Howard Webb breaks silence on Man City vs Arsenal red card decision involving Mateo Kovacic after VAR call
Howard Webb, the head of PGMOL, has shared his opinion on the call not to dismiss Manchester City‘s Mateo Kovacic for two challenges against Arsenal.
This follows a dramatic match between the two leading title contenders, which saw Arsenal emerge victorious with a 1-0 score thanks to a goal from Gabriel Martinelli.
However, in the midst of several weeks of controversy surrounding match officials and VAR rulings, there was once again intense scrutiny at the Emirates Stadium.
Kovacic found himself at the center of attention, first for a tackle on Martin Odegaard that saw his studs make contact with Odegaard’s ankle.
Initially, referee Michael Oliver issued a yellow card, but a VAR review upheld the on-field decision. This raised questions about whether it should have been a straight red card.
Shortly thereafter, Kovacic was involved in another challenge on Declan Rice that had the potential to warrant a second yellow card, but the card was not shown in the end.
While the outcome did not significantly affect the result in favor of Arsenal, there were ongoing debates about the correctness of the decision.
Webb went on the Premier League Production’s “Refs Mic’d up” show to discuss what happened, saying on the first challenge: “This is clearly a strong tackle, and I’m very confident that if the red card had been given by Michael Oliver in this shot, it would have been a ‘Check complete’ straight from the VAR.
“There were some small differences that led the VAR referees to feel that the decision on the field was not a clear and obvious error, and they felt that if they had intervened it would have been a re-arbitration of that decision by the referee in the field.”
On the second tackle that could’ve resulted in another yellow and a sending off, he added: “I do [believe he was lucky not to be sent off]. Second yellows are something that the VAR is not able to get involved in. But he was an extremely fortunate player to stay on the field of play.
“Of course, the referee is one of the best in the world, Michael [Oliver] will no doubt review that and he doesn’t want to have a negative impact on the game by overreacting to something, and sometimes players will be on a yellow card and there will be pressure to show a second one. Pressure will come from players on the field, but you know that’s also true that if you underreact you have a negative impact on the game. When he reflects, he’ll realise the second one should’ve been a yellow, which would have seen Kovacic sent off for two yellow cards.”
It was a potential mistake by the match official, but fortunately for the Gunners, it didn’t have a significant impact on the overall match result. While there may be lingering doubts about the decisions made, Howard Webb is likely optimistic that most of those concerns were addressed, particularly regarding VAR’s inability to intervene in both instances.
Howard Webb breaks silence on Man City vs Arsenal red card decision involving Mateo Kovacic after VAR call