Dale Johnson, football issues correspondent:
When VAR was first used in the Premier League, lots of soft penalties were awarded.
Liverpool fans will remember the spot-kick they conceded at Brighton when Robertson tapped the bottom of Danny Welbeck’s boot, and the striker went to ground theatrically. The VAR intervened and gave the penalty even though contact was slight.
This prompted a change in approach, to what the Premier League deemed “contact with consequence”. It meant the VAR should take into account whether the touch, kick or pull was matched by the way a player goes to ground.
It is is why we started to hear references to glancing contact in a tackle or, when it comes to a shirt pull, a fleeting hold.
Holding the shirt is not a foul in itself, it must have impact on an opponent. If there’s a little tug, and the striker falls like he’s been pulled right down, he should not be rewarded with a penalty.
We saw this earlier in the season when Newcastle striker Nick Woltemade threw his arms up when a Bournemouth defender held his shirt. It could have been a penalty, but the way the Germany international went down counted against him, because it gave the impression of an unnatural fall compared to the extent of the shirt pull.
We’ve seen the similar kind of thing with handball, both for penalties and when a goal is scored, between the Premier League and in Europe.
At the start of the season, I specifically asked Premier League referees’ chief Howard Webb about this.
He said: “If I get asked about it, and I do speak to my counterparts all the time, I am quick to point out that we are here to apply the Laws of the Game. Of course, as we have to do.
“But within the laws, the game is an element of interpretation, and with handball what is deemed unjustifiable, or unnatural is a judgement. It’s interpretation.
“We see handball penalised in other places somewhat differently. I think that’s out of a drive for consistency, particularly if you look at Uefa competitions, where you’ve got a lot of different footballing cultures coming together.
“So officials from all over the continent, teams all over the continent. Penalising those situations when the arm is away from the body more frequently gives that consistency.
“I would never say we’re right, and they’re wrong or vice versa. It’s just all about trying to try to officiate the game in a way that best serves the expectations of the game where you’re working.
“In terms of the debate around handball, here it’s reducing significantly. That could only be because we’re doing it in a way that the majority of people seem to think is the way that they would expect it to be done here.
“I respect the way it’s done elsewhere, of course, but for us here, it seems to work well.”
