In the aftermath of yesterday’s 1-1 draw with Brentford, Mikel Arteta was adamant that the visitors’ goal should not have stood. As it turns out, he was right.
While VAR reviewed the build-up to Ivan Toney’s 74th-minute equaliser, Lee Mason, who was on duty at Stockley Park, only looked at the position of Ethan Pinnock and not that of Christian Norgaard who made the final assist after coming back from an offside position.
The result meant that Arsenal stretched their lead over Manchester City to six points rather than eight. Since then, Pep Guardiola’s side have beaten Aston Villa and head to the Emirates on Wednesday knowing a win will see them climb above the Gunners in the table for the first time in months.
It might prove to be a pivotal moment in the championship race. It might not. It’s too early to say. Either way, the gaffe has further underlined Mason’s incompetence.
PGMOL can confirm its Chief Refereeing Officer Howard Webb has contacted both Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion to acknowledge and explain the significant errors in the VAR process in their respective Premier League fixtures on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/dCDkooxhxf
— PGMOL (@FA_PGMOL) February 12, 2023
Earlier this season, an independent assessment panel ruled that Mason was incorrect to advise on-field referee Paul Tierney to disallow Gabriel Martinelli’s strike against Manchester United. The Brazilian thought he’d given Arsenal an early lead in a match we eventually lost 3-1 at Old Trafford.
Arsenal weren’t the only club to suffer a significant injustice at the hands of the officials this weekend. Brighton were denied a goal in their 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace.
While it’s too little too late for both clubs, the PGMOL have since released a statement that says:
“PGMOL can confirm its Chief Refereeing Officer Howard Webb has contacted both Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion to acknowledge and explain the significant errors in the VAR process in their respective Premier League fixtures on Saturday.
“Both incidents, which were due to human error and related to the analysis of offside situations, are being thoroughly reviewed by PGMOL.”
Webb, who is the PGMOL’s new chief refereeing officer, took on the role promising greater openness and transparency over decision-making.
Arsenal have carefully prepared a statement in response:
Go fuck yourself
Lee Mason should be banned from the pitch. The irony is that those 2 points won’t be added back to us. Don’t they give proper training to operate those video tech? I mean in the world cup and serie A they can draw a vertical line to see if there is an offside – never seen one in EPL.
Same Fat C**T disallowed Martinelli goal at Old trafford.
Seriously, it’s just covering up corruption. It’s a bent game. FK these guys!
Yeah, Dave, but then you have to explain the most ridiculous “passive offside” decision I have ever seen–when Bruno Fernandes’ goal to beat Man City was allowed to stand after Rashford shielded the ball from defenders for twenty yards. That bit of “corruption” was a huge help to us.
No that bit of corruption favoured manure. Who’ve been on the receiving end of that favour for decades.
Fergie’s TIME was and is still being celebrated and looked at in the main as if the man was so so GREAT, he managed to pressure the Refs for the ‘special treatment’ . You can sell this sort of spin if and only if everyone with power and voice in the English football vacumn cooperated. Is it a wonder this continue to persist 20 years later…?
If we cried like Steve Bruce and they had any of Wenger’s class they’d offer us a replay.
In the place where I come from we call this situation campaign after election. But there ain’t no stopping us. We move. Bring on the Citizens on Wednesday night.
2nd time Mason has screwed us
He’s taken more points off Arsenal this season than any other team.
He’s the biggest threat to our title challenge, not Man City.
I don’t really understand why it has to be a Pitch Referee doing the Var checks, surely there are more competent people in the IT world that can be trained up to check the off sides. Referees can be use for tackling!!
Exactly this!spot on, surely just teach the best tech people the full rulebook, let them sort the images, videos out, lines.
Then get the actual ref on the field of play to decide by monitor if needed
Don’t even need competent IT people to do this, technology itself can figure out the two players behind the ball and compare that to the appropriate attacker. It’s not materially different than what is used to determine relative positioning in a horse or auto race for example.
Yeah, but how could they contrive the result?
Those overpaid apes at Stockley Park have one job to do. One job. They are trained for it. And the guy didn’t even draw the line. 2 points lost in the title race. Shimply shocking.
There comes a time after several instances when it can’t be considered an “error” or coincidence any more.
So are they gonna cop a fine from the FA as well? Absolute joke
SIGNIFICANT ERRORS? No shit
David Brent in charge… Far from ideal
That’s a nasty, horrible, slanderous insult… to David Brent
At least David Brent would somehow get himself dancing or playing guitar on the big screen in the stadiums and forget to do his job. He’d have an excuse beyond being a flaccid prick like Lee mason
The transparency is: we were wrong, sorry!
The incredible thing is that it seems it always favours the red side from Manchester (even against City, that Rashford goal was absurd!).
Now they are into the title conversation only because a Manchester guy didn’t do his only job, he is “very sorry” indeed
Factor in the idea that Brighton are on a charge and could have potentially closed the gap to that Manchester side in the race for a top 4 spot. Now they are being dragged into the title race from the PGMOL office.
Do I think the FA or premier league are bothered? Hell no! the drama will bring in more viewers and more money. Are the football “experts” in the media concerned? Hell no. They are dusting off their arsenal crumbled templates with a huge smirk on their faces
@PGMOL, pray tell, would this SIGNIFICANT error warrant a replay or a cancellation of Brentford’s goal😏🤨??
They forgot the part where Arsenal get 2 points extra. Brentford can keep the 1.
PGMOL should sack the fucking cunt.
And the Premier League should give us two more points and dock Brentford theirs.
Won’t happen, of course. Too much like common sense.
I don’t care about their useless explanation.
Incompetent and bent are two words that sum them up properly
Fat lot of good that does us mothetfucker! Even more annoying seeing he has done it twice!, but we are all human and he earns my respect owning up,so my situ on this is I remain definitely bitter for the points lost to their incompetency, but all good…let’s just move on, we can still win this guys!👊💪💪
By owning up it throws the scent off another questionable Manchester based ref
Did he own up? Howard Webb reported the error not Lee Mason.
Literally any random Arsenal/Brentford fan streaming the game yesterday would have been looking at every phase of that replay as soon as it was shown, and easily spotted the mistake in real time (and they wouldn’t need 5 minutes of deliberation and line drawing either). “Human error” my arse.
Surely this should then be considered proof that VAR isn’t useful. If it doesn’t work, because “human error” creeps in at oddly regular intervals, then it’s just a time-wasting addition to games. We had “human error” before. IF this extra VAR check doesn’t come with any validity or relevance, or possibility of review, then it is utterly pointless. So, PGMOL / FA and others. Which is it. We keep VAR, but use it to provide clarity and repercussions when something was missed on the field? Or we drop VAR altogether. You can’t have both. (well, you “can” and you will,… Read more »
The problem isn’t VAR but the idiots using the system
Yes, exactly. That was the point. If they’re not going to use it properly, there’s no point in having it.
..other than to delay games. Perhaps they can throw in an ad-break to fill the FOUR MINUTES it sometimes takes to decide. You’d almost think it was intentional. *cough*
The right way to do it–which will not happen: On everything except offside, the rule should be that VAR can only be used to ask the referee to reconsider when the error is so egregious that no reasonable person would defend it. That would normally mean a situation where the referee’s view was blocked or where something happened off the ball (for example, an obvious handball in the first case, a red card incident in the second). Absolutely ban “reviews” of everything that led up to a goal for any foul that occurred. For offside–let the assistant referees flag any… Read more »
And the system running the idiots…
that’s what i thought, i was watching thinking, isn’t that offside? well they didn’t do the line thing so i guess it was the angle or something or they checked it but didn’t show us the check. just incredibly dumb, i’m sure brentford don’t score if that is correctly ruled out. instead, they get a morale boosting goal, and 3 minutes for their team which looked a bit gassed to recover, ready to fall on the ground, deliberately wind up players, and waste the two minutes we get in extra time to cover the three lost with people taking one… Read more »
The result wont change, but match commentators should do their part in introducing Lee Mason going forward…
“Lee Mason will be in the PGMOL studio overseeing VAR. Mason, let’s not forget, has incorrectly ruled twice this season from this position.” Would also be curious if there are quotas / limits to the amount of human error one should be allotted before having disciplinary measures taken.
Genuinely, the matchday tv coverage and their commentary on the refereeing team is a side to all this that seriously needs to be looked at. While commentators and pundits will go all in on criticising the performances of certain players, they’ll pretty much brush aside any refereeing/var nonsense with a quick pause of confusion before swiftly moving on. The worst example in all of this is that waste of space over on BT Sport, Peter Walton who gets wheeled out to analyse every dubious decision. Spends 3 or 4 minutes conducting the most bizarre mental gymnastics to defend his colleagues,… Read more »
Anything to avoid saying the referees are that shit or they are corrupt,
The results of their decisions are the same so it makes no difference which you pick- corrupt or incompetent.
They’re not mutually exclusive, so very likely both.
I agree, pgmol are like Goldman Sachs and the nypd- never held accountable for their obvious crimes. At least no one here is being brutalized or made homeless.
lee mason, yes, the very same lee mason who was kept on as matchday official when he was at least 30 pounds and 10 years too advanced to keep up with the play and the pgmol kept him on!
Or have a process that mashes up US jury selection and cricket/tennis review system. Every team allowed three vetoes a season to prevent a proposed match official from being on VAR (or pitch side?) duty. Veto opportunity reinstated if “significant error” arises.
Not very realistic, but feels entirely merited in current circumstances.
That Brentford goal brings back memories of Clichy against Birmingham in 08, which was never a pen imo.
God that was an horrific day
Yeah, thanks for resurrecting that trauma!
Great that they’re at least admitting to their mistakes. But it’s not as if Mason rushed his decision. He took an absolute age, and still got it wrong. Surely he should have started with the final pass for the goal and worked back from there. Surely that’s what they always do! Seriously, it’s almost like he’s looking forensically for an excuse to rule one of ours out, but then ignores a reason to rule out one against us when it’s staring him in the face!
I suspect that the conversation more likely revolves around “can we come up with an excuse for ‘not noticing’ that”?
I count that as four against us this season. Reckon there’s the odd holiday home popping up in Dubai with a few Manchester based refs hanging out there (allegedly)
They’re about as straight as a Juventus bookkeeper.
Or a man city sponsorship arrangement
Or a Chelsea 8year contract
Those are straight. Bloody stupid, but straight.
Lee Mason, from Bolton, Greater Manchester, has incorrectly ruled out goals for Arsenal this season against Manchester United and Manchester City. Arsenal are currently embroiled in a title race with Manchester United and Manchester City.
Just need him to fuck us over one more time for this even to be considered a pattern.
This comment sums it up perfectly. Nice job. Why its not being shouted by all in the mainstream media is another mystery.
Atleast they are acknowledging the errors, which hopefully will mean down the track improvements to the VAR process. Doesnt help Arsenal or BH&A or Chelsea though.
Acknowledgement doesn’t rectofy the error or even mention punishment for dereliction of duty. You or I would be fired or placed on administrative leave for doing this poorly at work. Only people who get away with such rank corruption are pgmol refs and American police.
“forgot”
Millions of pounds, careers and club trajectories at stake and they come out with a word befitting Laurel and Hardy.
Lee Mason, from Bolton, Greater MANCHESTER all you need to know really. The controversies section on his Wikipedia bio is also illuminating: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Mason
Mason retired from on-field duties at the end of the 2020–21 season, but became the league’s first dedicated Video Assistant Referee from the 2021–22 season.
‘dedicated’? Yes to incompetence. So not only is he not a referee now, he only does VAR. So on that basis, he should probably be the best at it, as he has NO OTHER JOB. Or is it the equivalent of not being good enough out in the field, so you are given a desk job!?
Better news:
That lanky streak of Mancunian blue piss may have damaged a thigh and is a serious doubt for Wednesday.
Fingers crossed 🤞
Let’s hope he draws another blank on Wednesday night if he does play. I genuinely believe we will beat them with or without cabbage patch face
Their employee(s) (Mason won’t have been the only one reviewing the goal) have not just made an error of judgement but come to a wrong decision having failed to do their job properly, the consequences of which go way beyond “we’re sorry”. If red cards can be retrospective & point deductions be imposed there’s no reason why the goal couldnt be disallowed retrospectively & the points awarded accordingly.
There is a reason, the match didn’t finish immediately after the Brentford goal so who knows what would have happened. Brentford could have scored twice for all we know. This decision appears shite for Arsenal but in reality is shite for both teams
No, let’s never go down that road please. We already have the tediousness of the purple screen experience sucking the joy out of what is meant to be the whole point of football – the goals. I don’t want that to go on indefinitely. Plus it would make it ten thousand times easier to manipulate the results if they can be retroactively tampered with.
I was watching on a phone, on the treadmill, after a 14 hour night shift, in Canada, but still yelling (comically, no doubt) that Norgaard was off.
I wonder if the PGMOL is taking resumes?
Surely it’s only a matter of time before a club takes legal action against the PGMOL and/or Premier League? It’s one thing to blame human error when there was no VAR but now that cannot be an answer. There has to be a panel, like there is with own goals, to make a retrospective decision. If Arsenal lose the league by 2 points then what?
A team that gets relegated would surely have a case here, given the financial ramifications for going down. This league is really a shower of shite, run by incompetents.
Forget the ramifications of going down for a second. If we lose the league by 2 points or less, nothing would make up for that. BUT the difference in prize money this year between first and second is about £2 million. Webb and through him PGMOL by accepting that a mistake was made have admitted liability. Not Ironclad but…..
Don’t you think that in the rather lengthy legal documents that govern Premier League teams, including agreements with PGMOL, someone has thought to exclude the possibility of suing officials for wrong decisions?
It’s an interesting discussion. I’d say you’re almost certainly right about a clause like that. However, these things change sometimes when there’s a clear display of negligence. For example, under those guidelines of ‘wrong decisions’, drawing an offside line in the wrong place might be protected. ‘Human error’ for which they are indemnified. Not even drawing the lines, though? That’s basically a negligent failure to even do the job. Like if an on-pitch linesman decided to spend 5 minutes with his back to the game, thus refusing to even perform his duty. In the end though, you’re probably right. I… Read more »
‘explain’ isn’t ‘remedy’ so kindly do one, howard webb
So what happens when we loose the title because of refs? WHO will compensate the amount awarded to the winners? WHO will speak to the players and apologize to each individual and let them know that they should have won, but they messed up? WHO should motivate them after they know they should have won?
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12809315/arsenal-victims-of-another-var-error-against-brentford-how-many-points-has-it-cost-them-this-season
This is insane!!
Allowing for the fact we gave up 3 goals vs, Man U let’s assume for sake of argument we lose that match anyway. (“game state!” Yes, I know.) that still means the other VAR errors cost the Arsenal 6 pts! Imagine, a nine point lead and points total of 57 after 21 played? 18-0-2! That’s amazingly good!
Do the business on Wednesday and the league is all but won. Arsenal are ripping up the script at Stockley Park. This team will get what it deserves—a league title. Keep faith!
If they can’t find people to operate VAR properly then they should scrap it we’ve always lived with incompetent and probably corrupt referees VAR is becoming another vehicle for same kind of officials
If this incident teaches Webb anything, it is that we need the semi-automatic offside system from the World Cup & proper additional time we saw in Qatar.
Just like Martinelli getting 2 yellows in one go, we always seem to take the fall before a pathetic situation is dealt with.
Un fucking believable.
Wholly believable given how long I’ve been supporting this club, but still, un fucking believable that this is the standard in a league with so much money, sway, and international attention.
Bless your heart Howard Webb, but I don’t give a fuck about ‘I’m sorry’, CORRECT IT!
This sh#t with VAR has been going on with us since the beginning. Not surprised at all to be honest. The sad thing is I stopped celebrating our goals now and I wait till the other teams kicks off and then I celebrate. VAR always finds a way to do is over. The game is ruined.
VAR is a fucking joke
I’m certain (call me crazy) that VAR is used to sway games in whatever direction seems fit.
Why don’t we get to hear the process of the decision being made? There’s a PA system in every stadium.
Maximum transparency is needed around every decision VAR makes. It’s been a farce since it was introduced
Not to mention the West Ham v Chelsea game. That was a penalty every day of the week
If fans can unify to protest the super league, the same should be done about VAR
Full transparency, Howard, means just admitting to employing a cartoonish game show wheel to render VAR decisions.
They change the rules. In situations where such poor VAR decisions influence the outcome of the match, the goals/ points can be awarded or canceled after the review by PGMOL
I don’t understand why the officiating can be so swift and accurate during the World Cup, with VAR utilised appropriately and seamlessly, and the EPL can’t manage to get it together. It’s not an issue with VAR but with the standard of officiating in England. Accountability comes with mic’ing the refs, not excuses about human error in phone calls to the clubs after matches. If refs get VAR decisions wrong, accountability looks like making them undergo further training so they don’t make the mistake again. “Sorry” doesn’t cut it when so much is at stake. I know it’s just football,… Read more »
I thought much of the World Cup officiating was very poor (the awful Spanish ref for example) though some was very good. FIFA chooses the best referees, and if Oliver and Taylor (the only two English referees in Qatar) officiated every Premier League game, we wouldn’t have many complaints. (Yes, I know Oliver was the one who gave Martinelli the two yellows, but I stand by my statement.)
Mate, there’s been an agenda against The Arsenal since the year dot.
If we’re not being labelled lucky (30’s 40’s, 50’s) we’re being labelled boring (60’s, 70’s, 80’s) and then lucky again ( 90’s, 00’s, 10’s, 20’s).
This is a good opportunity for a bit of siege mentality
Why not? It’s what Pep did with his remarks last week. They weren’t really directed, as media reports and some comments here suggested, against Arsenal and other clubs he mentioned but much more to his own players. Arteta should try it.
VAR is just an other way to control the game and the season. Simple as that.
Given there’s no will to give us the two points stolen by stupidity, how about they dock City points for their financial shenanigans to make up for it?
Mason should be demoted, sacked altogether, or at least removed from all of our games for the rest of the season. That’s two critical fuck ups towards us this season when there’s video evidence as plain as day to reference and he supposedly knows the rules of the game. Do they not have regular proficiency tests for this?
It’s not a question of the will, or otherwise, to “give us” the points – there’s simply no mechanism to do so. The points just can’t be “re-awarded” by the stroke of a pen (or keyboard) and there’s no procedure for replaying games in such circumstances. Also, I’m sure there are other examples involving other teams as well – they’d have to get the same treatment and the whole season would be disrupted. Secondly, I’m all for docking City points – if only – but they really should be found guilty and sentenced first, shouldn’t they? I know it’s one… Read more »
Yes, I’m fully aware of the rules mate and I don’t expect anything to be done that aids us. I was being facetious.
Although, you know if the shoe were on the other foot the proceedings against us would move along swiftly.
It’s up to the team to get themselves back on track now. What this has shown is that we need to be more ruthless because we can’t rely on being one nil up with these officials.
I’m glad of that. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell when people are being facetious or serious. Some Gooners have suggested seriously that there is some sort of plot to deprive the club of the PL title which, with the best will in the world, appears to be borderline paranoia. I don’t know about possible differential treatment. I doubt that there would be a difference if the charges were similar. Hopefully, we’ll never find out though. As you say, it’s up to the team and the manager (a real test now for Arteta) to get things back up and running in… Read more »
Some of the conspiracy claims do seem to be made in utter seriousness, and are utterly insane. The Premier League, though incredibly rich, allows crap officials to make important decisions. That’s pretty scandalous, with no need for paranoia. .
Jeez.
Your Devil’s Advocate shite is becoming REALLY boring.
Seriously mate, if you can’t get behind the club then shut up.
We should refuse to play if Lee Mason is doing VAR
In an ideal world yes, but those cunts in the FA and the Premier League need only the smallest of excuses to punish us.
We’ve three charges already for merely opening our mouths.
To refuse to play is entering docked points territory.
We need that like a hole in the head.
Yes you are right, didn’t think that one through
We’re all quite rightly angry about the errors but there’s nothing that can be done about them and no end of complaining will make a jot of difference. There’s Arsenal’s most important game of the season so far coming up on Wednesday. If we play anything like we did against either Everton (awful) or Brentford (a little better, but still below par even without VAR controversy) we’ll be lucky to get away with a point on Wednesday. Should City get ahead of us for the first time in months it could be, as they say, a whole new ball game.… Read more »
All you can do is put the club down, at a time when manager, players and fans should be uniting.
Your “no use crying over spilled milk” attitude is utter bollocks – and exactly what PGMOL, the FA, Man City, Man Utd, Gary Neville, the Spuds, EVERYBODY against Arsenal, would want from us all.
To be nice and quiet and meek and mild, accept our bad medicine and chalk it all up to a poor performance.
Bollocks.
Complaining is exactly what’s making all the difference. PGMOL has been cheating Arsenal and protecting the Manchester clubs for years, the difference this time is that all the pundits, newspapers and websites are condemning this decision, and the Brighton one. The fact that many are saying the decision was bent and match fixing (which I believe it is) has now hit the mainstream press and scared the shit out of PGMOL and the sweet FA. This must not be swept under the carpet any more, the more this is kept in the spotlight the sooner something will be done about… Read more »
Both league defeats, VAR got important decisions wrong against us. Club fined twice for what every team does and gets away with.
No. There’s no agenda against Arsenal
Fuck all the apology will do in the title race. Fucking incompetent cunts.
Lee Mason is at the very least incompetent and should not be refereeing based on his recent performances.
This is my most polite way of saying.
Fuck off asshole
Since everybody agreed that this is an error can’t we beging a petition for the match to be replayed? I don’t think that’s unheard of in the world of football.
It would be interesting to see if season ticket holders from a few clubs could file a class action suit against the FA and PGMOL for bringing the game into disrepute. There is corruption there for whatever reason it seems to stack against Arsenal. Maybe they are upset over 89 or the Invincible’s.
Because what football needs is lawsuits.
What PGMOL needs is lawsuits, definitely.
I hate the whole, ‘not taking too long on decisions.’ I wouldn’t care about waiting 5 mins for a decision that means not losing points in a title race.
Bent though innit