Webb defends VAR call on Botman challenge as referee decision stands
Howard Webb called Sven Botman's challenge on Nicolas Jackson a high-end reckless foul but said the VAR was right not to upgrade the yellow card, citing the Premier League's lighter-touch approach.
Premier League referees' chief Howard Webb has described Sven Botman's challenge on Nicolas Jackson as a "high-end reckless challenge" while defending the video assistant referee's decision not to intervene for a red card. Referee Jarred Gillett booked Botman in the 18th minute of Saturday's match, the correct sanction for a reckless foul.
The defender went in strongly and over the top of the ball, though contact on the opponent came with his trailing leg. VAR Stuart Attwell backed the on-field caution, citing no secondary scissor action and no contact with the studs. Webb said on Match Officials Mic'd Up that the decision would have stood whether Gillett had shown yellow or red.
Jackson, who said he "nearly broke my leg", accepted the yellow card but felt the height of the challenge might have warranted a red, adding that such things are part of football. Webb acknowledged that robust tackling is part of the English game but stressed referees still have a responsibility to protect player safety.
Webb explained that VAR should only step in when a decision is clearly wrong. He said strong stud contact into the ankle or shin, or a closing scissor motion, would probably have produced a different outcome, but Attwell saw neither and treated the call as subjective.
He framed the incident as an example of the league's lighter-touch VAR approach this season, letting referees keep ownership of decisions. After seven rounds there have been 21 VAR interventions, nine of them subjective, compared with three and zero at the same stage last season, though errors are down relative to interventions.
Villa won the game 1-0 through a 36th-minute Johan Manzambi goal.
Image: Getty Images / BBC Sport
