Steve Cooper accuses PGMOL of using ‘false images’ in VAR row

Steve Cooper has accused the PGMOL of using “false images” after what the Leicester City manager described as an “awful human error” during his side’s controversial 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace at the weekend.

Jean-Philippe Mateta scored the first goal for Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday after the video assistant referee had overturned the on-field offside decision of referee Tony Harrington.

Leicester were enraged at the decision, the first in a two-goal comeback by Palace, which meant the game at Selhurst Park ended in a 2-2 draw. The club told PGMOL, the referees’ organisation, that they had chosen the wrong frame for the “kickpoint” – the moment at which the ball was played to Mateta.

While referee Tony Harrington stuck to the on-field decision to rule the goal offside, along with his assistants, the VAR Andy Madley ruled it onside. Leicester met on Monday with Martin Atkinson, the select group one manager for the top referees, to register their concerns with PGMOL [Professional Game Match Officials Limited] and no resolution was reached.

As Telegraph Sport reported this week, Leicester’s case was that when Tyrick Mitchell crossed the ball, Mateta was offside. Leicester say the subsequent frame in which their full-back James Justin extended his leg to block the cross was the one used erroneously by VAR as the crucial kickpoint.

‘Awful human error hidden in the media’

Speaking at his press conference on Thursday, Cooper said: “It was an awful human error. It’s been hidden in the media. That has been as disappointing as the error itself. We have seen images that show he clearly was offside. But they froze it at the wrong time. Everything that has been seen has been a false image.

“We showed the Premier League that they used the wrong image. We had a massive error go against us. We don’t want it to go under the radar because that’s not fair to the players or the supporters. Errors like that shouldn’t happen. It’s why we’re changing to semi-automated [offsides]. We felt very let down by it. We needed to stand up for the club and tell the Premier League what we thought.”

He added: “We asked them to explain [the decision] and it confirmed they were wrong in terms of when they stopped the game. It’s not been near the media. Everything you’ve seen on Match of the Day or Sky was wrong. We showed them [PGMOL] that, but they’ve not come back to us since.”

Cooper said: “Some of it. But it’s not been used. Mistakes will happen. Hopefully we’ll now be on the end of a decision that goes for us. But [PGMOL should] own up to it. That’s what the players and managers do. Referees need to as well. The images they [PGMOL] have used, he [Mateta] is onside, but it’s after the ball is kicked. If they did it at the moment it is kicked, he is offside. We can’t release the [pictures] and we won’t. We sent them [PGMOL] our presentation and footage, but we’ve not heard anything back.”

PGMOL says that it considers the decision made by the VAR team to have been correct. It says that referees chief Howard Webb was not available to meet with Leicester on Monday because he was attending a conference in the morning as well as filming his television segment on Sky Sports in the evening.