Ben Foster claims Sky are 'in bed' with VAR in astonishing rant, fans think he's spot on

Ben Foster has made a quite astonishing claim about VAR in a rant about the technology in the wake of the Liverpool controversy on Saturday.

Liverpool had both Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota sent off in the 2-1 defeat to Spurs but they were most aggrieved about Luis Diaz's goal being wrongly disallowed for offside.

The linesman flagged when the former Porto man slotted home after being played in behind by Mo Salah.

The lines drew by VAR showed that Diaz was in fact played onside by Cristian Romero but in an almighty, mistake, officials at Stockley Park believed the on-field call was to give the goal and the check was complete.

By the time play had restarted and they had realised the error, it was too late and so it was decided intervention was not possible.

Liverpool, having issued a brutal statement, are set to receive the audio exchange from PGMOL.

Sky Sports requested to have access to the feed but were not successful in their attempts.

Former Manchester United and England goalkeeper Foster reacted furiously to the incident and claimed that Sky are "in bed" with VAR and were told not to highlight the gaffe.

Image: Getty

"The bit that I found really disappointing about this Luis Diaz goal is that they never showed a replay of it - well they showed one didn't they," the ex Wrexham goalkeeper said on the latest episode of The Football Fill-In.

"They showed one very quick replay as soon as it happened and the game was moved on already. It's like the game was already restarting and I'm thinking, 'Well that was quick' and that they must be double sure.

"Every image we saw, we thought he's onside. They didn't show another replay for the rest of the half, not one replay.

"And then at half-time they didn't talk about it - until 10 seconds before the start of the second half.

"That tells me that Sky are in bed with the people at VAR, they're in bed with them. Because they must have got straight on the phone and said, 'Do not highlight the fact we have c*cked up here' - do not show it, do not talk about it and do not badmouth us.

"I guarantee that's what's happened, so what's why Sky were under direct orders to not say a word about it."

PGMOL acknowledged the "significant human error", which has resulted in VAR officials Darren England and Dan Cook being stood down for the next round of Premier League fixtures.

Topics: Ben Foster, Liverpool, Sky Sports, Tottenham Hotspur

Josh Lawless

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.

@joshlawless_