Liverpool’s disallowed goal at Manchester City causes split in Premier League KMI Panel

The KMI Panel, which features three former players and one representative each from the Premier League and PGMO, voted 3-2 that the assistant should not have given the offside, and also 3-2 that the VAR was right not to get involved.

It shows the highly subjective nature of the decision, which referees’ chief Howard Webb described as “not unreasonable”.

The KMI Panel’s judgement revealed that the majority of the panel “felt that due to Robertson not being in the line of vision of the goalkeeper at the time of the header, and his subsequent actions not clearly impacting Donnarumma’s attempt to save the ball, the goal should have been awarded”.

However, while two of the five panel members “felt this was therefore a clear and obvious error”, one panel member judged “the movement in front of the goalkeeper meant that this was not a clear and obvious error, and VAR was correct to not intervene”.

“This resulted in a split, correct, outcome post VAR (3:2). The two other panel members felt the obvious action of Robertson in front of the goalkeeper was impactful on Donnarumma’s attempt to save, and supported the on-field call of offside.”

The KMI Panel makes two separate judgements, taking into account the laws and expectations of how the game is refereed in the Premier League.

The on-field call is a straight vote on the decision, with the potential VAR intervention weighted to a clear and obvious error. It means the KMI Panel can vote, as was the case for this disallowed goal, that it would have been better if the on-field call had been different but also that it was justifiable, so the VAR should not get involved.