Premier League referees 'losing faith' in VAR changes after Man City fiasco

Premier League referees are losing faith in the new semi-automated offside technology that was introduced for this season - with a disallowed goal for Manchester City proving to be the tipping point.

Pep Guardiola's side saw a goal in their Carabao Cup semi-final at Newcastle disallowed - but only after a five-and-a-half-minute delay. Antoine Semenyo thought he'd scored at St James' Park but a decision was needed over whether Erling Haaland, in an offside position, was seeking to gain an advantage.

The Genius Sports system operates the semi-automated offside but the Telegraph reports that it struggles when the order of players in a phase of play does not have the goalkeeper as the last man. It also encounters problems when there are many players involved.

The semi-automated system could not recognise that Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope was not the last man and the VAR Stuart Attwell was obliged to use the back-up Hawk-Eye – which drew lines on the screen.

Referees feel that the perception is that they – the on-field officials and VARs – are getting the blame for the delays from fans. Genius Sports and the other contractor, Hawk-Eye, which provides the other VAR services both have staff within the Stockley Park hub in London.

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The issues with the semi-automated offside technology was raised at a weekly VAR training meeting for select group 1 referees – who take charge of the Premier League games and those at the top of the Championship. However it is the Premier League that agreed a contract with provider Genius Sports on behalf of the referees’ body, PGMOL.

Unlike the rest of the VAR services, which use camera feeds from broadcasters, the Genius system has its own network of cameras. Stadiums need to be fitted with a network of 30 iPhones that capture 100 frames per second. When it was first introduced a Premier League statement said that in “most cases” the system would “significantly decrease” delays in reaching verdicts.

Guardiola said after the incident at St James' Park: "I'm pretty sure Howard Webb [technical director for Professional Game Match Officials] is going to call me tomorrow to take explanations for that. Today was more than six minutes [reviewing] and we're not even able to discuss it with the referee. But they will call me."

VAR has been in the Premier League since 2019 and there continues to be divided opinions on whether it has been beneficial to the game. Similar errors continue to occur. A recent decision in Newcastle's win at Aston Villa was labelled by Wayne Rooney as one of the "worst decisions he'd ever seen".