Graeme Souness' VAR verdict from Chelsea vs West Ham has certainly gone against the grain.
Jarrod Bowen's alleged foul in that match, along with incidents from Newcastle vs Crystal Palace and Man United vs Arsenal over the weekend has put the technology itself into question as both David Moyes and Declan Rice have declared the key VAR decision at Stamford Bridge as 'scandalous.'
As a result of these talking points, the Premier League have ordered PGMOL to take specific action which will go some way towards correcting the wrongs of the past.
READ MORE: Ex-Premier League referee issues verdict on wrong VAR decision in Chelsea vs West Ham
In order to do this, the PGMOL will now look to see if Moyes and Rice were right to conclude that West Ham's second goal shouldn't have been ruled out, while the refereeing board will also look at the incident that overshadowed proceedings at St James' Park over the weekend, as part of their ongoing discussions around VAR and how it is used during matches.
However, Blues manager Thomas Tuchel has already declared that VAR was right to disallow the goal for what he perceived to be a clear foul Bowen committed on Edouard Mendy.
“It obviously went in our favour. There is a reason I think it went in our favour. It’s my opinion, and I don’t know if everyone shares the opinion that it’s very clear it’s a foul," the German said in his post-match press conference.
"The first goal we concede is very similar to the situation we had against Tottenham, but I leave it to you to decide if this goal should stand and whether this situation isn’t the same situation as against Tottenham. I will not comment anymore because what happened against Tottenham was so obvious, and I paid a lot of money for commenting, so I will not do it again.”
Tuchel may have been just saying this to defend the highly under-fire Mendy from backlash amid a poor run of form. However, Souness has also sympathised with the Senegalese in this situation and believes the right outcome was reached.
“First of all he stumbled, Jarrod Bowen stumbled,” Souness told talkSPORT, via The Express. “When he gets to the goalkeeper Mendy, his right foot is showing six studs to the goalkeeper. Now that for me is endangering the goalkeeper.
“It’s not like ‘I am trying to jump over him’, it’s a different kind of movement and action altogether. I think he has shown six studs to the goalkeeper with his right leg, and Jarrod Bowen has no history of trying to hurt people, and I think that the reason that happened was because he has a stumble prior to him setting off before he gets to the goalkeeper.
“For me, I think the referee got it right. People will focus on his left, his trailing leg catching Mendy and Mendy rolling over and holding his shoulder, but I think it’s more to do with his right foot where he is showing six studs.
“I would say it’s not even a grey area. I was working at Sky the weekend doing the [Aston] Villa and Man City game, and there’s a split screen so I am only looking at a small picture on that screen and from 30 feet away I am looking at that, my first reaction ‘He has led with his right foot’. He showed his studs to Mendy, that is endangering the opposition.”
Chelsea fans - Do you think Tuchelk and Souness are right with their interpretation of events or do Moyes and Rice have a point? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!
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