PGMOL chief Howard Webb's regret over controversial Manchester United referee decision

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PGMOL chief Howard Webb believes VAR should have intervened with Bruno Fernandes' red card for Manchester United against Tottenham.

Fernandes was shown a straight red card at the end of the first half of the heavy 3-0 defeat to Tottenham and United launched an appeal with the Football Association (FA). The appeal was successful and Fernandes' ban was overturned, but fans questioned why VAR didn't intervene during the game, which would have prevented the sending-off.

Former referee Webb has become the public face of VAR since he was appointed chief refereeing officer at the PGMOL and has now provided insight into last month's mistake. Webb admitted he was frustrated that VAR didn't rectify the on field decision on Fernandes and discussed why assistant referees aren't given more licence to be involved.

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"We released the audio and you can hear the assistant, who had a good view of the incident, say that it was awful and a 100 per cent red for him," said Webb speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet. "From his angle, it looks it because it looks like the studs have gone up but then there is an angle, a second replay from Sky Sports, and straight away I thought that would be an overturn and it wasn’t.

"I was frustrated that we didn’t step in to rectify because it was clearly wrong in my opinion as he slipped and tried to trip him, but it was the side of the foot, he didn’t drive the studs in.”

He continued: “I’d only advocate for the assistant to come in if they’re certain. If they’ve got the best view, and sometimes they do have the better view, it would be wrong for them to say nothing and not get involved – they’ve got a responsibility to step in.

"I’ve worked with some of the best assistants, they’ve made me look good and a lot of decisions I’ve made where I couldn’t see, they’ve come in with some good information.

"Maybe in this case, he [the assistant] should have described it a bit more, maybe he should have said, 'From this angle it looks like it’s studs into the shin', and that may encourage the VAR to be more receptive and get involved.

"VAR looked at it and said, 'Appreciate you slipped but he’s not gone for the ball, he’s caught him high, and there is some force.' For me, it was just lacking that excessive force that you’d get from studs into the shin.”

After the game, Fernandes said: "It's a clear foul but never a red card and that's my feeling. He [Maddison] said it was a foul but never a red card. I think everyone can see it's never a red card. If this is a red card, we have to look at many other incidents and I see many incidents of Onana getting kicked and I never see it so quickly coming as a red card. It's never a red card."

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