PGMOL chief refereeing officer Howard Webb clarifies penalty decision involving Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk in Crystal Palace victory. The Reds beat the Eagles 0-1 in the Premier League clash at Selhurst Park Stadium before the October international break commenced.
Diogo Jota scored an early and only goal of the game where the Reds had plenty of good goalscoring opportunities. However, the hosts threatened the visitors on a few occasions including the set-piece situation in question which attracted unwanted attention.
During the set-piece situation, players from both teams tussled with each other physically to gain an advantage. As the delivery crossed everyone, Van Dijk grabbed Marc Guihi’s arm but the Palace defender was nowhere near the ball.
The VAR immediately rejected the penalty claim as on-field referee Simon Hooper allowed the game to continue. Rival fans and many football pundits have used the incident to attack the credibility of Liverpool’s victory over the Eagles.
Speaking on the Mat Officials Mic’d Up show (via Premier League), Webb clarified the situation in detail. He said:
“In this case we see an action by Van Dijk that is very quick, particularly at full speed and the ball is always going towards the goalkeeper. We don’t think that the action really impacts Guehi’s ability to get to the ball. The referee saw it that way, didn’t penalise [Van Dijk] and when the VAR checked it, they saw it in the same way and cleared it for what it was, a very quick holding that didn’t impact Guehi’s ability to play the ball.”
Media silence on persistent Liverpool sabotage in the 2023-24 season
There is a recurring case of highlighting every small subjective decision that goes in favour of Liverpool to diminish other controversial decisions that have hurt the Merseyside club over the years. The Reds dropped numerous points last season due to the poor officiating throughout the season, eventually costing them the title.
According to ESPN, Liverpool suffered the most (4 errors against them) from VAR errors (31 in total) last season. The VAR error report ignores numerous handball decisions against the Reds including the Premier League title-affecting clash against Arsenal.
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard blatantly handled the ball and stopped Mohamed Salah from capitalizing in a 1-1 draw at Anfield. During another title clash against Manchester City that ended in a 1-1 draw, referee Michael Oliver made another big blunder.
Oliver refused to penalize Jeremy Doku for his high boot challenge on Alexis Mac Allister which deserved a late penalty. The high-boot tackles are beyond subjective debates and have always resulted in a 100% mandatory foul until that incident.
While Liverpool fans still blame the team’s complacency during the end for their Premier League loss, these incidents are title-changing. Nevertheless, there is a consensus between media and social media to create a ruckus on silly calls that occasionally favour Liverpool while ignoring these incidences.
Arsenal’s “dark art” in set pieces yet no media outcry?
If Van Dijk’s incident is a penalty, then there is a big question about the conduct of Arsenal recently. Mikel Arteta’s side enjoys the catchy “dark arts” tag but their conduct in set-piece situations is downright illegal. Arsenal constantly barges into the opposition goalkeeper or finds different ways to subdue them, scoring many set-piece goals.
Instead of facing any reprimand, Arsenal have enjoyed the freedom to do whatever they want while their fans create compilations of Ben Whites’ poor conduct. Social media and the British media selectively create narratives based on which team benefits from a decision.
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Liverpool are the last club that gains any advantage in this situation and lost two different Premier League titles to Manchester City in the seasons involving poor decisions that only favoured the UAE-owned club. PGMOL needs to operate with integrity and above the influence of such media and social media noises that want to influence the game and make it unfair.
