MICHAEL OLIVER’s conversation with VAR moments before Myles Lewis-Skelly’s controversial red card against Wolves has been revealed.
The Arsenal teenager was given his marching orders in the first half of the Gunners’ 1-0 win at Molineux for a foul on Matt Doherty.
3
3
3
The decision was overturned following a successful appeal from the Gunners but questions were asked of VAR Darren England.
And the conversation that took place between Oliver, England and the assistant VAR before Lewis-Skelly’s sending-off has finally come to light.
Oliver said: “I’m going to go red card, mate. Red card on the ankle. Red card, serious foul play.”
England replied: “Just checking the red card for serious foul play. OK, it’s for serious foul play, not DOGSO (Denying an Obvious Goalscoring Opportunity).
“OK, for me the contact’s on the top of the foot.”
The assistant VAR chimed in by saying: “I think he catches him on the side of the ankle first. It glances off the side of the ankle down onto the foot. So the first impact is more that Achilles area.”
England then said: “So first impact is on the Achilles, on the shin.”
The assistant VAR chimed in: “With no chance of playing the ball.”
BEST FREE BETS AND BETTING SIGN UP OFFERS
England then stated: “So, it’s high up above the ankle then it comes back down. OK, just get me the number please.”
Identifying Lewis-Skelly as the culprit, the assistant said: “It’s number 49, Lewis-Skelly.”
England then told Oliver: “Michael, confirming the on-field decision of red card for serious foul play for Myles Lewis-Skelly. Away, 49. Check complete.”
PMGOL chief Howard Webb believes England should have encouraged Oliver to look at the incident, which he reckons warranted a yellow card, on the monitor.
During the latest episode of Match Official’s Mic’d Up, he said: “There are some considerations that might support a red card.
“But there are a whole host of others that say it is not quite there, so on balance we would rather this had been a yellow card.
“The VAR didn’t want to re-referee the situation, they were mindful of the referee’s call standing unless it is clearly and obviously wrong.
“They felt it wasn’t at that level on the day and decided to leave it as a red card on the field.
“I’ve heard this described as a really horrendous officiating decision. It’s not! I understand why the referee saw this on the day as a serious foul-play action.
“We have to be careful about slowing things down and freeze-framing things.
“We’ve talked about not doing that, it can distort reality. We have to look at it in full speed, it is glancing [studs] and does come off quite quickly.
“But it’s an understandable on-field decision.
“Yes we feel the VAR should have been involved, but at the same time I can kind of understand why that didn’t happen in the moment.
“We listen to the game, we feed back to the officials to try to ensure that we are in line with the expectations of the game and how we judge these things.”
Mikel Arteta’s troops raged at the decision and their reaction saw them slapped with a £65,000 fine.
Oliver was hounded by fuming fans on social media after the decision and was subjected to vile death threats.
THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY..
The Sun is your go to destination for the best football, boxing and MMA news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video.Like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TheSunFootball and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSunFootball.