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Referees’ chief Howard Webb has accepted that the VAR should not have sent David Coote to the pitchside monitor over a decision whether to award West Ham a penalty in their match against Manchester United.
The incident saw Red Devils defender Matthijs de Ligt and Hammers striker Danny Ings challenge for the ball in the box with the Englishman going down as a result.
Coote, who was suspended on Monday for a leaked video branding Jurgen Klopp a ‘German ****’, originally waved away calls for a penalty but was recommended by the VAR to have another look.
Now Webb has admitted the VAR ‘misread’ the incident and made a mistake in sending Coote to the screen, in a chat with ex-Everton midfielder Leon Osman on Match Officials Mic’d Up.
Howard Webb has admitted that VAR made a mistake in sending David Coote to the pitchside monitor regarding a decision over whether to award West Ham a penalty against Man United
The referee did not originally give the penalty but changed his decision after rewatching it
The incident sees defender Matthijs de Ligt challenge for the ball with striker Danny Ings
The former referee, who officiated the 2010 World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands, said: ‘I thought it was a misread, Leon, by the VAR, which is normally really talented and reliable.
‘It gets uber-focussed in this situation on de Ligt’s leg coming through onto Danny Ings, not making any contact with the ball and the VAR sees it as a clear foul.
‘I don’t think it should have got involved. I think this is a situation where we’d leave the on-field decision as it is, probably whichever way it is called. I prefer no foul being given and to play on.’
There was a wild cheer from home supporters as Coote headed over to the monitor at the London Stadium on October 27, with most fans now savvy to the fact that a majority of decisions get overturned when the referee rewatches on the screen.
Webb responded to the view that officials do not feel empowered to stick with their original call when they are in such a situation.
‘They’re told that they are absolutely within their rights to stay with their decision when they’re at the screen,’ he said. ‘They can also manage the players in a better way when they’ve seen it for themselves.
‘When they’re at the screen they know they’re there for a reason – because a VAR has identified in their opinion a clear and obvious error. But of course the VAR is a human who has analysed in real time and made a judgement and that judgement could be wrong.
‘So we do remind our referees the VAR can be wrong and keep an open mind and when you look at it, look at it with fresh eyes and make your own judgement.’
The VAR settles on an angle before telling Coote to head over to the London Stadium monitor
Jarrod Bowen ended up dispatching the spot kick to condemn Man United to a 2-1 defeat
It proved to be Erik ten Hag’s final game as Red Devils boss as he was sacked a day later
The show gives viewers an insight into conversations between on-field officials and the team at Stockley Park and, in this case, Coote initially says, ‘No, no, no’, as the contact between de Ligt and Ings takes place.
After looking at a couple of angles, the VAR says: ‘I’ve got a tight angle here, I think it’s a penalty. De Ligt into the foot, lower leg, yeah. Misses the ball and the contact with the leg.
The Assistant VAR adds: ‘I think de Ligt doesn’t make contact with the ball. I agree.
The VAR then says: ‘[David] Cootey, I’m going to recommend an on-field review for possible penalty. So there’s no contact on the ball from de Ligt.’
The referee and the VAR then agree that there is ‘knee to knee contact’ but Coote questions whether Ings ever had control of the ball in the build-up to the incident.
The VAR admits he does not but argues that the striker is ‘moving into the way of the ball’ which seems to convince the on-field official to reward a penalty.
Webb also took the opportunity to confirm that ‘a full investigation’ will take place after a leaked video of Coote emerged online.
Coote has been suspended by referees’ chiefs after footage – which appears to be several years old showed him calling then Reds boss Klopp a ‘German ****’ and ‘f***ing arrogant’.
Coote (above) described Jurgen Klopp as a ‘German ****’ in a foul-mouthed tirade during a video and has since been suspended by refereeing chiefs PGMOL while they investigate
Coote (left) tells the camera ‘that f***ing last video cannot go anywhere’ in the second video uploaded online while the man identified as Kitt (right) says ‘let’s not ‘f***ing ruin his career’
The referee and former Liverpool boss Klopp had several runs in with each other over the years
PGMOL, the body responsible for refereeing games in England, are investigating the authenticity of the footage in question, which Webb discussed on Tuesday night.
Speaking on Sky Sports’ show Mic’d Up, Webb said: ‘We became aware, Leon [Osman], of a video that was being circulated on social media that we are taking very seriously.
‘We’ve instigated a full investigation. One of our referees, David Coote, has been suspended with immediate effect pending the outcome of that investigation.
‘There’s not much more I can say at this stage until we’ve worked through that investigation’.
The astonishing video, which has gone viral on social media, appears to show Coote looking worse for wear as he delivers an explicit rant about the Merseyside club.
‘Liverpool were s***,’ said the man alleged to be Coote in the video. ‘(Klopp is a) ****, absolute ****. Aside from having a right pop at me when I was refereeing them against Burnley in lockdown, he accused me of lying and then had a right f***ing pop of me.
‘I have no interest in speaking to someone who is f***ing arrogant. So I do my best not to speak to him. (James) Milner is all right, I get on with him. You can see me there with a ‘mask’ on. But, my god, German ****, f*** me.’
