VAR 20/21
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A total of 128 goals or incidents were directly affected by the video ref in the Premier League in the 2020-21 season.
- VAR's biggest controversies in the 2020-21 season
- How VAR has changed for 2020-21
- VAR in the Premier League: Ultimate guide
In 2019-20, Brighton & Hove Albion benefited the most, while only Newcastle United didn't experience a single overturn decision against them all season. Check out the full 2019-20 season stats.
Here, we run through the league table of overturned decisions for 2020-21 season, and those rejected by the referee at the review screen.
VAR OVERTURNS (NET SCORE)
Burnley +4
Everton +4
Chelsea +3
Fulham +3
Sheffield United +3
Aston Villa +2
Leicester City +2
Brighton & Hove Albion +1
Crystal Palace +1
Leeds +1
Manchester City +1
Manchester United 0
Newcastle 0
Southampton 0
West Ham -1
Tottenham Hotspur -3
Wolves -3
Arsenal -6
Liverpool -6
West Brom -6
Total overturns: 123
Rejected overturns: 5
Leading to goals: 34
Leading to disallowed goals: 42
Penalties awarded: 29 (6 missed)
Pens for handball: 12
Penalties overturned: 22
Penalties retakes (GK encroach): 3
Goals ruled out for offside: 32
Goals awarded after incorrect offside: 7
Goals ruled out for handball: 6 (1 in build-up)
Goals allowed after wrong handball: 0
Goals ruled out for a foul: 3
Red cards: 17
Overturned red cards: 2
Mistaken identity: 1
DOGSO cancelled: 1
What will the VAR review?
- Goal/no goal
- Penalty/no penalty
- Direct red card (not second yellow card/caution)
- Mistaken identity (when the referee cautions or sends off the wrong player)
What will it not review?
- Any yellow card (including second yellow card leading to red)
- Any free kick offence outside the box (other than red card offence.
Liverpool -6
Overturns: 18
Rejected overturns: 2
Leading to goals for: 0
Disallowed goals for: 7
Leading to goals against: 3
Disallowed goals against: 3
Net goal score: -7
Subjective decisions for: 3
Subjective decisions against: 6
Net subjective score: -3
Penalties for / against: 0 / 3
Game: Chelsea (A; Sept. 20)
Incident: Andreas Christensen sent off for denying a goal-scoring opportunity when bringing down Sadio Mane, 45th minute - FOR
Game: Everton (A; Oct. 17)
Incident: Jordan Henderson goal ruled out for offside against Sadio Mane, 90th minute - AGAINST
Game: Sheffield United (H; Oct. 24)
Incident: Penalty awarded (scored by Sander Berge) for foul on Oliver McBurnie by Fabinho. Factual decision on where foul took place, 10th minute - AGAINST
Incident: Mohamed Salah goal disallowed for offside, 62nd minute - AGAINST
Game: West Ham (H; Oct. 31)
Incident: Diojo Jota goal disallowed for a foul by Sadio Mane, 82nd minute - AGAINST
Game: Man City (A; Nov. 8)
Incident: Penalty awarded (missed by Kevin De Bruyne) for handball against Joe Gomez, 41st minute - AGAINST
Game: Brighton (A; Nov. 28)
Incident: Mohamed Salah goal disallowed for offside, 35th minute - AGAINST
Incident: Offside against Sadio Mane after scoring, 85th minute - AGAINST
Incident: Penalty awarded (scored by Pascal Gross) for a foul on Danny Welbeck by Andrew Robertson, 92nd minute - AGAINST
Error! Filename not specified.Mo Salah was marginally offside at Brighton. Premier League
Game: Wolves (H; Dec. 6)
Incident: Penalty cancelled, Sadio Mane adjudged not to have fouled Conor Coady, 44th minute - FOR
Game: Fulham (A; Dec. 13)
Incident: Penalty review rejected by referee Andre Marriner following Fabinho challenge on Ivan Cavaleiro, 16th minute - FOR
Game: Tottenham (A; Jan. 28)
Incident: Son Heung-Min goal disallowed for offside in the build-up, 3rd minute - FOR
Incident: Mohamed Salah goal ruled out for handball in the build-up by Roberto Firmino, 56th minute - AGAINST
Game: Leicester (A; Feb. 13)
Incident: Penalty cancelled after Thiago's foul on Harvey Barnes adjudged to be outside the area, 76th minute - FOR
Incident: James Maddison goal allowed after incorrect offside against Daniel Amartey, 79th minute - AGAINST
Game: Everton (H; Feb. 20)
Incident: Penalty overturn review rejected after Trent Alexander-Arnold had brought down Dominic Calvert-Lewin, 81st minute - AGAINST
Game: Chelsea (H; March 4)
Incident: Timo Werner goal disallowed for offside, 24th minute - FOR
Game: Aston Villa (H; April 10)
Incident: Roberto Firmino goal ruled out for offside against Diogo Jota in the build-up, 45th minute - AGAINST
Error! Filename not specified.Diogo Jota was ruled to be marginally in front of the last defender. Premier League
Game: Newcastle (H; April 24)
Incident: Callum Wilson goal disallowed for handball, 92nd minute - FOR
Game: Man United (A; May 13)
Incident: Penalty cancelled for challenge on Nathaniel Phillips by Eric Bailly, 27th minute - AGAINST
- VAR's biggest controversies in the 2020-21 season
- How VAR has changed for 2020-21
- VAR in the Premier League: Ultimate guide
In 2019-20, Brighton & Hove Albion benefited the most, while only Newcastle United didn't experience a single overturn decision against them all season. Check out the full 2019-20 season stats.
Here, we run through the league table of overturned decisions for 2020-21 season, and those rejected by the referee at the review screen.
VAR OVERTURNS (NET SCORE)
Burnley +4
Everton +4
Chelsea +3
Fulham +3
Sheffield United +3
Aston Villa +2
Leicester City +2
Brighton & Hove Albion +1
Crystal Palace +1
Leeds +1
Manchester City +1
Manchester United 0
Newcastle 0
Southampton 0
West Ham -1
Tottenham Hotspur -3
Wolves -3
Arsenal -6
Liverpool -6
West Brom -6
Total overturns: 123
Rejected overturns: 5
Leading to goals: 34
Leading to disallowed goals: 42
Penalties awarded: 29 (6 missed)
Pens for handball: 12
Penalties overturned: 22
Penalties retakes (GK encroach): 3
Goals ruled out for offside: 32
Goals awarded after incorrect offside: 7
Goals ruled out for handball: 6 (1 in build-up)
Goals allowed after wrong handball: 0
Goals ruled out for a foul: 3
Red cards: 17
Overturned red cards: 2
Mistaken identity: 1
DOGSO cancelled: 1
What will the VAR review?
- Goal/no goal
- Penalty/no penalty
- Direct red card (not second yellow card/caution)
- Mistaken identity (when the referee cautions or sends off the wrong player)
What will it not review?
- Any yellow card (including second yellow card leading to red)
- Any free kick offence outside the box (other than red card offence.
Liverpool -6
Overturns: 18
Rejected overturns: 2
Leading to goals for: 0
Disallowed goals for: 7
Leading to goals against: 3
Disallowed goals against: 3
Net goal score: -7
Subjective decisions for: 3
Subjective decisions against: 6
Net subjective score: -3
Penalties for / against: 0 / 3
Game: Chelsea (A; Sept. 20)
Incident: Andreas Christensen sent off for denying a goal-scoring opportunity when bringing down Sadio Mane, 45th minute - FOR
Game: Everton (A; Oct. 17)
Incident: Jordan Henderson goal ruled out for offside against Sadio Mane, 90th minute - AGAINST
Game: Sheffield United (H; Oct. 24)
Incident: Penalty awarded (scored by Sander Berge) for foul on Oliver McBurnie by Fabinho. Factual decision on where foul took place, 10th minute - AGAINST
Incident: Mohamed Salah goal disallowed for offside, 62nd minute - AGAINST
Game: West Ham (H; Oct. 31)
Incident: Diojo Jota goal disallowed for a foul by Sadio Mane, 82nd minute - AGAINST
Game: Man City (A; Nov. 8)
Incident: Penalty awarded (missed by Kevin De Bruyne) for handball against Joe Gomez, 41st minute - AGAINST
Game: Brighton (A; Nov. 28)
Incident: Mohamed Salah goal disallowed for offside, 35th minute - AGAINST
Incident: Offside against Sadio Mane after scoring, 85th minute - AGAINST
Incident: Penalty awarded (scored by Pascal Gross) for a foul on Danny Welbeck by Andrew Robertson, 92nd minute - AGAINST
Error! Filename not specified.Mo Salah was marginally offside at Brighton. Premier League
Game: Wolves (H; Dec. 6)
Incident: Penalty cancelled, Sadio Mane adjudged not to have fouled Conor Coady, 44th minute - FOR
Game: Fulham (A; Dec. 13)
Incident: Penalty review rejected by referee Andre Marriner following Fabinho challenge on Ivan Cavaleiro, 16th minute - FOR
Game: Tottenham (A; Jan. 28)
Incident: Son Heung-Min goal disallowed for offside in the build-up, 3rd minute - FOR
Incident: Mohamed Salah goal ruled out for handball in the build-up by Roberto Firmino, 56th minute - AGAINST
Game: Leicester (A; Feb. 13)
Incident: Penalty cancelled after Thiago's foul on Harvey Barnes adjudged to be outside the area, 76th minute - FOR
Incident: James Maddison goal allowed after incorrect offside against Daniel Amartey, 79th minute - AGAINST
Game: Everton (H; Feb. 20)
Incident: Penalty overturn review rejected after Trent Alexander-Arnold had brought down Dominic Calvert-Lewin, 81st minute - AGAINST
Game: Chelsea (H; March 4)
Incident: Timo Werner goal disallowed for offside, 24th minute - FOR
Game: Aston Villa (H; April 10)
Incident: Roberto Firmino goal ruled out for offside against Diogo Jota in the build-up, 45th minute - AGAINST
Error! Filename not specified.Diogo Jota was ruled to be marginally in front of the last defender. Premier League
Game: Newcastle (H; April 24)
Incident: Callum Wilson goal disallowed for handball, 92nd minute - FOR
Game: Man United (A; May 13)
Incident: Penalty cancelled for challenge on Nathaniel Phillips by Eric Bailly, 27th minute - AGAINST
And Arsenal 4th!
I saw a stat that said it was higher than that. 16.5% i think.
hopefully the lizards factor this into next seasons algorithm so they don’t get rumbled
Wow, I wouldnt be surprised. Insane.
First person shooter?
The issue is with the rule far more than it is with how VAR 'works' it...
If the fucking rule measured only the positions of the feet of the players, and clarified that there had to be clear daylight between them to be considered offside, 90% of this shite would go away. The rule, as it stands today, is a pox.
If the fucking rule measured only the positions of the feet of the players, and clarified that there had to be clear daylight between them to be considered offside, 90% of this shite would go away. The rule, as it stands today, is a pox.
The thickness of the lines isn't the "thickness" at fault here.
Changing the thickness of the lines, changing it to measure feet & not armpits, changing it to check for "daylight" - all these things just move the point of debate a fraction, but it will still be down to millimeters, and so the problems it introduces in extreme marginal decisions, no benefit of doubt and the inability to celebrate a goal will persist.
- Two fat lines overlap 99%, but the green one is one pixel ahead of the red one,
- a toe nail (as opposed to an armpit hair) strays offside,
- is that bit of white in the picture, just about visible, really daylight or may it be the white stripe on the player behind him?
Just luck.
No conspiracy, take the tin foil hats off
No conspiracy, take the tin foil hats off
I don't think it should be feet necessarily, I'd go for part of the body that controlled the ball/scored the goal.
People are going to kick off, regardless of how the rule is phrased anyway, as the refs are fucking thick.
Ken Early: How can anybody think VAR is an improvement?
Belgium win over Portugal will be remembered for violent play and poor refereeing
At first sight Thorgan Hazard’s goal seemed like another of those finishes that have become so common since footballers started spending more time playing video game football than the real thing - like Andriy Yarmolenko v Netherlands, or Kasper Dolberg v Wales. Repeat viewings revealed Hazard had hit through the ball with huge power and the ball had swerved the ‘other’ way, deceiving Rui Patricio.
It was the outstanding moment of quality in a match that will be remembered more for violent play and inconsistent refereeing.
It had been a typically cagey knockout match, and the first moment of real excitement was when Romelu Lukaku suddenly broke free and ran into the Portugal half, with Palhinha hanging out the back of him. As the Portuguese defensive midfielder appeared to waterski in the wake of the massive Belgian, the mind went back to some comments Lukaku had made in an interview a couple of days ago, talking about Ronaldo: “I would like to have his dribble and the way he kicks the ball. He would like to have my power!”
Regardless of whether or not Ronaldo was blessed with Lukaku’s power, you feel that at some point he would have gone down and accepted the free-kick Palhinha was trying so desperately to give him. Lukaku instead gamely soldiered on as though he were playing in an Eton v Harrow game in the 1860s. Result: he lost the ball, and the referee gave Belgium nothing. The lesson for Palhinha was: with this ref, crime pays.
A few minutes later the ball broke again down the middle for Belgium, this time Kevin de Bruyne leading the charge with the ball at his feet. Again Palhinha was in pursuit but this time, rather than pull at the attacker’s shirt, he quickly slid in from behind and brought de Bruyne down with a trip.
De Bruyne’s foot caught and twisted in the ground as he fell, the wrenching force amplified by the momentum of his run. The referee played advantage as Eden Hazard pounced on the breaking ball and surged away, but at least this time he remembered to go back and book Palhinha for the tactical foul.
Tactical fouls
What a pity he hadn’t booked him for the first tactical foul, or rather series of attempted tactical fouls, on Lukaku. If the referee had done what he was supposed to do at that point, then Palhinha probably would not have dived in so recklessly to stop de Bruyne.
Instead, for the second time in a month, de Bruyne was forced out of a career-defining game by an opponent’s foul, after Chelsea’s Antonio Rüdiger broke his eye socket with a cynically planted shoulder in the face in the Champions League final. On both occasions, the offending player would surely consider the yellow card a price worth paying for taking out the opponents’ best player.
In the second half, another Belgium breakaway was halted by Pepe, who stepped across Thorgan Hazard’s run and, just to make sure, stuck his forearm into Hazard’s face. This was an obviously dangerous foul worthy of a red card. We waited for the inevitable intervention from VAR - but if anyone in the video ref’s booth had a problem with what Pepe had done, they were keeping their mouth shut about it.
Matthijs de Light handles the ball under pressure from Patrik Schick. Photograph: Tibor Illyes/EPA
VAR’s failure to do anything about Pepe was hard to understand in the context of a major VAR decision earlier in the day, when the Netherlands’ Matthijs de Ligt was sent off for a professional foul against Patrick Schick. This decision was probably correct according to the letter of the law, since de Ligt had committed a deliberate handball and thereby denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
However, it was curious that the referee had already accepted de Ligt had committed a foul, which he had initially opted to punish only with a yellow card: why? If it was a foul worthy of a booking, and it denied a goalscoring opportunity, why didn’t the referee show a red? Surely it hadn’t become more of a goalscoring opportunity because de Ligt had used his hand to prevent it.
Red card
The suspicion is that the referee didn’t ‘feel’ the situation really was worthy of a red card - with Schick still outside the corner of the Dutch penalty area and a lot still to do before he scored. However, once the referee had been called to the sideline and confronted with the video evidence of the handball, he felt that the letter of the law gave him no option but to send off de Ligt.
Without the main pillar of their defence, the Netherlands crumbled to a 2-0 defeat. Maybe they could have survived if they hadn’t lost the other pillar, Virgil van Dijk, to a brutal foul that, ironically enough, was completely missed by VAR at the time.
Spain’s Thiago Alcantara complained last week that he didn’t like VAR because it had taken away the element of the ‘picaresque’ - the way fooling the ref and getting away with it was an art in itself. In fact VAR still lets you get away with things, it’s just that your cleverness and skill no longer have anything to do with it. Agency is thus taken away from the players on the field, but they don’t get fairness in return.
The rules are supposed to be there to protect players from injury and to prevent egregious and cynical foul play. VAR has created a culture where micro-events, initially missed by the referee and most of the players, can be gamed into match-deciding penalties and red cards, while at the same time many obviously dangerous fouls continue to go unpunished.
The distinction between what is punished and what isn’t continues to be quite arbitrary, only now referees no longer have their eternal alibi: I did not see the incident. The game is now governed by an infuriating mix of traffic warden pedantry and incomprehensible official blindness.
It is hard to see how any thinking person can consider this an improvement on what went before.
Belgium win over Portugal will be remembered for violent play and poor refereeing
At first sight Thorgan Hazard’s goal seemed like another of those finishes that have become so common since footballers started spending more time playing video game football than the real thing - like Andriy Yarmolenko v Netherlands, or Kasper Dolberg v Wales. Repeat viewings revealed Hazard had hit through the ball with huge power and the ball had swerved the ‘other’ way, deceiving Rui Patricio.
It was the outstanding moment of quality in a match that will be remembered more for violent play and inconsistent refereeing.
It had been a typically cagey knockout match, and the first moment of real excitement was when Romelu Lukaku suddenly broke free and ran into the Portugal half, with Palhinha hanging out the back of him. As the Portuguese defensive midfielder appeared to waterski in the wake of the massive Belgian, the mind went back to some comments Lukaku had made in an interview a couple of days ago, talking about Ronaldo: “I would like to have his dribble and the way he kicks the ball. He would like to have my power!”
Regardless of whether or not Ronaldo was blessed with Lukaku’s power, you feel that at some point he would have gone down and accepted the free-kick Palhinha was trying so desperately to give him. Lukaku instead gamely soldiered on as though he were playing in an Eton v Harrow game in the 1860s. Result: he lost the ball, and the referee gave Belgium nothing. The lesson for Palhinha was: with this ref, crime pays.
A few minutes later the ball broke again down the middle for Belgium, this time Kevin de Bruyne leading the charge with the ball at his feet. Again Palhinha was in pursuit but this time, rather than pull at the attacker’s shirt, he quickly slid in from behind and brought de Bruyne down with a trip.
De Bruyne’s foot caught and twisted in the ground as he fell, the wrenching force amplified by the momentum of his run. The referee played advantage as Eden Hazard pounced on the breaking ball and surged away, but at least this time he remembered to go back and book Palhinha for the tactical foul.
Tactical fouls
What a pity he hadn’t booked him for the first tactical foul, or rather series of attempted tactical fouls, on Lukaku. If the referee had done what he was supposed to do at that point, then Palhinha probably would not have dived in so recklessly to stop de Bruyne.
Instead, for the second time in a month, de Bruyne was forced out of a career-defining game by an opponent’s foul, after Chelsea’s Antonio Rüdiger broke his eye socket with a cynically planted shoulder in the face in the Champions League final. On both occasions, the offending player would surely consider the yellow card a price worth paying for taking out the opponents’ best player.
In the second half, another Belgium breakaway was halted by Pepe, who stepped across Thorgan Hazard’s run and, just to make sure, stuck his forearm into Hazard’s face. This was an obviously dangerous foul worthy of a red card. We waited for the inevitable intervention from VAR - but if anyone in the video ref’s booth had a problem with what Pepe had done, they were keeping their mouth shut about it.
Matthijs de Light handles the ball under pressure from Patrik Schick. Photograph: Tibor Illyes/EPA
VAR’s failure to do anything about Pepe was hard to understand in the context of a major VAR decision earlier in the day, when the Netherlands’ Matthijs de Ligt was sent off for a professional foul against Patrick Schick. This decision was probably correct according to the letter of the law, since de Ligt had committed a deliberate handball and thereby denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
However, it was curious that the referee had already accepted de Ligt had committed a foul, which he had initially opted to punish only with a yellow card: why? If it was a foul worthy of a booking, and it denied a goalscoring opportunity, why didn’t the referee show a red? Surely it hadn’t become more of a goalscoring opportunity because de Ligt had used his hand to prevent it.
Red card
The suspicion is that the referee didn’t ‘feel’ the situation really was worthy of a red card - with Schick still outside the corner of the Dutch penalty area and a lot still to do before he scored. However, once the referee had been called to the sideline and confronted with the video evidence of the handball, he felt that the letter of the law gave him no option but to send off de Ligt.
Without the main pillar of their defence, the Netherlands crumbled to a 2-0 defeat. Maybe they could have survived if they hadn’t lost the other pillar, Virgil van Dijk, to a brutal foul that, ironically enough, was completely missed by VAR at the time.
Spain’s Thiago Alcantara complained last week that he didn’t like VAR because it had taken away the element of the ‘picaresque’ - the way fooling the ref and getting away with it was an art in itself. In fact VAR still lets you get away with things, it’s just that your cleverness and skill no longer have anything to do with it. Agency is thus taken away from the players on the field, but they don’t get fairness in return.
The rules are supposed to be there to protect players from injury and to prevent egregious and cynical foul play. VAR has created a culture where micro-events, initially missed by the referee and most of the players, can be gamed into match-deciding penalties and red cards, while at the same time many obviously dangerous fouls continue to go unpunished.
The distinction between what is punished and what isn’t continues to be quite arbitrary, only now referees no longer have their eternal alibi: I did not see the incident. The game is now governed by an infuriating mix of traffic warden pedantry and incomprehensible official blindness.
It is hard to see how any thinking person can consider this an improvement on what went before.
Pre watershed?
Strange article damning VAR when it's been great 99% of this tournament.
Easier to scream it's VAR's fault when domestically it's actually a massive training and performance issue of British refs.
It was good the first half, in general, apart from when Lukaku was held back for 5 seconds.
Then he lost it in the 2nd half.
I'd say the refereeing has surprised me. It has been much better than what I am used to.
Probably as I watch mostly premier league games usually.
Think it really just highlights how poor the refereeing standard is in the Premier League.
Does nobody else think that Pepe should have been sent off for using his forearm to hit Hazard in the face? It was obviously totally intentional. I thought that VAR should have intervened then.
Plus, Pepe should be sent off every game for being a complete cunt. Ramos learned all his dark arts of him I reckon.
Plus, Pepe should be sent off every game for being a complete cunt. Ramos learned all his dark arts of him I reckon.
He's an absolute nutcase, Pepe. I thought he could've gone, and if it was up to me, I would've sent him. But I suppose objectively I can't complain with a yellow
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