Fans questioned the lack of offside graphics shown during this game, and it’s all about the Premier League trying to quicken things up when it’s clear that the on-field decision is correct.
Additional cameras have been placed around both penalty areas to make offside decisions more reliable with the current technology, and these angles can help speed it up.
The VAR will still go through the regular process of assessing the offside situation and placing the calibrated lines to the pitch and to the players. If there is no possibility the decision will change, the check will be completed and play will restart — be that with a free kick to the defending team or a kick off.
So, when the lines were placed to Botman and Cash, it was immediately clear to the VAR that the Newcastle player who created the goal would not be offside.
The positive is it should reduce a lot of the time spent waiting for a decision, however some fans may believe that the final graphic is needed as proof. It’s a trade off between being quicker and always having the evidence.
The same situation applies to the fourth Newcastle goal, when Harvey Barnes was onside before creating a goal for Callum Wilson . Once the VAR started to apply the tech, he knew the right foot of Pau Torres was playing Barnes onside so there was no need to spend any additional time creating the image.
Both these goals were cleared very quickly, but in the Brentford vs. Tottenham game it took an extended for the goal to be confirmed as the VAR had to go through the full process and create the graphic. It was so close that Cristian Romero was only onside by the tolerance level afforded to attackers when the two offside lines are touching.
The offside graphics were needed for a different reason in Chelsea vs. Liverpool because twice an on-field decision was overturned. Even though both Mohamed Salah and Ben Chilwell were, in VAR terms, offside by a large amount the graphic was needed to prove the assistants’ decisions were incorrect.
The decisions each took more than 1½ minutes, while if the flag had gone up at the end of the move both would likely have needed a quick application of the tech to confirm.
Possible red card: Martinez for challenge on Almiron What happened: Nine minutes into added time at the end of the first half Miguel Almirón broke down the right flank but was taken out by goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez , who had rushed from his area. Referee Andy Madley booked Martínez, but was there a case for a red card?
VAR decision: No red card.
