Richard Keys SLAMS PGMOL’s decision to appoint Darren England as VAR official just days after he was involved in a match in Saudi Arabia – and suggests Michael Oliver should’ve been in charge of Spurs’ 2-1 win over Liverpool

• PGMOL confirmed that two officials have been stood down after recent drama 
• Richard Keys has now questioned why the officials were ever appointed
• Mail Sport’s new WhatsApp Channel: Get the breaking news and exclusives here 

Richard Keys has slammed PGMOL for appointing Darren England as the VAR for Tottenham’s clash with Liverpool – just days after he officiated in Saudi Arabia. 

Controversy arose on Saturday after Luis Diaz looked to have given his side the lead, before his goal in the first-half was controversially ruled out for offside following a VAR review.

However, it later emerged that the decision was a result of a miscommunication between the on-field officials and those on VAR. Darren England was the man tasked with VAR duties for the match, with Dan Cook acting as assistant VAR.

On Sunday morning, PGMOL confirmed that both England and Cook would step down from their roles for upcoming fixtures before Keys took to social media to vent his own thoughts.

The former Sky Sports presenter suggested that Michael Oliver should have been in charge of the match instead of England – who were both in Saudi Arabia earlier this week. 

Richard Keys has questioned why PGMOL decided to appoint Darren England as the VAR instead of Michael Oliver (left) for Tottenham’s 2-1 win over Liverpool

PGMOL have since confirmed that VAR official Darren England (pictured) and VAR assistant Dan Cook (not pictured) will step down from their roles for upcoming fixtures

Keys took to social media to vent his frustrations following drama in Spurs’ win over Liverpool

VAR ruled out a Liverpool goal against Tottenham, despite replays clearing showing Luis Diaz was being played onside by Cristian Romero

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In a Tweet, Keys wrote: ‘Why was Michael Oliver in UAE to ref Thursday’s game between Al Sharjah v Al Ain? Darren England assisted in VAR. 

‘Oliver wasn’t involved yesterday. He’s VAR today. Too tired? If so why wasn’t England stood down? Better still – stop this freelancing. More in tomorrows blog’.

According to The Sun, Oliver was approached by Saudi Arabia to begin officiating over in the middle east and, as a result, went to officiate the biggest match in the United Arab Emirates Pro League between Sharjah and Al Ain.

Oliver was also joined by England, who was on VAR duty, and assistants Stuart Burt and Dan Cook – who did not return to England until Friday night. 

Despite Keys’ claims, Oliver was in-fact on duty during the Tottenham and Liverpool clash on Saturday, as he took on the fourth official role – with England and Cook taking on VAR duties.

Almost immediately after the match, PGMOL admitted that Diaz’s strike was incorrectly ruled out for offside and issued an apology to Liverpool.

‘PGMOL acknowledge a significant human error occurred during the first half of Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool,’ the statement began.

‘The goal but Luis Diaz was disallowed for offside by the on-field team of match officials. This was a clear and obvious factual error and should have resulted in the goal being awarded through VAR intervention, however, the VAR failed to intervene.

‘PGMOL will conduct a full review into the circumstances which led to the error.

‘PGMOL will immediately be contacting Liverpool at the conclusion of the fixture to acknowledge the error.’

Diaz appeared to beat the offside trap to convert before it was ruled out for offside

Replays showed that the decision was the wrong one, with PGMOL coming out after the match to issue a statement

The incident drew criticisms from fans, analysts and even managers – as Jurgen Klopp lashed out at the error during a post-match interview.

After hearing the statement, Klopp said: ‘Does that help? No. We had that situation at the Man United game (against Wolves last month) – did they get points for that? No. We will not get points for it today so it doesn’t help.

‘Nobody expects 100 per cent right decisions on field. I think we all thought when VAR came in, it might make things easier. I don’t know why people are acting under that much pressure. Today the decision was made really quickly for the goal. It changed the momentum of the game.’

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