘I think the yellow card that was issued by Rob Jones on the field was clearly and obviously wrong.
‘It’s a poor pass back by Leandro Trossard that puts Evanilson in and then Saliba grabs him. So suddenly from Arsenal having possession, the referees are faced with having to make a decision very quickly.
‘Sometimes with denial of clear goalscoring opportunity (DOGSO) you have time to prepare your mind for what’s going happen.
‘Initially they believe that Ben White was closer than he actually was. And they also weren’t convinced that Evanilson would control the ball.
‘There’s two things that VAR can do here to prove that the on-field decision was wrong. Firstly, you can see that Ben White is a long way away.
‘He’s not going to get to Evanlison from that position. And then secondly, they can see that David Raya is backing off and when the ball dies in front of Evanilson, even though it’s some distance from goal, he’s going to get on to that ball.
‘He’s going to have time to gain nice control just for the goalkeeper to beat.
‘So, for me, a good intervention by the VAR, a clear and obvious error in not showing a red card on the field.’
