VAR audio released for James Tarkowski tackle vs Liverpool as Howard Webb admits 'error'

James Tarkowski escaped a red card

PGMOL chief Howard Webb has admitted James Tarkowski should have been sent off for his challenge on Alexis Mac Allister during the Merseyside derby at Anfield.

Tarkowski managed to escape a red card despite catching Mac Allister high on his leg as he looked to clear the ball away from Everton’s penalty area during the first-half of the clash earlier this month.

Liverpool would go on to win the game thanks to Diogo Jota’ssecond-half goal, strengthening its charge for the Premier League title.

Much of the talk after the game though centered around referee Sam Barrott and VAR Paul Tierney’s failure to send Tarkowski off, despite the consensus among pundits and former referees that it was a red card offense.

The challenge was reviewed by Tierney and his assistant Adam Nunn, although Barrott’s original decision to show just a yellow card to Tarkowski was upheld.

Audio from the VAR room at Stockley Park has now been released, detailing how Tierney and Nunn came to their decision.

As Tierney starts to look at a replay of Tarkowski’s challenge, he says: “Okay, so he wins all the ball. There is contact on the calf.

It’s hard for his foot to go anywhere else. There’s no secondary movement and he’s cautioned him. I think it’s referee’s call.”

Nunn adds: “Yeah, absolutely, I agree. He falls onto that area of the leg.”

That view has now been dismissed by referees’ chief Webb though, with the former official insisting that Tarkowski’s challenge should have been upgraded to a red card.

Speaking on the latest edition of Mic’d Up alongside former Liverpool striker Michael Owen, who also felt the Everton defender should have been dismissed,

Webb said:

“I agree 100 per cent, it’s a red card challenge. It’s an error by the match officials not to send James Tarkowski off.

“We said from the very outset of creating this show we would play situations that are a good use of VAR, but also play the ones where we don’t use it in the right way, and this was one of those examples.

“The referee recognizes on the field that Tarkowski plays the ball, and feels the way he does so is reckless.

The VAR then checks that on-field decision of a yellow card, and puts too much focus on the fact that Tarkowski plays the ball, you hear him talk about where else can his foot go, but Tarkowski makes a choice to play the ball in that way.

“When you are clearing a ball, playing a ball close to an opponent, you have to think about the opponent and the way you’re going to go into that challenge. Think about the safety of the opponent.

“He lunges towards Mac Allister playing the ball in the way that he does, and you see the type of contact. It’s excessive force, it endangers the safety of the opponent, and it should have been a red card offense.”

The mistake is the latest in a long line of embarrassing incidents for the PGMOL, with referees coming under increasing scrutiny.

VAR in particular has had plenty of critics since its introduction, with Liverpool experiencing more than its fair share of mistakes - not least Luis Diaz’s wrongly disallowed goal last season at Tottenham.

On Tarkowski’s challenge, Webb added:

“Sometimes you’ll see contacts happen that look really ugly on a freeze frame, but the player’s played the ball in a really normal way and maybe the opponent has stepped into the space where the player has to put his foot.

That’s not one of these situations.

“In this situation, the way the ball is played with the opponent in front clearly endangers the safety of the opponent, and you see that with the contact at full speed, you see it confirmed in slow motion or freeze frames as well.”