Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg has suggested that VAR is making officials ‘scared’ of reaching a decision and claims that it almost made him quit football.
The technology has been under increased scrutiny in recent weeks - with Arsenal, Brighton and Chelsea all being on the end of questionable decisions involving both offsides and handballs. PGMOL chief Howard Webb called an emergency meeting of officials over the weekend due to the backlash.
It remains to be seen whether that will help officials during the remainder of the campaign, but former Premier League official Clattenburg remains unconvinced. Speaking on the No Tippy Tippy Football podcast via William Hill, he suggested the technology is making referees fearful of reaching decisions off their own back.
“VAR has caused a big problem,” the 47-year-old said. “It happened to me when I went to China, I started not refereeing, and I actually relied on the VAR. For the first month I felt like I was going to quit.
“I thought, what am I doing? I’ve lost my core ability to make a decision. As a referee you make split second decisions and I was so comfortable at doing it. I’d made lots of decisions in the Premier League and I didn’t need VAR – well I could’ve needed it sometimes, but not to the amount that they’re using it now.”
He added: “When I see these referees now week in, week out, there is a fear, and they’re scared to make a decision. The problem is when you’re scared to make a decision you don’t make one, and then the VAR doesn’t make one either.
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“If we look at the West Ham decision against Chelsea on Saturday [Tomas Soucek's handball]… Because the referee doesn’t give it, the VAR then goes ‘I don’t want to give it because he’s breaking his fall’, so it compounds the mistake.
“If the referee just gave the penalty as he should have seen it and had the courage to blow, the VAR would’ve supported it. So, we have still got all of these problems with the referees not making the original decisions like we did in our time and that’s the difference.”
Ahead of the latest round of Premier League fixtures, there have already been some alterations to officiating teams in the aftermath of last weekend’s errors. John Brooks - the official who controversially ruled out Pervis Estupinan’s strike for Brighton against Crystal Palace - was originally set to be named as the VAR for the Merseyside derby and Arsenal’s clash with Manchester City but was replaced for both games.
However, he is set to return this weekend after being confirmed as the fourth official for the Gunners’ trip to Villa Park on Saturday afternoon.
Lee Mason is yet to return though after his controversial decision to allow Ivan Toney’s equaliser against the North London side, despite Christian Norgaard clearly being offside. He has not been given an assignment ahead of the latest round of fixtures.
