PGMOL chief Howard Webb has explained why Erling Haaland's goal during Tottenham's Premier League clash against Manchester City was disallowed - after a lengthy VAR delay. The Norway goal machine thought he had grabbed a second in the late stages, but a handball saw that goal chalked off.
There was huge confusion at the time of that decision with it appearing as though the goal was initially given and VAR made a call to disallow it. However, referee Jarred Gillet had actually blown for a free-kick moments after the ball nestled in the net.
Spurs very nearly went up the other end and levelled through Pape Matar Sarr, but his header flew narrowly over the bar. As it turned out, that controversially disallowed goal didn't impact the result but Haaland will certainly be annoyed he could not claim it as another goal in the Premier League.
Webb has now offered up his thoughts on the decision which saw him explain why VAR couldn't intervene. This is another example of how the on-field decision is really important," he admitted on Sky Sports' Match Officials Mic'd Up.
"We know from the way the law is written that if this ball touches Erling Haaland's arm, then the goal has to be disallowed because he scores immediately. All we have to have is that touch, on-field officials believe that is what happened and were certain at the time and penalise.
"So the job of the VAR is not to establish whether that touch actually happened, they're trying to establish for certain if it didn't to be able to intervene. If they don't have that certainty that it didn't, then they can't do anything other than 'check complete'.
"So I understand why it might feel harsh to take the goal away but, once the decision has been given on-field, we can't really do anything else. If this goal had been given, it would have also been check complete for the goal."
The programme also saw the communication between the Replay Operator (RO) released. The full transcript can be found below:
AR1: Possible handball Haaland.
VAR: Potential handball by Haaland.
REF: On-field decision is attacking handball against Haaland.
VAR: Checking the on-field decision to disallow the goal for an accidental handball.
REF: Yes immediate goal-scorer.
VAR: It's earlier in the loop, it's just there. Can we go back to it and freeze frame? Have we got an angle from 90 degrees the other way?
RO: I can split screen it.
VAR: That is not touching.
RO: I can keep going forward.
VAR: It's no longer in contact with him. It doesn't hit his arm again. Okay run it through step-by-step. Can you literally go frame-by-frame?
VAR: Can you pause it at each stop and just stop until I tell you to move on.
RO: There's going to be a lot of frames.
VAR: Yeah that's fine. Do you think that's touching his arm? I don't believe that it is.
RO: I can play it through from one angle and then switch to another, just to give more context.
VAR: It's a factual decision. I don't think that brushes his arm. That's a good speed. Run that through one more time. He's saying it has definitely hit his arm. I think it hits the defender's arm.
RO: Yeah, so I'll switch back to this angle one more time.
VAR: Does it hit his arm there?
VAR (speaking to ref): Jarred [Gillett] there's two potential times the ball may strike his arm, so that's why it's taking a moment.
REF: Okay no problem, still checking. There's two potential ones.
VAR: I've cleared that one is not handball. [Second one] that doesn't show. Anything from the side?
AVAR: Have we got another angle on that point of contact?
VAR: That's too high.
RO: I think we've seen all the angles.
AVAR: Have we got any evidence to say it definitely hasn't touched his arm?
VAR: I've got no evidence that it does and then he scores with his foot. How are you feeling?
AVAR: For me, I think it does touch his hand, the arm there.
VAR: We haven't got conclusive evidence we go with the on-field decision. Just run it through.
VAR (speaking to ref): Jarred, confirming the on-field decision we have no conclusive evidence either way. We therefore confirm the on-field decision stands.
REF: Okay. On-field decision stands.
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