Liverpool icon John Aldridge blames Premier League refereeing and VAR for costing the club too many points this season
Former Liverpool forward John Aldridge expressed his worry about the officiating decisions that could cost the club dearly this season. The Reds are currently second in the Premier League table, one point behind league leaders Arsenal.
Liverpool and the Gunners played a highly-contested 1-1 draw at Anfield on Saturday, ending up sharing a point each. The game involved a few controversial decisions, particularly a blatant handball from Martin Odegaard in the first half.
Odegaard impeded the play with his hand within the Arsenal box, stopping Mohammed Salah from getting into a dangerous space. The referees deemed the handball not worthy of a penalty as Odegaard slipped during the situation.
However, Odegaard showed the clear movement of the hand and impeding a threatening opportunity negated the notion of intent. Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher asserted that Liverpool deserved a penalty in that situation.
The ex-referee usually explains the reasoning behind the decision to Sky Sports but fails to defend this particular decision. The Reds have suffered with bad decision-making since the start of the season, costing them many points.
Liverpool’s only loss in the Premier League against Tottenham Hotspur had numerous horrible decisions which included a legitimate goal disallowed. The game also involved two controversial red cards to Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota by referee Simon Hooper.
There have been similar incidents with such tackles that did not receive the red card from the referees, showing inconsistencies. Liverpool have three similar handball decisions in three draws against Chelsea, Manchester United and the Odegaard handball that we discussed.
Writing in his column for Liverpool Echo, Aldridge voiced his displeasure over bad officiating particularly targeting Liverpool. He wrote:
“This wrong call could be the difference between us winning the league and finishing second. We’ve already had to deal with the debacle of the Luis Diaz disallowed goal at Tottenham Hotspur and now we’ve been involved in another disgraceful decision. When is this going to stop? If it is a 50/50 decision, you can sympathise. But it was a clear penalty, so what has Coote seen that stopped him from flagging it up?”
"I think the more understandable decision would have been to give the penalty"
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 26, 2023
Dermot Gallagher believes that Liverpool should have been awarded a penalty for a handball from Martin Odegaard in their game against Arsenal pic.twitter.com/JSLIni9jP5
The Reds have dropped many points in the games where dubious decisions went against them this season. Many Kopites believe that confrontation between Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and referees like Paul Tierney is the cause of it.
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No matter what their reasoning is, the standards of officiating need to improve and be fair for all the teams. Plenty of season still remain and hopefully the points drop will not matter though it seems unlikely as the competition at the top is too close.
