There are too many to list right now, but really, really poor VAR decisions against the likes of Man United, Newcastle and Chelsea in recent seasons have cost us hugely.
Recently, though, we’ve had a few go our way. Most notably the penalty against Bournemouth last week and then on Boxing Day, when Guido Rodriguez‘s straight red card was downgraded to a yellow card after the referee Lewis Smith was asked to review his decision on the pitchside monitor.
Looking back, it was the correct decision. The Argentine clearly slipped into the challenge with Kyle Walker-Peters and there wasn’t any serious foul play involved. You could see how the referee may have seen it differently in real-time, but the right decision was made in the end.
And the Premier League released a short statement via X shortly after the situation to clear up why the red card had been downgraded.
The Premier League Match Centre account, which posts statements in real time to help fans understand why certain calls were made, posted: “The VAR recommended an on-field review of the referee’s call of red card for Rodriguez.
“Upon review, the referee overturned his original decision of serious foul play to a yellow card.”
It came on the same afternoon a very similar situation unfolded at St. James’ Park, where Jhon Duran slipped into a challenge and was shown a straight red card.
However, the Colombian was not as lucky as Rodriguez because the referee was not asked to review his decision by the VAR, and the decision on the field stood.
The decision at St. Mary’s Stadium proved to be the right one and allowed us to go on to win the game, securing three vital points away from home.
However, the yellow card Rodriguez did pick up for the tackle means he will miss the visit of Liverpool on Sunday evening through suspension anyway, as it was his 5th Premier League booking of the season.
