Howard Webb says it’s right that Barr is right to overturn Arsenal’s penalty in a Premier League match against Newcastle United on Sunday.
Arsenal was awarded a penalty from umpire Jarred Gillett when Viktor Gyoker collapsed under a challenge from Magpie goalkeeper Nick Pope.
However, Gillett was sent to the pitch side monitor by VAR and after reviewing the incident, he overturned the original decision and thought Pope had played the ball before making contact with Gyoker.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was sure it should be a penalty and he was grateful that his team had won 2-1.
“There are some things we can talk about, like penalties,” Arteta said. “If there is a VAR, it’s the fact that it took a long time to show that it’s a clear and obvious error and that it’s not a clear and obvious error.
“If it’s not a clear and obvious error, then VAR shouldn’t intervene. This has been communicating this style of decision again for several years. It’s very clear to me that there’s no need to intervene because it’s a penalty.”
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Unfortunately for Arteta, Premier League umpire Chief Webb supported the decision to overturn the penalty, calling it a “clear error” by the umpire.
“Var checks for penalties,” Webb said officials from the Premier League match on the Mic’d Up Show.
“When he does, he clearly sees Gyoker reach the ball and moves a little further, but importantly, Nick Pope moves forward with that right foot and is deviating from the direction the ball is in, so he gets a very clear touch on the ball.
“The Pope plantes his feet on the ground. He doesn’t let it advance to Gyoker. There’s a clear gap between the two players when the Pope plays the ball and the two players come together quite normally.
“The action by the Pope is normal, not reckless, it’s just a kick out towards the ball, the ball deviates and does not contact the player until the ball plays. The contact happens quite normally then so it uses the VAR to intervene to show what actually happened.
“I think the deviation is very clear. You’ll see that touch by gyoker and you’ll see the Pope’s right foot coming in.
“It touches the ball and moves the ball in a different direction than the one that was previously in. If you place your foot on the ground when he makes contact with the ball, there is a separation between him and gyoker. At that point there is no contact.
“So it was a good challenge by the Pope, and it was a key part in that it wasn’t a foul and the judge didn’t recognize the touch by the Pope in real time. So when Val saw it, he saw it, he saw it, he saw it, so he didn’t see the touch by the Pope, so the judge saw the attitude really important, I saw the aspects that really mattered, and the judge saw the foul and I started with the ball that was dropped.
“We are working with the referee’s call. It’s an important principle in the Premier League, and the referee will make the call on the field. When VAR sees the footage it will only be overturned if he thinks there is absolutely no reason to support his decision.
“This shows the Pope reaching out with his feet and plays the ball cleanly without contacting the other person. In fact, he hasn’t actually been in contact with the other person.
“The judges were not aware of that touch. It’s important for the VAR to look at it and consider it a clear mistake, and I agree with VAR’s intervention.
“So the referee can go to the screen and look at the full sequence, see that touch, and see the usual play action by the Pope and make sure the penalty was cancelled correctly.”
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