Why no red card for Pascal Gross?
It was all rather bemusing when Gross was not sent off or cautioned after tugging Dominik Szoboszlai back by his shirt collar and conceding a penalty.
There was no double jeopardy in play as he was not making a genuine challenge for the ball and with rules suggesting a red was in order, VAR specialist Dale Johnson of ESPN has looked to explain why that did not occur.
When assessing ‘obvious goal-scoring opportunities’, the distance, direction of play, likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball and the location of defenders are considered.
To the naked eye, all Szoboszlai had to do was run onto the ball and slide it into an empty net after Bart Verbruggen raced off his line.
But Johnson explains that “[Craig] Pawson (lead VAR) has decided that the general direction of play and that Szoboszlai doesn’t have control of the ball create enough doubt that the Hungary international would have a genuine chance of scoring.”
Clearly not watching the same events if they did not think that was a genuine chance!
“The VAR rarely gets involved in DOGSO situations unless it’s very clear there’s been a subjective error,” Johnson added before later saying, “it’s surprising that Gross wasn’t even booked, but we do see consistency on this.”
Door left ajar & Nunez loves Mo
Darwin Nunez loves to assist Mo Salah and his latest has set a new Liverpool and Premier League record – these two are forging quite the connection!Jurgen Klopp has admitted his side “kept the game open” for Brighton after edging into the lead and he had a “little talk” with them after the matchAlexis Mac Allister insists he “feels good” in the No. 6 position after a “really tricky” start against his form team, who gave him quite the emotional reception
