West Ham United: Jarrod Bowen reacts to Premier League controversy
West Ham forward Jarrod Bowen has called for refereeing officials to stop making mistakes after the weekend’s controversies.
As posted on Football Daily’s X account (3 October), the Hammers ace noted the incorrect offside decision given against Liverpool against Tottenham, with VAR official Darren England mistakenly thinking the goal had been given and not authorising a check.
Bowen remains hopeful that the errors can stop but claims that moving forward the sport should “keep going how it is”.
Bowen said: “You never you’re going to get pulled up for now, if there’s a foul that’s happened before. It’s the main talking point at the minute and hopefully, it can get sorted.
“We’ll see what happens from that. We all saw the mistake and what happened. When you’re a club and that happens to you, it cost them the game at the end of the day. It’s disappointing for them.
“Moving forward, I think we can just keep going how it is and hopefully cut out the mistakes.”
Changes needed
VAR has become ingrained in modern football, but the officiating in the Premier League has been subpar in recent seasons. Poor implementation of VAR has seen many teams lose points, or gain points, unjustly.
This weekend saw many mistakes made, including for Liverpool and an incident for Brentford where Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Matt Turner kicked Yoane Wissa in the box, but calls for change have been strong since its introduction.
Bowen’s solution seems like the most realistic. VAR is less the problem than the standard of refereeing, so hopefully this fresh reality check for PGMOL will see things improve, even if temporarily.
VAR can be a very useful tool and is often used successfully across Europe and in international tournaments, but in England, it has few fans.
Bowen’s sympathy for Liverpool is honest and speaks to the wider frustration among footballers regarding the impacts of the technology, but with fresh calls for change, something could break soon.
In other West Ham news, a Hammers mainstay has proved his ‘simply awesome’ verdict after topping a PL ranking.