Chris Sutton can’t get his head around what Liverpool are trying to get from their recent statement about the PGMOL.
The Reds are refusing to let the mistakes from Saturday’s loss against Tottenham Hotspur lie and issued a withering statement towards the officials on Sunday.
The strongly worded response has been – quite bizarrely – met with widespread criticism. Adding his voice to the chorus of dissenters was former striker Sutton, who queried Liverpool’s motives for Mail Sport’s ‘It’s All Kicking Off’ podcast.
“They are not going to get the game replayed are they? They aren’t going to get points back. There are decisions made with VAR, Brighton last season were wrong on numerous occasions but I don’t think I saw any statements from them,” railed the pundit.
“I just don’t know where they are going with this. Do they want heads on a platter for this? When does it end.”
Sutton’s response sums up the incredibly disappointing response from the wider football world to Liverpool’s travails this weekend.
It really has been quite stunning – and eye-opening – that those within the game can’t see the difference between what happened to, say, Brighton, and what happened on Saturday.
The Reds have had VAR clangers go against them before, all teams have. Last year’s failure to disallow Gabriel Martinelli’s goal for Arsenal at The Emirates comes to mind here.
But on that occasion, as with others, it was a failure of the technology to work properly. Martinelli’s goal couldn’t be checked by VAR, because there was a blind spot in the camera.
Exactly the same thing happened to Wolves when they visited Anfield in the FA Cup last season. They didn’t demand a replay did they, so why should Liverpool?!
Well, firstly, no one from Liverpool has even suggested a replay, or that Spurs give up the points. Secondly, this was a totally unique incident, never seen before. If PGMOL are to be believed, the goal was disallowed purely down to a miscommunication between the VAR officials and the referee.
The mistake was obviously realised within seconds of the goal being chalked off, but nothing done about it. For that reason, we actually don’t think Liverpool’s statement went far enough. They should push this right until the bitter end, Sutton be damned.
