Commentary: ‘I can’t do anything’ - Liverpool’s VAR blunder boils down to human error

SEOUL: The English Premier League produced its first serious piece of controversy of the new season on the last day of September. Tottenham Hotspur’s thrilling last-minute win over Liverpool was dramatic but almost forgotten because of what happened earlier in the game with VAR - the Video Assistant Referee - at the centre.

It was goalless in the first half when Luis Diaz put Liverpool ahead but the goal was ruled out as the Colombian was judged to have been offside in the build-up.

As with every goal in the league, it was checked by a number of officials watching on video and, as it quickly became apparent to those watching on television that Diaz was clearly onside, viewers waited for VAR to tell the referee to change his decision and allow the goal to stand. Yet, Spurs quickly took a free kick and the game continued. It signalled the start of a storm.

How the whole thing unfolded seems almost incomprehensible. Darren England, a Premier League referee in charge of VAR for Tottenham-Liverpool, checked the Diaz call. He evaluated that the Liverpool attacker had been onside - but that was not the problem, communication was.

England had mistakenly thought that the original on-field decision had been to award the goal, assuming that he and his team were merely confirming that the goal was good. The referee was told “check complete” and, understandably, believed that this meant the original offside decision was correct.

By the time the VAR team realised that the goal had not been given, the game had restarted and, according to protocol, it was too late to go back. On the audio released (Liverpool had demanded that it be made public), England’s last words were “I can’t do anything. I can’t do anything” before a curse word was