Football pundits Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher have slammed refereeing decisions in Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-1 win over Liverpool.
Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher have slammed the refereeing decisions that could have cost Liverpool the game against Tottenham on Saturday. The Reds had an opportunity to go top of the table with a win in this away fixture against Spurs. But, they ended up losing the game because of injury time own goal by Joel Matip.
Both Tottenham and Liverpool were off to a flying start in the new season. They were unbeaten heading into this fixture, and it was expected to be a hard-fought battle between two teams that could challenge Manchester City for the Premier League title this season.
The fixture certainly did live up to the expectations. But, the refereeing was not on point. Quite a few decisions went wrong but the biggest blunder came from VAR in the first half itself.
Minutes after Curtis Jones was sent off and the Merseyside club were reduced to ten men, the Reds managed to find the back of the net thanks to Luis Diaz. But, the goal did not stand because he was deemed to be in an offside position.
However, the story looked different when fans and pundits had a look at the replays. Meanwhile, the major blunder from the VAR was the fact that they did not use the customary lines to check whether he was onside or offside.
Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville was shocked to see that the lines were not used to check the decision and that there were no explanations for the decision that was taken.
Neville said via talkSPORT, “That one I’m mystified. The speed of the decision, we didn’t see the lines, there needs to be an explanation on that one.”
Spurs managed to find the back of the net minutes after Diaz’s goal was disallowed. Skipper Son Heung-min gave the London club the lead but the 10-man Liverpool side did bounce back with an equaliser in injury time of first half.
Even Diogo Jota was sent off in the 69th minute, and the Reds were now playing with nine players. Jurgen Klopp’s team fought hard and were very close to securing a draw, but an own goal by Matip in the injury time cost them the game.
The decision to disallow the Diaz goal ended up being a major difference. If that goal had stood things could have been different. Meanwhile, even Jamie Carragher has expressed his disappointment over the decision. He feels the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) group that officiates these matches have made a blunder, which is why they have not come up with an answer yet.
Jamie Carragher said: “When it takes this long for an answer from PGMOL over a contentious decision you know there’s been a mess up!”
