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At the pre-match press conference this week, Manchester City coach Guardiola lamented that "VAR is like tossing a coin." This must also represent the recent views of many fans. In Arsenal's away game against West Ham in the Premier League last Sunday, the home team's equalizer was canceled after VAR intervened because an offensive player fouled goalkeeper Raya, which later triggered widespread controversy. Those who support the change of judgment believe that this is an obvious foul and the ball cannot be counted; while those who oppose it feel that the referee's penalty scale is inconsistent. In this regard, Premier League referee director Webber recently made a "final answer" and ruled that the offensive foul was correct. Speaking of the "crowded subway" chaos that exists in the Premier League and the issue of penalty standards, they plan to start consultations with all parties after the season is over.
In the program called "Referee's Open Mic", Weber's answer was extremely clear. The situation was as follows: "Is this a foul on the goalkeeper? There is no doubt that it is." In addition to these words, he further added: "We have always emphasized this throughout the season, even in the pre-season briefing sessions held for players. As mentioned above: If the goalkeeper is unable to complete the action because the opponent grabs the arm, then it will be judged as a foul. What we are discussing here is not ordinary contact, but a specific type of contact – only when the goalkeeper's arm or hand is interfered with, thereby preventing them from completing the action."
Therefore, there is no error in determining that West Ham forward Pablo committed a foul on Raya. It was precisely because the former's arm was completely pressed on the Arsenal goalkeeper's hand, which caused the latter to be unable to take off normally and let go after contacting the ball. This resulted in Callum Wilson's second successful attack and scored. This is indeed a case where the foul occurred in the previous situation. As Weber explained: "From the overall situation, this is a very obvious foul that must be punished." Judging from the audio of the communication between the video assistant referee and the referee on duty that has been released, there is no problem with the operation of the entire referee team at the procedural level. Assistant assistant Darren England was the first to notice the possibility of a foul. Later, he and the assistant assistant watched the playback carefully from many angles and determined that Raya had suffered a hand violation. When suggesting that the referee on duty review the video, the VAR team also reminded the referee to observe the actions of Rice and Trossard and ask the other party to consider whether these earlier actions also had an impact on the entire matter.
In fact, over and over again, the party that opposed the penalty change was not embarrassed to say that "holding the goalkeeper's hand was not a foul", but was more arguing about "why the penalty was not made before." Regarding this issue, if you change the sentence now, it is simply impossible. If you want to clarify the standards again, I am afraid you can only wait until later. Weber has already promised that he will work hard to solve this problem. However, the attitude he has expressed so far can only be described as "perfunctory words": "This season is more special than in the past. There is a significant increase in physical contact in the penalty area, which indeed poses a challenge to the referee." To this end, we will continue to communicate with clubs, fan groups and other relevant parties, as we are aware that more and more set-piece coaches are positioning players in these areas in an attempt to gain advantage in subtle ways. We must remain vigilant to identify the significant actions that truly have an impact. ".