Liverpool’s disallowed goal at Manchester City causes split in Premier League KMI Panel
The KMI Panel, which included three former players and one representative each from the Premier League and PGMO, evaluated 3-2 that the assistant should not have ruled offside and 3-2 that VAR was right not to interfere.
This demonstrates the highly subjective nature of the decision, which referee chief Howard Webb described as “not unreasonable”.
The KMI Panel’s decision found that the majority of the panel “felt that the goal should have been awarded because Robertson was not in the goalkeeper’s line of sight at the time of the header and his subsequent actions clearly did not affect Donnarumma’s attempt to save the ball.”
However, two of the five panel members “thought it was a clear and obvious error”, while one panel member judged that “the action in front of the goalkeeper meant that this was not a clear and obvious error and VAR was right not to intervene”.
“This resulted in a split, correct post-VAR result (3:2). The other two panel members felt that Robertson’s blatant movement in front of the goalkeeper had an impact on Donnarumma’s attempted save and supported the offside call on the pitch.”
The KMI Panel makes two separate assessments, taking into account the laws and expectations regarding how the game will be managed in the Premier League.
The on-field call amounts to a direct vote on the decision, and possible VAR intervention lends weight to a clear and obvious error. This means that the KMI Panel may vote that, as with the disallowed goal, it would have been better if the on-field conversation had been different, but that this was justified, so VAR should not have been involved.
