DARrEN DITCHED
VAR refs AXED following Spurs vs Liverpool offside shambles with Darren England taken off upcoming Premier League game
DARREN ENGLAND has been AXED from his upcoming VAR duties following his howler in Tottenham's controversial win over Liverpool.
The 37-year-old ref incorrectly ruled out a perfectly fine goal from Reds hitman Luis Diaz in the first half of the match, which the Merseysiders lost 2-1.
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Colombia international Diaz thought he'd put the visitors in the lead in the 34th minute with a nifty finish just inside the 18-yard box.
But on-the-field ref Simon Hooper and VAR official England bizarrely ruled out the goal - despite replays clearly showing Diaz was onside.
And Prem chiefs have come down hard on VAR man for the day England, removing him from his duties for his next proposed outing.
England was due to be the video official for this afternoon's match between Nottingham Forest and Brentford.
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But last night's calamitous call has resulted in him being removed from his post.
A statement read: "PGMOL can confirm the following match official appointment changes for the remaining fixtures in match round 7 in the Premier League.
"Darren England, VAR on the Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool fixture, and Dan Cook, AVAR on the same game, have been replaced for the Nottingham Forest v Brentford and Fulham v Chelsea matches today and tomorrow night respectively.
"Craig Pawson will now assume England’s duties as fourth official at the City Ground while Eddie Smart will take over from Cook as assistant referee at Craven Cottage."
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The Professional Game Match Officials Limited acknowledged England and Hooper's collective clanger shortly after the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium tussle.
And they vowed to conduct a "full" investigation into the outrageous call.
"PGMOL acknowledge a significant human error occurred during the first half of Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool," their apology read.
"The goal by Luis Diaz was disallowed for offside by the on-field team of match officials.
"This was a clear and obvious factual error and should have resulted in the goal being awarded through VAR intervention.
"However the VAR failed to intervene.
"PGMOL will conduct a full review into the circumstances which led to the error.
"PGMOL will immediately be contacting Liverpool at the conclusion of the fixture to acknowledge the error.";
Kop chief Jurgen Klopp was left baffled by the decision to rule out Diaz's goal, which was compounded two minutes later when Spurs' Son Heung-Min broke the deadlock.
The German said: “I don’t think there is anything to say about the offside goal.
"I knew about it at half-time.
"In the first moment, I thought it was clearly onside but you think they have a better view.
"I am pretty sure whoever made the decision didn’t do it on purpose. It didn’t take extremely long to come to the conclusion.
"That’s a bit strange but someone else has to explain.
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“The linesman thought it was worth watching again – that’s why he raised the flag.
"In the good old times, the linesman should have seen it was not offside because we had these situations quite frequently and when you see it back it is pretty clear.”
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