Every VAR apology from PGMOL after woeful Luis Diaz mistake in Spurs vs Liverpool | OneFootball

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Football just isn't football without debate. Unfortunately, these days it feels as though there are more questions about the quality of officiating than any other topic within the sport. VAR, of course, was brought in to try and help referees, but if anything it seems to have just complicated the job.

While decisions were highly scrutinised in the past, there was an understanding that mistakes could be made in the heat of the moment. Now, however, with the use of technology to review every major incident, there is a feeling that the officials have no excuses when something goes wrong.

And yet, and yet... errors keep on occurring. As a result, more and more fans of the Premier League are becoming regularly acquainted with the PGMOL apology letter. Indeed, as per Sky Sports (via Reddit) 14 apologies have been handed out to a number of different clubs. GIVEMEPSORT has compiled a list of them all for you to enjoy (or suffer through) below. Enjoy!

1 Everton 0-1 Manchester City - 26th February 2022

With the title race heating up, Manchester City needed all the luck they could get as they made a trip to Goodison Park with Everton fighting for their lives at the other end of the table. In the end, a single goal from Phil Foden decided the game. However, the Toffees were denied a penalty by referee Paul Tierney and video assistant referee Chris Kavanagh when Rodri seemed to clearly use his arm to control the ball. Former PGMOL boss Mike Riley later called the club to apologise for the incident.

2 Crystal Palace 3-1 Aston Villa - 20th August 2022

A goal from each side in the opening 10 minutes saw Crystal Palace and Aston Villa level at 1-1 right up until just before the hour mark when the Eagles were given a controversial penalty. After a lengthy VAR check, it was decided that Marc Guehi's header had illegally struck Lucas Digne's arm, despite it all happening from such a close range. Wilfried Zaha missed the resulting spot-kick but scored the rebound as the home team went on to win the match 3-1. The harsh handball was later included in a mid-season list of six incorrect overturns where VAR had got it wrong.

3 Chelsea 2-1 West Ham - 3rd September 2022

Michail Antonio gave West Ham the lead but Ben Chilwell equalised before Kai Havertz put Chelsea ahead in the 88th minute. That goal turned out to be the winner but only thanks to a huge error from the officials. In the dying stages of the game, Maxwel Cornet fired in what looked to be an equaliser but VAR inexplicably decided that Jarrod Bowen had fouled Édouard Mendy in the build-up. It's still baffling to this day.

4 Newcastle 0-0 Crystal Palace - 3rd September 2022

On the very same day, controversy once again tainted a clash between the two Premier League sides when Newcastle were held to a goalless draw at home against Palace (despite their being 43 shots in the game). The home team did actually break the deadlock but VAR intervened to rule out Tyrick Mitchell's own goal. It was decided that Joe Willock had fouled Vicente Guaita, missing the obvious fact that the midfielder had been pushed into the goalkeeper by Mitchell.

5 Manchester United 3-1 Arsenal - 4th September 2022

It was a bad weekend for the PGMOL as three mistakes were made all within the same round of fixtures. This time it was Arsenal who suffered from the misuse of technology. Gabriel Martinelli raced through on goal to open the scoring but upon review, it was decided that Martin Odegaard had fouled Christian Eriksen to initially win the ball back. It was so marginal, VAR had no business getting involved but Paul Tierney was sent to the monitor and ruled the goal out. With the officials on their side, the Red Devils won the game 3-1.

6 Fulham 3-0 Aston Villa - 30th October 2022

Steven Gerrard was fired just 90 minutes after the Villans fell to a humbling 3-0 defeat by Fulham at Craven Cottage but he perhaps would have lasted just a little longer had it not been for some questionable officiating. With his team just 1-0 down, Douglas Luiz was sent off after clashing with Aleksandar Mitrović. VAR saw the incident and recommended a red card. The player's ban was later rescinded after an appeal which tells you all you need to know.

7 Nottingham Forest 2-2 Brentford - 5th November 2022

The game took place on Guy Fawkes Night and there were plenty of fireworks here as Brentford picked up an away point against Nottingham Forest in a 2-2 draw at the City Ground. Right before half-time, with the Bees a goal down, Yoane Wissa hit the deck after minimal contact from Dean Henderson and yet VAR intervened to help award a penalty. Bryan Mbeumo scored it and Thomas Frank's men later took the lead before a 96th-minute own-goal by Mathias Jorgensen rescued a point for the home team. Ironically enough, when the two teams met a season later (in another draw), Wissa didn't win a penalty when he was brought down after a poor tackle from Matt Turner – this seemed to be a far more obvious foul than the challenge made by Henderson in the campaign prior.

8 Aston Villa 3-1 Manchester United - 6th November 2022

This time around, Villa and Digne were the beneficiaries of some poor officiating as Villa beat Man United 3-1 during Unai Emery's first game in charge. The left-back fired in a brilliant freekick to give his team a 2-0 lead. Interestingly enough, VAR didn't play the primary role here. In fact, the mistake was really made by Anthony Taylor. Eriksen correctly complained that the wall was being set up from more than 10 yards away but the referee ignored his protests. A PGMOL admission of the error came a month later while Taylor eventually got a talking to from his superiors.

9 Brighton 2-1 Liverpool - 29th January 2023

Now into a new year but more of the same was to follow. Indeed, during the first month of 2023, VAR was up to its old tricks, this time in the FA Cup, as it somehow failed to upgrade Fabinho's horror tackle on Evan Ferguson to a red. The Liverpool man lunged in with reckless abandon, catching the Irish youngster down the back of his Achilles. The look on Fabinho's face said it all, and yet somehow he avoided proper punishment. Brighton still went on to win the game but Ferguson was left on crutches after the game.

10 Crystal Palace 1-1 Brighton 11th February 2023

While some decisions, even with the use of VAR, are still somewhat subjective, this is not the case for offsides. They are black and white, so in theory there is no excuse to ever get things wrong. Unfortunately, though, there is still room for human error... In this match, Pervis Estupinan looked to have opened the scoring but under VAR review it was disallowed. The offside line, however, was drawn from the wrong player, stopping at James Tomkins when Marc Guehi was actually the deepest Palace defender. He was in fact playing the Brighton player onside and so the goal should have stood.

11 Arsenal 1-1 Brentford - 11th February 2023

Remarkably, on the very same weekend, another huge error later had to be apologised for – and once again it was a mistake relating to the offside rule. Arsenal led 1-0 thanks to Leandro Trossard's strike but Ivan Toney pulled Brentford level as the game ended 1-1. Upon further watching replays of his goal, however, it became clear that Christian Norgaard was standing in an offside position during the build-up. Lee Mason inexplicably missed this when overseeing the VAR review.

12 Tottenham 2-1 Brighton - 8th April 2023

With the scores level at 1-1, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg clearly stood on Kaoru Mitoma’s foot inside the box. Referee Stuart Atwell missed the blatant foul live and should have been told to review and change his onfield decision by the VAR team. Spurs went on to win the game 2-1 after the costly error. Much to the ire of Roberto De Zerbi (who was sent off during the match), current PGMOL boss Howard Webb later apologised to Brighton for the decision, admitting it should have been a penalty.

13 Manchester United 1-0 Wolves

On the opening round of the current season, we didn't have to wait long for a big mistake as debutant Man United goalkeeper André Onana came to claim a cross but instead smashed into Wolves forward Sasa Kalajdzic. Somehow no foul was given. Gary O'Neil summed it up best when he said: "The goalkeeper almost took our centre-forward's head off." Immediately after the game, Jon Moss, the direct manager of Premier League referees went to the Wolves dressing room to admit there had been a mistake. Howard Webb also spoke to O'Neil personally to acknowledge the error.

14 Tottenham 2-1 Liverpool - 30th September 2023

In a remarkable game, which saw Liverpool go down to nine men after two questionable dismisalls, Spurs came out on top thanks to a last-gasp own goal from Joël Matip. Every call on the day seemed to go the home team's way and this was no more evident than the colossal mix-up which saw Luiz Diaz's first-half strike ruled out. The winger was flagged for offside but Darren England on VAR could see this was a mistake. However, due to miscommunication, he failed to correctly inform referee Simon Hooper and so the goal wasn't awarded. PGMOL put the incident down to "significant human error". Furious, the Reds later released an official statement suggesting that the Premier League's “sporting integrity had been undermined”.