Howard Webb explains VAR calls including Bruno Fernandes and Virgil van Dijk controversies
Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes was sent off against Tottenham last month while Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk escaped a penalty vs Crystal Palace and the calls have now been examined
by Daniel Orme · The MirrorHoward Webb believes that the decision to send Bruno Fernandes off against Spurs was “a slight misread” by both the referee and VAR.
The Portuguese midfielder was awarded the first red card of his career in Manchester United’s 3-0 defeat against the North London side. It came after a high challenge on Spurs playmaker James Maddison.
Fernandes appealed his innocence in the aftermath and saw his suspension rescinded upon appeal. But Webb has now attempted to explain why both the referee and VAR came to the decision of a dismissal.
Speaking on the latest edition of Match Officials Mic'd Up, the former Premier League official said: "The red card was correctly overturned on appeal. We hear on the audio the assistant referee coming with the information around this being from his position, a red-card offence and the referee takes his advice and issues the red.
"When you look back on the footage, you see that the contact is high and Bruno Fernandes slips first and puts his foot out to stop Maddison. It’s not an attempt for the ball, from the assistant referee’s position - he’s got a good view, a nice open view, a better viewing angle than what the referee has got. [It] looks like there are studs there going into the shin and if there is it would be a red card but it’s just a slight mis-read.
"When the VAR checks it, he forms the opinion that the 'referee’s call' is not clearly wrong because he sees the action with the high contact, no attempt to play the ball, with some force and therefore decides in his professional judgement that the 'referee’s call' is not clearly wrong."
While United were on the wrong end of that decision, their fierce rivals Liverpool did not give away a penalty when captain Virgil van Dijk was accused of holding Marc Guehi in his side’s 1-0 win against Crystal Palace at the weekend.
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But Webb believes that the original decision was correct. He said: "In this case we see an action by Van Dijk that is very quick, particularly at full speed and the ball is always going towards the goalkeeper.
"We don't think that the action really impacts Guehi's ability to get to the ball. The referee saw it that way, didn't penalise [Van Dijk] and when the VAR checked it, they saw it in the same way and cleared it for what it was, a very quick holding that didn't impact Guehi's ability to play the ball."
"If you look at the [incident] at 50 per cent [speed], of course it's going to double the amount of time the holding happens and if you put it at 25 per cent, it makes it four times as long and of course it can look a lot more impactful as well."
Title rivals Arsenal were also the beneficiaries of a decision this month. Kai Havertz had a goal ruled out in the Gunners’ 4-2 win against Leicester - the German adjudged to be offside.
But VAR elected that Leicester defender James Justin had played the ball to the Arsenal forward - a call that Webb agreed with. He said: "It shows the benefits of having VAR doesn't it, that we can rectify this clear and obvious error.
“The on-field officials feel it's been played by an attacking player to Havertz but when you watch it back, it's not, it's actually played by James Justin, the defender, and therefore very quickly, efficiently we can step in and we can give the goal back. It's a really good demonstration I suppose of the benefit of VAR which doesn't only take goals away but sometimes give them back.”
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