John Brooks will not be the VAR operator for Liverpool’s match against Everton on Monday and Arsenal’s match against Manchester City on Wednesday.
When Brooks oversaw VAR for Brighton’s Saturday 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace, he made a mistake.
A goal by Brighton was ruled to be offside and disallowed because the VAR rules were misapplied.
On Monday, Brooks will be replaced by Andre Marriner, and on Wednesday, David Coote will take over as the VAR.
The Premier League referees will meet this weekend to review errors in the use of VAR, according to Howard Webb, head of the referees’ organisation PGMOL.
The former referee of the World Cup final has previously called Arsenal and Brighton to address mistakes in their matches.
Brentford’s equalizer against Arsenal was not flagged for offside by VAR operator Lee Mason.
Mason’s VAR review of Ivan Toney’s 74th-minute goal came in response to Ethan Pinnock’s challenge on Arsenal defender Gabriel.
Christian Norgaard was allegedly offside throughout the buildup, but the event was later adjudicated as not having occurred.
Mason, who now does only VAR-related tasks, chose not to use the system’s lines to determine Norgaard’s position in relation to Arsenal’s defenders.
Pervis Estupinan’s goal for Brighton in their match at Selhurst Park was overturned after a VAR review determined that the Ecuadorian was offside.
The offside line should have been drawn from Marc Guehi, a fellow Palace defender who was standing at a deeper position and playing Estupinan onside, not James Tomkins.
Beginning in December, Webb returned from Major League Soccer with the promise to raise standards in the English game.
The VAR errors involving Arsenal and Brighton, however, have marred a promising start and forced the public to admit “human error.”
All officials, with the exception of those serving this week in Europe, have reportedly been asked to attend the meeting.
In the meeting, Webb will address the problems that led to the errors and remind officials that they cannot be repeated if coaches and players are to continue to have faith in the system.
On Tuesday, appointments for the games this coming weekend are expected to be made.
John Brooks
John Brooks (born 1990) is a Premier League football referee who was promoted to the league in June 2021.
Brooks had previously worked as a Premier League assistant referee and as a Select Group 2 referee since 2018.
Brooks officiated his debut Premier League game at Molineux in December 2021 between Wolves and Burnley.
What Other Blunders Happened?
Despite the fact that Tomas Soucek appeared to use his arm to block Conor Gallagher’s shot, Chelsea was not given a penalty against West Ham.
After obviously striking Soucek’s hand with Gallagher’s shot in the 89th minute, referee Craig Pawson gave the play the green light. VAR did not rule on the matter.
After 27 minutes of Wolves’ 2-1 victory over Southampton, Mario Lemina received a second caution, which led to his dismissal from the game.
Mikel Arteta, the Arsenal coach, believes that Ivan Toney’s equalizing goal for Brentford on Saturday should have been disallowed.
Toney’s close-range header gave Arsenal a 1-0 lead after 74 minutes.
The goal was upheld following a VAR review because Toney was found to be onside.
However, the head coach of the Gunners believes that the goal should have been ruled offside.
