Burnley and Chelsea game nearly had another VAR debacle

Premier League officials nearly had yet another VAR debacle during a matchup between Burnley and Chelsea at the weekend. The league has come under fire for a series of officiating blunders in recent months. However, a massive mistake in a recent Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur game has brought the league to an official crisis.

Luis Diaz thought he scored a goal for Liverpool, which would have given the club the lead, against Spurs on Se. 30. While video replays showed that the Colombian was onside during the build-up to the goal, VAR wrongly disallowed the goal. The Premier League then released audio discussions between the officials in the match. The PMGOL suspended those VAR officials working the match.

More VAR miscommunication nearly derails Chelsea game at Burnley

Fast forward about a week to the Burnley and Chelsea match. The Telegraph is reporting that a similar VAR error nearly occurred during Raheem Sterling’s goal in the game. VAR officials told match referee Stuart Attwell to stop play after the winger scored in the 65th minute. However, Attwell had already allowed play to continue following the goal. Halting play after giving the goal is not allowed.

It seems as if VAR official Darren Bond did not get a good look at the replay of the goal in time. The aforementioned news outlet reports that Attwell allowed the match to resume because he thought Bond told him “check complete.” The VAR official, however, did not make these specific remarks.

In the end, referees correctly gave the goal. Chelsea went on to win the match 4-1 on the day. Nevertheless, massive questions would have been raised once again if the goal had not been allowed. Despite stopping play to reexamine video replay, rules clearly state that goals cannot be chalked off or given after the game resumes. In fact, VAR Darren England previously repeated “can’t do anything” during the debacle to disallow the Diaz goal.

Premier League would benefit from semi-automated offside technology

Introducing semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) would seemingly help fix these particular VAR issues. The technology is already currently in place in UEFA’s competitions such as the Champions League. SAOT helps make correct offside decisions in a much faster manner than traditional VAR reviews. Nevertheless, the Premier League has rejected the chance to implement the technology.

FIFA developed SAOT in partnership with Adidas. The German sports brand currently provides soccer balls to UEFA. However, the Premier League has a deal in place with Nike. The American-based company has not yet tested SAOT technology in their soccer balls.

PHOTO: IMAGO / NurPhoto.