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Gary Neville has slammed Liverpool’s response to the huge VAR error which cost Luis Diaz a goal at Tottenham on Saturday after the Reds said they were ‘exploring all options’.
The Reds fell to a 2-1 defeat to Tottenham in north London on Saturday evening, but they had taken a 1-0 lead after Curtis Jones’ red card after Luis Diaz had seemingly scored on the break.
But the Colombian’s opener was ruled out for offside, although VAR images clearly show that he was being played onside by Cristian Romero – something that the PGMOL later apologised for in an admission of fault.
Manchester United legend Gary Neville, however, hit out at Liverpool’s statement as he described it as a ‘mistake’.
Gary Neville has slammed Liverpool’s statement in reaction to the contentious VAR call on Saturday
Luis Diaz was denied an opener in north London, before nine-men Liverpool fell to a 2-1 defeat
Replays showed that the decision was the wrong one, with PGMOL coming out after the match to issue a statement
‘Jurgen Klopp handled the situation well last night after the game,’ the former England defender wrote. ‘Most football fans will have had empathy with what happened and recognised it was wrong!
‘However Liverpool’s statement tonight is a mistake! Talk of exploring all options (what does that mean!!!) and sporting integrity are dangerous phrases along with being vague and aggressive.
‘Sorry we f***** up was enough!! I said this last night. Sorry should be respected and not undervalued.
‘This is a snap reaction that can always be wrong but I feel strongly about it.’
Diaz’s strike came as the visitors were reduced to 10 men after a Jones challenge caught Yves Bissouma high above his boot, with the game in the balance.
Posting their statement after PGMOL’s apology, the Reds said: ‘Liverpool Football Club acknowledges PGMOL’s admission of their failures last night. It is clear that the correct application of the laws of the game did not occur, resulting in sporting integrity being undermined.
‘We fully accept the pressures that match officials work under but these pressures are supposed to be alleviated, not exacerbated, by the existence and implementation of VAR.
‘This is vital for the reliability of future decision making as it applies to all clubs with learnings being used to make improvements to processes in order to ensure this kind of situation cannot occur again.
The disallowed strike came just three minutes before Son Heung-min’s opener for Spurs
Liverpool ended the game with nine men as Diogo Jota joined Curtis Jones in being sent off
‘In the meantime, we will explore the range of options available, given the clear need for escalation and resolution.’
‘It is therefore unsatisfactory that sufficient time was not afforded to allow the correct decision to be made and that there was no subsequent intervention.
‘That such failings have already been categorised as “significant human error” is also unacceptable. Any and all outcomes should be established only by the review and with full transparency.’
Spurs captain Son Heung-min got the hosts in front not long after the disallowed strike on 36 minutes after a fine move involving James Maddison and Richarlison, before Cody Gakpo restored parity on the stroke of half-time.
The game had been played at a frantic rate, before Diogo Jota joined Jones in leaving the field, seeing red after two bookings in the 69th minute, leaving Tottenham with a two-man advantage.
The hosts finally made the all-important breakthrough to make their numbers tell, although it was an own goal from Joel Matip in the 96th minute that ultimately handed them all three points.
Including both of Jota’s cautions, the game saw 11 yellows during the game, with a number of contentious VAR calls made including the decision to dismiss Jones in the first half.
As expected, Klopp was quizzed on both the PGMOL statement and his views on the offside call, but claimed that the apology does not help his side’s situation, and that he knew Diaz was ‘clearly’ onside.
Jurgen Klopp has slammed PGMOL’s statement which admitted that Luis Diaz’s goal against Tottenham should have stood
Klopp claimed after the match that he knew instantly that the Colombian striker was onside
‘Does that help? No. We had that situation at the Man United game (against Wolves last month) – did they get points for that? No. We will not get points for it today so it doesn’t help.
‘Nobody expects 100 per cent right decisions on field. I think we all thought when VAR came in, it might make things easier. I don’t know why people are acting under that much pressure. Today the decision was made really quickly for the goal. It changed the momentum of the game.’
‘In the first moment I saw it, it’s clearly not offside but then it’s (given) offside, so I try to think they must have a better view. But at half-time we knew. With normal pictures, it’s easy to see now. But I’m pretty sure whoever made that decision, didn’t do it on purpose.’
It was later revealed that the game’s VAR officials Darren England and Dan Cook – who were stood down for the rest of the matchweek – were in action in the UAE just two days before the significant error.
