'Have the VAR feed' - Liverpool get insight into refereeing talks after Tottenham chaos

Football commentator Jacqui Oatley has offered supporters an insight into the conversations that take place between on-field officials and those on VAR duty.

Much has been made about the communication between match officials following Liverpool’s controversial 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday. A stoppage-time goal by Joel Matip handed Spurs all three points after Son Heung-min and Cody Gakpo struck in the first-half.

However, the result tells half the story, as Liverpool finished the game with nine-men and saw a Luis Diaz goal wrongly ruled out for offside. The PGMOL admitted immediately after the game that 'a significant human error occurred' during the decision process.

It then emerged on Saturday night that Darren England, on VAR duty for the game, incorrectly thought the on-field decision was that a goal had been awarded, when in fact it had not been. This resulted in England, despite realising that Diaz was onside, relaying a message of 'check complete' and the goal being ruled out.

Gary Lineker and Micah Richards disagree on Premier League VAR point after Liverpool controversy

Liverpool fined by FA as players could face further charge over Tottenham fallout

And now offering an insight into how the conversations work, Oatley wrote on X: “Liverpool VAR: we Premier League commentators have the VAR feed in our ears, so when he says “check complete” (they do this far more times than viewers realise as they check many challenges for possible), it would’ve made sense here to simply add “the goal stands. No 7 ONside”. That way, it would’ve immediately become apparent that he’d misunderstood the on-field decision (ie offside called) and this mistake would never have happened.”

Before she added: “It’s easy to