Video assistant referee causes controversy every week in the Premier League, but how are decisions made and are they correct?
This season, we take a look at the major incidents to examine and explain the process both in terms of VAR protocol and the Laws of the Game.
Andy Davies (@andydaviesref) is a former Select Group referee, with over 12 seasons on the elite list, working across the Premier League and Championship. With extensive experience at the elite level, he has operated within the VAR space in the Premier League and offers a unique insight into the processes, rationale and protocols that are delivered on a Premier League matchday.
Manchester United 2-0 Manchester City
Referee: Anthony Taylor
VAR: Craig Pawson
Time: 10 minutes
Incident: Red card challenge
What happened: Manchester United defender Diogo Dalot was late with a challenge on Jrmy Doku, catching the Manchester City attacker high on the knee. The on-field decision from referee Anthony Taylor was a yellow card, confirmed by VAR Craig Pawson.
VAR decision: The referee's call of yellow card to Dalot for a reckless challenge was checked and confirmed by VAR -- with the contact deemed to be glancing and not with excessive force.
Verdict: Without doubt, this will be a major talking point of this derby match -- especially as it was just 10 minutes in, and United went on to win the game.
This was a lazy challenge by Dalot. The contact was unnecessarily late, high and across Doku's knee, all considerations that would have put Pawson in a difficult position when reviewing the challenge so early in a derby game.
The live communication from Taylor, describing the challenge and subsequent level of contact as reckless as opposed to dangerous -- understandable from an on-field perspective -- would have been Pawson's starting point in this review process.
Having watched the replays, Pawson would have felt uncomfortable given the nature of the challenge. However, considering the timing of the incident, he would not have felt that the replays offered enough evidence to recommend an on-field review and would have worked hard to make the pictures concur with the on-field decision of yellow card as opposed to red.
I feel for Pawson and understand his rationale in this situation, but I believe a red card would be expected in this incident. The nature of the challenge was dangerous, completely unnecessary and certainly endangered the safety of his opponent.
