According to a report in the Daily Mail, Tottenham’s recent clash against Liverpool almost went ahead without the availability of VAR due to technical problems at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Liverpool overcame Spurs 1-0 but it was a closely fought game with the home side squandering a couple of great chances to equalise towards the end.
VAR intervened to rightly rule that Jordan Henderson hadn’t handled the ball in the build-up to Roberto Firmino’s first-half strike which put the Reds ahead.
However, there were other controversial calls in the game where the video assistant referee did not intervene including a possible red card offence committed by Andrew Robertson when he caught Japhet Tanganga on the follow-through.
The report by the Daily Mail claims that things could have ended differently as a power cut before kick-off at Spurs’ home caused some serious concerns about the readiness of VAR.
It is suggested that Premier League officials decided that the game would go ahead without VAR if the problems weren’t solved in time, which would have made the match the first in the top flight to date this season to be played without the use of the technology.
It turns out that the event engineers were able to solve the problem and test the system in time for the 5.30 pm kick-off, which enabled VAR to be available for the match.
Spurs Web Opinion
I personally didn’t think Spurs fans can have too much to complain about VAR’s decisions in that game. I believe it would have been extremely harsh to send Robertson off for his challenge on Tanganga as his intention to get the ball was clear. While the throw in granted to Liverpool which ended up in Firmino’s goal should have gone Tottenham’s way, VAR doesn’t intervene in throw-ins.
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