FIVE THINGS WE LEARNED from Sky Sports’ VAR special with Howard Webb

For the first time ever, Premier League fans got to see exactly how – and why – VAR decisions are made with the audio of officials broadcast on Sky. 

With refereeing chief Howard Webb eager to be more ‘transparent’, fans got 30 minutes of insightful analysis on key decisions made this season, including goals disallowed and penalties awarded. 

While VAR remains a process that has to factor in human error, it was a rare opportunity to win back some favour among supporters by explaining decision-making in detail.

There were plenty of nicknames, some new terms we’ve never heard before and an acknowledgement that there remains work to do.

Here, Mail Sport runs through five things we learned from Monday night’s VAR special… 

© Provided by Daily Mail Listening to VAR audio exposed the fact referees love to refer to each other by nicknames © Provided by Daily Mail The audio emerged after refereeing chief Howard Webb went on Sky’s Monday Night Football   Referees and VAR LOVE a nickname 

‘Ledge, are you seeing this?’ 

‘Tayls, you got that?’

Safe to say referees and VAR operators have done away with formalities when it comes to deliberating on-field decisions. 

Audio heard on Sky sounded like a bunch of, to use their words, ‘mates’ talking through decisions like any one of us does each time there is a debatable call.

But fair play to Scott Ledger, routinely being called ‘Ledge’ at work is good going. 

Webb is looking to change things – and this showed it

Credit, too, to Howard Webb.

Referees – and VAR in particular – have taken a lot of flack this season and, in fairness, sometimes with good reason.

Arsenal and Brighton were particularly fuming back in February, so much so that Webb went to meet officials at both clubs to explain why VAR failed them in games against Brentford and Crystal Palace respectively. 

While he wasn’t dragged into anything too controversial on this maiden Sky appearance to ‘go behind the curtain’, it was insightful and clear as to why he was there doing it. 

Webb wants to be more ‘transparent’ in a bid to win back fan favour for officials, who he continued to speak very highly of. 

His appearance went down brilliantly and it’s the type of thing which can go a long way to winning some sympathies with the complexities that come with refereeing and VAR in real-time. 

Expect the success of Monday night’s appearance to trigger more of this in future. 

© Provided by Daily Mail Webb distinguished between factual errors – like handball – and the more debatable calls Ever heard of A-P-P? You have now

No, not one we were aware of either. 

But unlike the apps – applications – on our phones, this was all to do with the Attacking Phase of Play.

Where does the action start ahead of the reviewable incident? It’s not always bulletproof – more on that later – but it was quite clear as to where they were drawing lines in the sand on this. 

It’s often highly debated when one phase of play ends and the next begins so spelling it out like this during calls – both the VAR and Assistant VAR were heard calling for an APP check – was a useful education. 

When and when not to go to the monitor

This one really piqued the interest of studio pundits Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher and the answer lies in factual decisions and non-factual decisions. 

Webb explained succinctly that factual errors are clear and lacking in any confusion. He used the ball hitting Kai Havertz’s arm before a goal as a factual decision and one that did not require the referee to bother looking at the pitchside monitor. 

‘We are asking the VAR to be as efficient as they can be but we’re hoping that by playing these out we see the process,’ he said. 

‘We can’t sacrifice accuracy for speed. 

© Provided by Daily Mail There were many examples used and an explanation of when referees need to check monitor © Provided by Daily Mail One such monitor use came when ruling out a handball against Arsenal up at Newcastle

‘What we want to do is have all the information we can to get to the right decision. Don’t forget we are dealing with human beings with VAR, we are still learning.’

It did, however, raise the question as to how much the VAR was actually coaching – and/or influencing the on-field official – before they make a decision.

Webb insisted that the VAR simply spells out the situation for the referee, who may not have had a suitable angle of an incident, but it was Carragher who asked if there was influence at play, with a clip involving Craig Pawson one of the examples used. 

it’s a tricky one that is open to interpretation.  

It’s not foolproof 

And, ultimately, that’s to be expected. 

Webb was quizzed on mistakes made this season – Arsenal and Brighton were particularly aggrieved, as we mentioned – and he said that ‘open conversations’ have been had with clubs, with apologies made privately as well as publicly. 

It showed good self awareness that they reviewed one of the decisions VAR got wrong when Ivan Toney won a penalty against Bournemouth.

Webb explained that the APP was in question as a foul earlier in the play should have triggered a Bournemouth free-kick – but VAR started to analyse too late in the move. 

More explainers like this will win back favour, even if VAR fume will never truly vanish. It’s part of the game now!  

Read more