Mike Dean admits to second ‘completely wrong’ VAR call that helped Man United

Former Premier League referee Mike Dean has admitted to another mistake he has made after consulting the VAR.

Dean had admitted that he made an error during last season’s drama-filled 2-2 draw between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.

Speaking on the Up Front podcast with Simon Jordan, he revealed that he should have advised on-field referee Anthony Taylor over to the VAR monitor after Cristian Romero pulled Marc Cucurella’s hair.

However, he did not do so as he didn’t want Taylor to get extra grief.

In his second admission, Dean spoke about making the wrong decision after being called over to the pitchside monitor by the VAR official.

The incident involved Southampton defender Jan Bednarek, who was eventually sent off for a foul on Manchester United striker Anthony Martial.

He said: “I’ve probably been over to the screen five or six times and for at least two of them, I could have stuck with my initial decision.

“Straight away, Manchester United versus Southampton comes to mind as I went to the screen for something and I sent a player off, which was completely wrong.”

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Dean continued: “But because you have gone to the screen, nine times out of 10 you are expected to change your decision. When I was there, 99 times out of 100 you would change your decision.”

After Southampton appealed the decision, the FA overturned Bednarek’s red card.

On whether more referees will stick with their original decision when called over to the monitor, Dean said: “I think that will change. Because if you made a decision on the pitch and you made the correct call, when you’re walking over to the screen, you’re thinking to yourself, ‘Why am I being sent here? I know what I have seen’.

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“The more you stick with your on-field decision, the more credibility you get from spectators, managers, and players. Also, it may stop VAR from sending a referee over to the screen every single time something happens. Have they got to go over every time? In my opinion, they haven’t.”