Disallowing Fulham goal was ‘misjudgement’ – Webb

Howard Webb, the head of Professional Game Match Officials Limited, calls the decision to forbid Josh King’s goal for Fulham in their weekend defeat against Chelsea a “misjudgement.”

King, 18, scored after 22 minutes, but Rodrigo Muniz’s foul was lengthyly recorded by the video assistant referee (VAR) during the intervening period.

Trevoh Chalobah, Chelsea’s centre-back, was alleged to have stepped on Muniz’ foot as he approached the halfway line.

Marco Silva, manager of Fulham, called it “unbelievable” that the goal was denied.

After another contentious VAR decision went against the visitors, leaving Silva furious, Chelsea won the game 2-0 with Joao Pedro’s header and Enzo Fernandez’s penalty.

Michael Salisbury was removed as the match’s VAR official following the game between Liverpool and Arsenal.

PGMOL’s chief refereeing officer Webb acknowledged the error while speaking on Match Officials Mic’d Up, a television program that analyzes VAR decisions from previous gameweeks.

When the “evidence is very clear,” according to Webb, officials should “only be taking goals away,” according to the guidance they give officials.

It was not contentious; it was incorrect. We’ve established some guidelines for how we conduct matches in the Premier League and use VAR,” said Webb.

That instruction was not properly followed in this circumstance. The officials involved in this incident made a false assumption about how Muniz and Chalobah got in touch.

Without considering the full scope of the situation, the officials “got super focused on that contact.”

Chelsea has benefited from a VAR intervention in its second successive Premier League home game.

Marc Guehi was found to have stifled Eberechi Eze’s free kick in Crystal Palace’s 0-0 draw on the opening weekend owing to his alleged interference with the wall.

VAR decisions, according to Burnley manager Scott Parker, are “threatening to turn football into the most sterile game there is,” but Webb defended its use.

The PGMOL chief continued, “We’ve done really well in the last 18 months or so, with respect to the referee’s call.”

We need to keep doing that because the Premier League has seen the least amount of intervention than any other major league in Europe.