Former Arsenal forward Alan Smith could not resist making a cheeky dig at VAR during Nottingham Forest’s game against Brentford, after events at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Forest thought they had taken the lead at The City Ground as Taiwo Awoniyi slammed the ball home from close-range, only for the offside flag to go up. The VAR had a closer look and decided to stick with the on-field decision, with Awoniyi straying just in front of the last defender.
However, unlike Saturday’s game between Tottenham and Liverpool, Smith believes the officials came to the correct conclusion on that offside call. “We don’t want another offside fiasco,” Smith said on Sky Sports. “But this one looks fairly simple.
“I thought the one at Spurs looked fairly simple… but I think they’re going to get this one right. It doesn’t seem as if they need too long here, but they’re obviously anxious to make sure.
The decision to not allow Luis Diaz’s first-half strike in Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat at Spurs baffled Jurgen Klopp and Gary Neville among others. Diaz felt he had opened the scoring for the Reds after running in on goal and slotting into the corner, but the offside flag was raised.
After a 40-second review, VAR did not overrule the decision, despite replays showing Diaz appearing to be in an onside position when Mohamed Salah played the ball through. Following the full-time whistle, PGMOL admitted the decision was a “clear and obvious factual error” and that a full review will be conducted.
A statement read: “PGMOL acknowledges a significant human error occurred during the first half of Tottenham Hotspur vs Liverpool. The goal by Luis Diaz was disallowed for offside by the on-field team of match officials.
