Rio Ferdinand has pointed the finger of blame at Premier League clubs amid the controversy surrounding VAR during Liverpool’s defeat to Tottenham.
Amid the controversy surrounding Tottenham’s 2-1 victory over Liverpool, former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has urged Premier League clubs to introduce automated technology to support VAR.
The match saw Luis Díaz’s goal incorrectly disallowed due to a miscommunication between the VAR officials and the on-field referee. The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) later admitted to a “significant human error” in the decision.
Ferdinand believes that the blame lies with the Premier League clubs themselves, claiming they unanimously rejected the use of automated technology in a previous vote.
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“All the clubs had the chance to vote on the technology that would’ve cleared this goal up. The clubs voted unanimously that they didn’t want this technology,” Ferdinand told Vibe With Five.
“So, at the World Cup, it was just purely the technology that would decide an offside based on algorithms and that was it, they would tell you that — it doesn’t account for human error.
“The Premier League clubs decided, ‘we’re not ready to have that in the Premier League this year’. I don’t know what it was, they voted against it so to see clubs complaining about it is wild to me.
“Let there be no human error in this situation, the technology is there, that’s what VAR is for these days. The human error there was part of it in making the call but the technology should decide all of the offside, there is no debate, there is no offside because the data tells you.”
Contrary to Ferdinand’s claims though, the ECHO reports there has been no official vote among Premier League clubs regarding the implementation of semi-automated offside technology.
However, Ferdinand did acknowledge that if the officials at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium were aware of the mistake, they should have stopped the game and awarded the goal. He also suggested that referees should explain their decisions after matches to provide clarity for fans.
“If there’s a decision that’s wrong, you should have 10 to 15 seconds that you can say, ‘stop the game, that decision was wrong’. If that had happened this weekend, that goal stands. I think the guy might’ve been in the toilet or eating but his eye wasn’t on it.
“We should be hearing the discussion. The referee should come out after and explain the decision, ‘this has been a mistake on my part or my team has made a mistake. The technology told us we didn’t address it properly’ just so fans have clarity. Mistakes happen.”
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