Liverpool’s Premier League rivals are ‘aggravated’ by Jurgen Klopp’s stance to request for the match against Tottenham to be replayed. Other clubs have pointed out how they have not done the same when on the wrong end of bad refereeing decisions.
Liverpool saw a Luis Diaz goal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium wrongly ruled out last Saturday. The PGMOL confirmed that “significant human error” was to blame.
VAR official Darren England thought that the on-field decision was that Diaz’s goal was onside and simply replied “check complete” after confirming that was the case. However, Diaz was in fact flagged offside and once the game resumed, they were unable to undo their mistake.
Klopp spoke for the first time on Wednesday after the audio exchange from the VAR room was released. He concluded that the best outcome would be to replay the match.
However, the Independent says that has not gone down well with other clubs in the Premier League. They are not happy that Klopp has publicly ruminated about the idea of the game being played again.
Liverpool have not formally requested a replay but are still assessing their options, with a review process ongoing. But other teams believe Klopp has left the idea of a replay ‘hanging’.
It is claimed that rivals have pointed out that they have also been on the wrong end of VAR mistakes and have not asked for their respective matches to be replayed. The PGMOL have issued 14 apologies for VAR-related issues since the system was brought into the Premier League.
Liverpool still believe the incident last weekend is different to ones previous. There was an ‘incorrect application’ of laws which, according to UEFA, could see a match replayed.
It is not only rival clubs that are aggrieved with Klopp’s stance. Gary Neville said it was “madness” to suggest the game should be played again, while Simon Jordan says Klopp has destroyed any of the respect he gained from his reaction immediately after the match.
Jordan said on talkSPORT: “He needed to balance it up because he was brilliant after the game. He was controlled and thoughtful and recognised a mistake had been made, so he needed to balance that up because that was too much of a decent answer so he needed to come back with this ridiculous analysis.
“The necessity for Jurgen to turn round after having a really good reaction on the game and turn it into something now, I don’t think is good form, I think it’s poor and smacks of a bit of a whiner.”
