Ben Foster has hit out at both the VAR officials, PGMOL and Sky for not performing due diligence in regard to Luis Diaz’s goal being chalked off against Tottenham Hotspur. The goalkeeper, formerly of Manchester United, was not best pleased – like the majority of fans – with the decision and has made his feelings known.
Liverpool winger Diaz put the ball in the back of the net in the first half of the highly anticipated affair but referee Simon Hooper wrongly called the goal off as he deemed the Colombian to be in an offside position. A worryingly quick check with those operating VAR deemed the on-field decision – made by Hooper – as being correct, though shortly Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) were on hand to act quickly.
Shortly after the final whistle, they released an apologetic statement, claiming that “significant human error” was the reason behind the poor decision-making on show. The Stockley Park personnel, headed by Darren England, were under the impression the decision was that the goal had been given and, therefore, waved play on without further inspection
As a result, VAR official England and his assistant (at the time of the incident) Dan Cook were relieved of their duties against Nottingham Forest vs Brentford and Fulham vs Chelsea, respectively.
Ben Foster’s response to Sky and PGMOL controversy – ‘VAR is a disgrace’
Now, Foster has made a scathing assessment of Sky and VAR’s relationship and has claimed that the two parties would have conversed in order to keep the controversy under wraps.
While dubious VAR decisions are often the topic of conversation during the half-time break, those on the panel during Liverpool vs Tottenham kept relatively coy about the situation as if they were ordered not to comment on the inexcusable mistake – and this irked Foster into making a public statement.
“The bit that I found really disappointing about this Luis Diaz goal is that they never showed a replay of it. Well, they showed one, didn’t they? They showed one very quick replay as soon as it had happened, and the game was moved on already.” the 40-year-old stopper said. “It’s like the game was already restarting, and I’m thinking ‘Well, that was quick, they must be double sure’. And every image we saw, we though ‘That’s onside, that looks onside.’
“They didn’t show another replay for the rest of the first half and then at half-time, they didn’t talk about it not once until 10 seconds before the start of the second half. That tells me that Sky are in bed with the people at VAR. They’re in bed with them because they must have got straight on the phone and said ‘Do not highlight the face that we cocked up here, do not show it. Do not talk about. Do not bad mouth us.’ I guarantee you that is what’s happened. So that’s why Sky were under direct orders to not say a single word about it.”
Co-host and Manchester United fan Mark Goldbridge also added to Foster’s claim saying that is commonplace in mainstream media and that fans will not be deceived by such poor decisions, both on-field and via video technology.
“But it does happen. I mean, we’ve all operated in mainstream media and that is what has happened. And this is the problem as it’s a dictatorship and the fans are the lifeblood of football. We’re not stupid, we’re like ‘Where’s the replay? Where’s the replay? Where’s the replay?’ and they’re not showing it,” Goldbridge said. “Is it because they think we’re going to forget? It’s like you’re absolute idiots, we’re not going to forget. Own it and own it quick!”
