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Journalism of Courage
John Brooks has been replaced as the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) official for two games after wrongly disallowing a Brighton & Hove Albion goal in a Premier League draw with Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Brooks will miss Monday’s game between Liverpool and Everton as well as Wednesday’s clash between leaders Arsenal and champions Manchester City.
Brighton saw their quest for European football hit a speed bump at Palace when they were held to a 1-1 draw but Pervis Estupinan’s goal was wrongly chalked off for offside.
However, the offside line on replays was wrongly drawn for James Tomkins instead of fellow Palace defender Marc Guehi, who was behind him. Brooks was the VAR official for the match.
In another error on Saturday, Ivan Toney’s equaliser for Brentford saw Arsenal drop two points in the title race but replays showed it should have been ruled out for offside in the build-up.
The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) on Sunday said the VAR decisions that went against Arsenal and Brighton were down to “human error”.
Former English referees chief Keith Hackett on Monday told the BBC that the VAR errors were “lamentable”.
“It’s not the first time – we’ve had this (various problems) since VAR’s introduction. I do think, in Howard Webb, we’ve got a person who will work towards rectifying it…,” Hackett added.
“I think he’s got to offload some of the individuals that are sat in the VAR chair because they are not capable or good enough to do the job as they are not delivering accuracy.”
