Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has sympathised with Liverpool over Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal in Sunday’s defeat to Tottenham, insisting VAR does not guarantee correct decisions.
Liverpool have requested the VAR audio from the 2-1 defeat after Diaz’s legitimate goal was ruled out due to, as the POGMOL described, a “significant human error”. Liverpool released a damning statement in response suggesting “sporting integrity had been undermined”.
It has been explained that VAR Darren England believed the goal had been awarded by the referee so issued a “check complete” to confirm the forward was onside. However, Diaz had been flagged offside, so the on-field decision stood.
Arteta was asked for his thoughts on the incident, replying: “We had some big discussions before the start of the season and everyone had the right intentions to improve the game and find the best way to take it forward.
“But it’s true that with everything that already happened this season, not just in the Premier League but in other countries as well, the pressure is increasing. It’s not easy for them. It’s not easy for any club or any manager because that really affects part of the season or a result and that is a dangerous thing to do.”
Asked if he has sympathy for Liverpool, Arteta replied: “For sure, you know at the end you want to get what you deserve. You want to minimise errors that you cannot control away from the work and the job that you do on a daily basis.
“Everybody is trying to have a really clean and honest game but in the end you have to earn the right to win it and play in the conditions that the rules allow. When that doesn’t happen it’s extremely frustrating.
“When they explain all the processes of what they’re trying to do it sounds really logical, but in the heat but when you’re talking about millimetres and interpretation of other things like the frames of the camera it’s very, very different. It’s a shame that it’s happening but at the moment we haven’t got the right answers I think.”
LUIS DIAZ NOW POSTS TWO-WORDS ON INSTAGRAM AMID LIVERPOOL & TOTTENHAM VAR ‘OFFSIDE’ DRAMA
What a few days it has been following Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
Perhaps to the surprise of nobody, Luis Diaz’s ‘offside’ goal is still causing chaos in the media like never before.
Those running VAR have had many issues before, but nothing like this, with Liverpool fans still raging about it all.
Either way, the man at the centre of the drama, Luis Diaz, has remained pretty silent about it all, up until his two-word message via his Instagram on Monday evening.
The Liverpool star simply posted ‘fantastic support’, with his comments section flooded with messages of support from his own fans.
There has been a lot of talk about the incidents that occurred at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but to try and cool all the noise down, the VAR recordings need to be released, or else, the controversy will just continue.
Can Liverpool use this as fuel?
Whether you agree or disagree. Those in Liverpool colours feel like they have been well and truly done over.
And it might just work in their favour as the games, during these coming weeks, progress.
Jurgen Klopp’s side have actually started the new Premier League season in a fantastic fashion and were unbeaten prior to the Spurs game.
As Liverpool have proven before, don’t poke them, or they will roar like never before.
Well, this incident might have just poked the bear, which in the end, could result in the Reds just steamrolling opponents.
‘Ghost referee’ an unprecedented moment that explains why Liverpool will not accept an apology
When recalling the 2005 Champions League semi-final, Jose Mourinho likes to observe the night he ‘lost 0-0’ after Luis Garcia’s ‘ghost goal’ was controversially awarded.
Jurgen Klopp will feel empowered to reference ‘the 2-2 defeat by Tottenham Hotspur’ in September 2023 following the lamentable failure to apply the laws of the game. Or one specific law of the game. That rather important one where a team scores a goal, an official awards it and the opposing team kicks off.
VAR officials Simon Hooper, Darren England and Dan Cook probably thought it was going quite well until they stumbled at that final hurdle.
“Er … Simon … I think you’ve missed something out,” or a variation thereof will make for compelling and darkly comic listening when the Var audio surrounding Luis Diaz’s offside ‘goal’ is made public.
Liverpool had the weight of public opinion behind them for 24 hours as neutrals reviewed the incident with incredulity and more diligence than those employed to do so at the time.
Then the Merseyside club released a statement on Sunday, somebody mentioned the ‘R’ word, and all roads lead to Damascus for those converted to the idea that the criticism of the officials had gone too far and all talk of a replay deserves ridicule.
Those chastising Liverpool’s strongly worded condemnation have a lot in common with Klopp at full-time on Saturday night. They are missing a point.
Liverpool’s statement was not calling for the Premier League to demand the result be voided, although the ambiguity of the phrase “exploring a range of options” certainly encourages a debate as to where this should and will lead.
There were prolonged talks as to whether the club should say anything at all on Sunday. Initially they were reluctant. Their anger increased during the course of the day and ultimately they felt compelled to speak out, especially upon learning about England and Cook’s dash to and from the United Arab Emirates 48 hours before the fixture and the deeply troubling questions that posed.
Liverpool’s intention is to fully comprehend how there could be such a monumental cock-up in a game of such importance and are determined to force the publication of the offending audio so as to ensure no other team suffer at the hands of such rank ineptitude.
Now the chats between on-field referee Hooper and Var England are being sought by Liverpool with the tenaciousness of a subpoena for Richard Nixon to release his Oval Office musing about Watergate.
PGMOL chief Howard Webb has no option but to relent, with Liverpool anticipating a report. Once the level of incompetence has been established, Liverpool will determine what, if any, next steps are available.
We already know the tape will reveal how England thought he had advised Hooper a goal had been legally scored and initially thought it was awarded, only to then realise it had not registered on the scoresheet.
In probably the most damaging oversight of all, we witnessed the ‘ghost referee’ rather than ‘ghost goal’, as an ashen faced-Hooper froze and decided it was too late to do anything about it.
There is no logic to Hooper, England, Cook, Webb or anyone else saying nothing could be done once the game had restarted.
Had Hooper paused play and explained the situation to both managers, Spurs could have been advised to enable Diaz to run through unchallenged and rectify the mistake. Spurs would still have had an hour to overturn a 1-0 deficit against 10-men. Most importantly, the integrity of the result would have been unaffected.
Instead, the Premier League is in uncharted territory. Never before has an official given a goal and the scoreboard failed to reflect it.
You can compile as many lists as tribalism sees fit about appalling offside decisions, missed handballs, goals not given when the ball clearly crossed the line, or goals given when no one can be sure it did. Football is full of such perceived sporting injustices.
What you will not find in English football history is a team being awarded a goal but the scoreline remaining unchanged. This is not an issue of subjectivity, or interpretation of the laws, or a divisive decision to be debated in the pub like ‘one of those things’.
How would such an argument go?
“That Diaz offside? Seen them given. No, actually, it was given. Never seen that before, to be fair.”
This is genuinely unprecedented; black and white; a factual, objective, concrete, provable truth. Liverpool scored. The Var gave it. The referee was informed about it. PGMOL knew about it – although we must wait to learn at what point – and now the Premier League must deal with it, with the timeframe of the fall-out potentially dependent on whether Klopp’s new-look side is as good as it has looked in the first two months of the season.
There could be profound implications if this year’s title race is anything like 2018-’19 and 2021-’22.
That experience is all over Liverpool’s statement on Sunday without being mentioned at all.
On both occasions Liverpool lost the title on the final day by a single point to a club owned by the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
A repeat in 2024, or even if Klopp’s side missed Champions League football by such a margin – or Spurs earned it by two – will lead to more recriminations.
It is no wonder Liverpool are not prepared to accept an apology and meekly move on. They are unlikely to get a replay of the match, but the very least every club and supporter deserves is no replay of such an unmitigated farce.