REFEREES chief Howard Webb admitted the decision to disallow Fulham’s goal against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last weekend “wasn’t controversial – it was wrong”.
Josh King was denied his first Cottagers goal after VAR Michael Salisbury instructed referee Rob Jones to consult the pitch-side monitor. The goal was disallowed for an innocuous coming-together of Fulham striker Rodrigo Muniz and Blues defender Trevoh Chalobah.
The decision has been ridiculed as the worst in the system’s troubled history.
“It wasn’t controversial, it was wrong. We’ve established some principles in terms of how we officiate in the Premier League and how we use VAR,” Webb said.
“They sit around a high threshold for penalising contact, aiding the flow, rhythm and tempo of the game. We’ve also established a high bar for intervention with VAR.
“In this situation, that guidance wasn’t followed properly. There was a misjudgement by the officials involved in this situation about how that contact happened between Muniz and Chalobah.
“The officials got super focused on that contact, without looking at the full context of how it happened.”
Webb added: “We’ve done really well in the last eighteen months or so to reduce our involvement, with respect to the referee’s call.
“We’ve seen less interventions in the Premier League than any other major league in Europe, so we need to continue doing that.
“We understand the importance of these decisions. We understand that if we get it wrong like we did on this occasion the impact is significant – and we’re always, always striving to do better.”
