English Premier League has often had its critics when it comes to the level of officiating in some of the matches played. The 2023-2024 season of the league has been no different, loaded with horrendous officiating decisions so far. The latest victim of these decisions has turned out to be Liverpool.
This time around, the lines have been further crossed, as Liverpool were denied a goal by a false offside call. Luiz Diaz scored a goal against Tottenham Hotspur, which should have stood. However, when VAR was checking the offside call, they messed up the entire scenario.
The VAR officials got utterly confused, and despite reaching the verdict of the player not being offside, they somehow ended up not giving the goal to the Reds. According to the reports, the VAR persons thought that the goal had been given, but initially, it wasn’t.
🚨 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: Darren England, the VAR official who made the mistake last weekend, will not officiate Liverpool for the rest of the season.
(Source: @SamWallaceTel) pic.twitter.com/ee74YpXHuV
— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) October 4, 2023
A lot of voices were raised from the Red’s hierarchy about the shambolicness of the decision. Finally, the club would get a satisfying revenge on the controversial VAR decision. As per the reports, the VAR official Darren England who made the error, will not be a part of officiating any of their Premier League matches for the remainder of the season.
Earlier the opening game of the season for both Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wanderers (Wolves) was marked by a significant Video Assistant Referee (VAR) error. United’s goalkeeper took out both the Wolves’s strikers and without getting the ball, when he came off his line.
The incident was destined to be a clear penalty. But, somehow, VAR officials got it wrong and went with the on-field call of no penalty. Later an apology was offered to the Wolves hierarchy by the PGMOL, and acceptance was made that they should have been awarded a penalty.
Jurgen Klopp on whether Tottenham Hotspur vs. Liverpool should be replayed
Jurgen Klopp recently opened up on the offside error-based decision against Spurs. He stated – “all the people involved, they didn’t do that on purpose”. He expressed that however, there should be solutions for the bad decision. Klopp then pressed on to his main point and stated that as a soccer individual – “I think the only outcome should be a replay”.
However, Jurgen Klopp was of the opinion that the replay might not take place. He further briefed that if replays are provided as a solution, then teams might become accustomed to demand it. The Reds manager was of the opinion that one can fathom wrong decisions, but this type of error never preceded.
