VAR officials punished following Liverpool's defeat to Tottenham

The English Football Association decided to punish the VAR referees in the match between Tottenham and Liverpool, after the major mistake they made in not awarding a goal for the Reds, scored by Colombian Luis Diaz, due to offside. The duo will miss fixtures they were due to officiate in after a 'significant human error' caused a 34th-minute Luis Diaz goal to be incorrectly ruled out during Tottenham's 2-1 win over Liverpool on Saturday. A statement from PGMOL read: "Darren England and Dan Cook have been replaced for the Nottingham Forest v Brentford and Fulham v Chelsea matches. Craig Pawson will now assume England’s duties as 4th official at City Ground while Eddie Smart will take over from Cook as assistant ref at Craven Cottage." The incident was a significant blow to the credibility of VAR. Already under fire after a number of decisions this season, the bungling of a straightforward offside call will only serve to undermine confidence in the use of technology and promote debate on the system and its wider ramifications for the game.