VAR official Lee Mason failed to spot Christian Norgaard's offside in build-up to Ivan Toney's equaliser for Brentford against Arsenal; the PGMOL admitted it was a "human error" to allow the goal; Lee Mason will not take charge of any Premier League fixtures this weekend
Wednesday 15 February 2023 06:04, UK
Mikel Arteta accused VAR Lee Mason of "not understanding" his job after the official allowed Brentford's late equaliser against his Arsenal side to stand, when it should have been ruled out for offside.
Ivan Toney's 74th-minute goal earned the Bees a 1-1 draw against the Premier League leaders, despite Christian Norgaard being offside as he crossed for the striker to score, with the PGMOL admitting it was a "human error" to allow the goal as Mason forgot to draw the offside lines on the midfielder.
As a result of the error, Mason has been dropped from his VAR duties for this weekend's round of Premier League fixtures - the second time he has received this punishment after disallowing Newcastle a goal against Crystal Palace in September.
Arteta said the blunder "cost Arsenal two points" in their Premier League title race - with Manchester City cutting the gap to the first-placed Gunners to three points a day later. Both Arsenal and City face each other on Wednesday night in a huge title showdown at the Emirates Stadium.
"We ended the [Brentford] game, after analysing it with the evidence and images, with a huge anger and disappointment," said Arteta in his pre-match press conference for the City game.
"Because that wasn't a human error. That was a big, big, big not conceiving and understanding your job. That's not acceptable, I'm sorry. And that cost Arsenal two points and that's not going to be restored.
"So we are going have to find those two points somewhere else in the league. But at the same time, we appreciate the apology and the explanations which were really open to be fair.
"We have got a lot of sympathy from a lot of colleagues and in the industry and in football. They are [saying] we cannot play with integrity in the way that we do. And that's it. We have to move on.
"That has certainly made the players, the staff, the fans even stronger with a desire to pass this herald that they put on us. We move on with it."
Asked if he was satisfied with the apology from PGMOL, Arteta joked: "I will be satisfied if they give me the two points back, which is not going to be the case!
"They were serious, open genuine and honest apologies which is really good. But doesn't take away from the fact that we have two less points that we should have in the table.
"Everybody makes errors and mistakes and we are part of that, me the first one in our job. But that was something else. I wasn't having it, the club wasn't having it. And I think it's clear, the consequences of what happened."
Despite the criticism on Mason, Arteta admitted this high-profile mistake, which came on the same day the PGMOL admitted Brighton should have been awarded a goal in their 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace, could actually help improve VAR in the long-term.
"When I see the reaction, for example that [refereeing chief] Howard Webb had and the PGMOL and the Premier League had, and how genuine it was, that anger [shows] they want to do the best they can and they know the standards and everything that is at stake.
"I think, in the end, it will help. Hopefully we can use that to make the game better and have more integrity, have better professionals and pay attention to details that matter because at the end of the day it has a significant output on results."
How will Arsenal's players respond to this injustice as they prepare to host title rivals City on Wednesday night?
"That was the reaction after the game: we can't do anything about it," said Arteta. "Don't use it as an excuse. Try to move on, face it and go for it, that's it."
Referees' chief Howard Webb held a meeting of Premier League officials at Stockley Park on Tuesday after the two high-profile offside errors at the weekend involving Arsenal and Brighton.
"There was a focus on error prevention and a reinforcement of best practice process with the aim of achieving accurate outcomes in an efficient manner going forward," a PGMOL statement read.
"We accept mistakes were made and we acted accordingly by calling a meeting and changing match official appointments where appropriate, however, we are encouraged by the way our officials have responded and are confident they will take the learnings forward, always with the aim of delivering high officiating standards for the benefit of the game."
Arsenal were denied victory against Brentford on Saturday due to a costly VAR error - and it was not the first time this season.
The error, acknowledged as such by PGMOL on Sunday, left Arsenal fuming as they missed the chance to move eight points clear, and it was not the first time a controversial VAR call has contributed towards them dropping points this season. In fact, it has happened on four separate occasions.
Here, we take a closer look at each incident and consider how it could have affected Arsenal's points total...
The Premier League must persist with the use of VAR despite a controversial weekend of decisions said Gary Neville - as "the good far outweighs the bad".
The incidents involving Brighton and Arsenal have reignited the ongoing debate surrounding the technology, but speaking on Sunday, Neville insisted it would be a "massive mistake" to call time on its use in the Premier League as a result.
He said: "I think we can always expect more. But it is human error - things happen so quickly. We sometimes see things out here and then we see the replays and we don't spot things, so we get it. I know they are trained to do this and spot these things, but we don't spot everything ourselves and we've been around football a long time.
"What I don't like the idea of is that, because Howard Webb has come out and apologised, all of a sudden that should signal the end of VAR. Even he accepts it's bad.
"Honestly, I think it would be a massive mistake and it won't happen anyway, whether I say so or whether people in the game say so or the media say so. It would be a massive mistake to lose VAR because of this weekend.
"The amount of really bad decisions that have been overturned, the amount of offside goals that have then been corrected the other way - the good far outweighs the bad. But it has been a difficult weekend and a challenging weekend for referees.
"Let's be clear, there are a lot more good decisions being made than there are bad decisions and that's coming from someone who was very critical of referees sometimes during my career, doesn't give referees an easy time, has no sway towards VAR or against VAR. But if we want accuracy in decisions, which is what we've called for for all these years, then we should persist with it.
"Webb says he's investigating it and reviewing it. We want to look at the personnel, we want to look at what's happened this weekend, we want to put it down as just being a really bad weekend. It's not happened before this season - it's happened this weekend all at once."
