Jurgen Klopp believes Liverpool’s game against Tottenham Hotspur should be replayed as the controversial decision to disallow Luis Diaz’s goal for being offside is not allowed.
Diaz saw a goal incorrectly ruled out for offside as Darren England and Dan Cook, the VAR and assistant VAR, failed to override the on-field decision, which PGMOL would later describe as a “significant human error”.
England informed referee Simon Hooper that the review had been completed and assumed he was upholding an offside decision rather than an offside decision. This resulted in Diaz’s goal being disallowed.
PGMOL, the body responsible for referees in English football, released the audio recording of the decision-making on Tuesday. Liverpool had received it before it was opened to the public.
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Liverpool VAR error audio released – full transcript
However, Klopp believes the game should be played again.
He said: “I’m not saying this as a manager of Liverpool but as a footballer – I think the only result should be a repeat. “It probably won’t happen. I think it’s so unprecedented.
“As far as I can remember, nothing like this has ever happened, so I think a replay should be played.
“I’m not mad at any of them, not at all. We shouldn’t get involved with them. They made a mistake and I’m sure they felt terrible that night. They didn’t do it on purpose and we shouldn’t forget that.”
Liverpool had previously expressed their intention to “explore the range of options available” following the incidents at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last Saturday.
At the time of writing there has been no formal request from Liverpool to the Premier League to replay the game.
England and Cook, meanwhile, will not be on the list of appointed officials for the Premier League’s eighth matchweek, scheduled for next Saturday and Sunday. Adrian Holmes, the assistant referee who raised the offside flag when Diaz scored, has been assigned to the Championship for this weekend’s games.
In addition, England were banned from officiating midweek English Football League matches. He was originally tasked with taking charge of Leicester City’s game against Preston North End this evening, but Tom Bramall will now take his place.
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Klopp also claimed that Curtis Jones did not deserve to be sent off against Spurs.
The England U21 midfielder received a red card midway through the first half after a foul on Yves Bissouma.
Liverpool appealed the decision but it failed, meaning Jones will now have to serve a three-game ban. He will miss Premier League games against Brighton, Everton and Nottingham Forest.
“What made this day really difficult for us were all the other decisions. We’re talking about the VAR process now and how they talk to each other, but there was another situation in that game where Curtis Jones got a red card. “I remain of the opinion that it is not a red card,” Klopp added. “The referee was called to the screen and saw a frozen image for the first three seconds. I would have given a red card straight away for this picture.
“Then he sees the replay in slow motion and I would have given a red card for that. But it’s not a red card. They appeal and then the FA panel tells us it is not a clear and obvious error. I think it is. The referee’s first decision is yellow. The clear and obvious mistake is to show him a frozen image and slow motion.”
Alexander-Arnold wants Liverpool to ‘move forward’
Trent Alexander-Arnold said ahead of Thursday’s Europa League game against Union Saint-Gilloise that he thinks Liverpool need to “put it behind us”.
He said: “We as players can’t do anything about what happened. I wouldn’t say there are trust issues (with VAR), but what happened at the weekend was very disappointing and frustrating for us as a team.
“We have to move forward and put it behind us. We have to trust the officials who use the VAR system and hope that they make the decisions correctly as much as possible. Our focus now is on winning the two games before the international break.”
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(Photo: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)