Liverpool have been on the receiving end of some utterly abysmal refereeing this season.
The decision to rule out a perfectly legitimate Luis Diaz goal against Tottenham Hotspur back in September may well go down as the worst use of VAR ever seen in the sport.
Meanwhile, who could forget the time Martin Odegaard chose to start playing basketball in the Anfield box in December. The call that day? No penalty, of course.
So, when Alexis Mac Allister was hacked down by Manchester City’s Jeremy Doku in the final seconds of their epic 1-1 draw recently, did anyone really expect a Liverpool penalty?
One man who seemingly didn’t was Michael Owen. However, speaking on the Premier League’s Match Officials Mic’d Up segment with PGMOL head honcho Howard Webb, Owen says he’s since changed his mind. He thinks it was a penalty.
“I thought it sort of wasn’t at the start, I see it again and I’m thinking it is!” laughed the former Liverpool striker. “I’m really 50/50 on it.”
Webb clears up Liverpool decision
This is obviously a useful little segment from the Premier League. However, releasing the audio from decisions such as this one can often lead to more questions than answers.
This incident is no different. From the real-time conversations between officials, it’s clear that they believe Doku got some of the ball before clattering Mac Allister. There’s also a bizarre claim that they ‘both come in high.’
Listening to the referees speak amongst themselves, maybe there is some truth to Ben Foster’s claim that the Liverpool man would have won a penalty had he not turned his back slightly on Doku.
In terms of Webb himself, he suggests that without the incident being especially clear either way, the officials followed protocol by not getting involved.
“It’s split a lot of opinion it’s one of those for sure,” Webb explains to Owen. “If the referee gives it on the field it would have been a check complete by the VAR. And equally, having not given it, it’s also check complete.
“The ball is too low to head. Doku lifts his foot to play the ball and he does make contact on the ball. Yes, we know there’s some contact on Mac Allister as well, he’s not really playing the ball either.
“I understand why it’s split opinion, I think it would have been check complete either way. Not wanting to re-referee the game in situations that are not really clear, which is what we think VAR is for. In this situation the VAR stays out of it, I think that’s what we’d expect.”
Some will agree with that, plenty will disagree. As for Owen – and even Webb – it sounds like they’re still not sure!