Howard Webb has insisted that refereeing standards in the Premier League are improving and suggested that just two errors have been made in the video assistant referee (VAR) process this season.
Referees chief Webb returned to English football in 2022 eight years on from concluding his on-field officiating career, and has since attempted to improve operations within the top flight.
Changes have been made to make VAR reviews quicker and more accurate, with a greater threshold set this season for overturning calls made by the referee.
This came after the introduction of the system was met with criticism from fans and managers, with Webb accepting that mistakes were made in the rolling out of the technology.
The 53-year-old believes steps in the right direction have been taken in this campaign, though.
“I don’t think we managed expectations well in terms of VAR,” Webb admitted on the Stick to Football podcast. “We knew it was always going to be a situation where it was going to do well on those clear situations, the ones where you think, ‘That’s clearly wrong on first view’.
“We have this independent panel which has got ex-players on it, and they judge each decision each week, and according to the panel there has only been two VAR errors this season compared to 10 at the same time last year.
“We’ve been better at hitting the mark but that can change and we’re not going to get complacent, but it’s been better. For me, the biggest thing of all is that it’s been quicker. The average delay last season through VAR was 70 seconds per game and this year it’s 25 seconds.
“I said to the [officials], ‘Don’t ponder for too long, if you see a situation that jumps off the screen then get involved, but if you’re having to think about it too much then just say check complete because we’ll leave it with the referee on the field”. That’s why the term, ‘Referee’s call’ is useful.”
One of the errors, Webb admitted, came in Manchester United’s defeat to Tottenham, with Bruno Fernandes sent off incorrectly.
While the VAR did not intervene on the day after the red card was shown, the midfielder’s dismissal was subsequently overturned with the Portuguese deemed to have slipped as he slid in on James Maddison.
“We released the audio and you can hear the assistant, who had a good view of the incident, say that it was awful and a 100% red for him,” Webb outlined.
“From his angle, it looks it because it looks like the studs have gone up but then there is an angle, a second replay from Sky Sports, and straight away I thought that would be an overturn and it wasn’t.
“I was frustrated that we didn’t step in to rectify because it was clearly wrong in my opinion as he slipped and tried to trip him, but it was the side of the foot, he didn’t drive the studs in.”