The audio exchanges from Liverpool’s defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday have been released by the Professional Game Match Officials Limited.

At the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Jurgen Klopp’s side’s unblemished start to the season came to an end. Joel Matip’s stoppage-time own goal gave Ange Postecoglou’s side a 2-1 victory, following goals from Son Heung-min and Cody Gakpo earlier in the game.

Liverpool, on the other hand, was enraged that the defeat had been tainted by a number of dubious calls made by match officials. The most contentious judgment came during the first half, when Luis Diaz’s shot was incorrectly disallowed for offside.

The PGMOL confirmed shortly after the game that ‘a substantial human error occurred’ when Diaz’s strike was ruled out. On Saturday night, it was revealed that Darren England, who was on VAR duty at Stockley Park, wrongly believed the on-field ruling was that a goal had been awarded, when it had not. Despite realizing that the Colombia international was onside, England relayed a notification of ‘check complete’ and the goal was ruled out.

PGMOL confirms two urgent modifications to VAR following the release of audio from the Liverpool incident.

Following the incident involving Liverpool, the Professional Game Match Officials Limited said they have made two immediate improvements to VAR.

On Tuesday night, the referees’ organization, PGMOL, took the extraordinary step of publishing the whole audio from the VAR hub relating to the Luis Diaz goal that was erroneously disallowed during Liverpool’s 2-1 loss to Tottenham on Saturday night.

On Monday, Liverpool made a formal request to PGMOL for the recording, requesting to hear the talks that took place. The ECHO also understands that PGMOL chief Howard Webb contacted the club after the final whistle at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to apologize for the disallowed goal.

In a subsequent statement issued at the same time as the audio was made public, the PGMOL confirmed that a new VAR communication protocol will be developed to improve the clarity of communication between the referee and the VAR team in relation to on-field decisions, and that the VAR will confirm the outcome of the VAR check process with the AVAR before confirming the final decision to the on-field officials.

“PGMOL can confirm that we have carried out a review into the circumstances which led to the Luis Diaz goal being incorrectly disallowed for offside in the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur FC and Liverpool FC,” the statement said.

“We acknowledge that our standards fell short of expectations and apologized to Liverpool immediately after the game.”

“A detailed report, including key learnings and immediate actions taken, as well as audio between on-field officials and the VAR team, was submitted to the Premier League, who shared it with Liverpool FC and then with all other Premier League Clubs.”

“A examination of the on-field and VAR decision-making procedures, as well as the application of decision-making principles, has highlighted the following significant learnings to decrease the likelihood of future error:

– Help with Video Match Officials have long stressed the importance of efficiency, but not at the expense of accuracy. This principle will be emphatically stated.

– A new VAR Communication Protocol will be created to improve communication between the referee and the VAR crew about on-field judgments.

– As an additional step, the VAR will validate the outcome of the VAR check procedure with the AVAR before informing the on-field officials of the final decision.

“PGMOL is dedicated to improving VAR performance through a new training program that began this season and focuses on process and best practice for all VARs, AVARs, and Replay Operators in their respective roles.” While we have a handful of FIFA-recognized VARs, efforts are being made to develop a dedicated pool of VAR specialists.

“The VAR and AVAR in question were removed from their remaining fixtures in Match Round 7 in the Premier League and have not been included in the appointments for Match Round 8 this weekend.”

After it was revealed that VAR officials Darren England and Dan Cook had made a six-hour flight from the United Arab Emirates the day before Jurgen Klopp’s side took on Spurs after taking charge of a league game between Al Ain and Sharjah in the UAE Pro League on Thursday night, the PGMOL and the Football Association agreed to review the policy to allow match officials to officiate matches outside of FIFA or UEFA appointments.

“PGMOL and The FA have also agreed to review the policy to allow match officials to officiate matches outside of FIFA or UEFA appointments,” stated the statement.