The referee on Sunday had a really poor game which caused big, big issues. But the VAR was worse for not amending his decisions.
Everyone has a stinker for whatever reason. Players, they get substituted. But referees have stinkers and they have VAR who can help them out.
But he compounded the pressure put on the referee from Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool fans and pundits for not, for whatever reason, helping the referee out.
He should be demoted. Chris Kavanagh should be demoted and the referee, Paul Tierney, should be demoted. If players have bad games, they get dropped.
We’ve been saying this a long time about referees but they stick up for each other from top to bottom and they hide. They’re only human, they can have bad games anyway.
So Kavanagh, for me, is worse than the referee.
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It was poor. Again. Refereeing has gotten better and VAR has gotten a little bit better but it took it back to last year and the year before. It doesn’t make sense, it just doesn’t make sense.
You look at it in retrospect and yeah, Robertson is a red card. It’s clumsy and it’s a little bit wild, but it’s just a kick-out and won’t do anyone any real damage, the way he’s done it.
Harry Kane wasn’t premeditated but the way he’s gone in, it’s clumsy, he’s out of control and it’s a bone-breaker. For them not to see it and for Chris Kavanagh not to assess it and tell the referee is pretty shocking.
You knew straight away, you’ve seen Jurgen’s reaction. He doesn’t go like that unless it’s really bad. We’ve seen it for a second time, which is what VAR is for, and it’s an absolute joke.
The Scotland captain gets sent off, the England captain stays on. Maybe that says everything.
And the penalty, even when you saw it live in actual motion at the time, it was a penalty. It’s a shove, it’s a push, it’s stupid. And for them to not even assess that, like the other one, is even more blatant. It’s nonsensical.
If I was a referee or VAR in charge of Man Utd, Man City or Chelsea, if it’s a 50/50 decision for a penalty then they don’t get it.
I’m asking everyone that reads this column, if they were in the situation where they are a professional referee and it’s their call for a big 50/50 decision against a club you don’t like, then you don’t give them. That’s been going on for years and continues to go on.
I’m not saying it happens all the time but sometimes it’s so obvious to see that it’s been happening. Years ago in the sixties and seventies, we got a lot of decisions ourselves which we don’t seem to get anymore.
Some referees are fair, some referees are a lot fairer than others. Michael Oliver is one. He got it wrong at Everton last year but he is one that you always know is pretty true.
We can be biased and I am biased at times, but we’ve spoken about it a lot the past four seasons or so and we’re not getting a fair crack of the whip.
We did get more in the sixties, seventies and perhaps the eighties. Not nowadays. This does go on, not just against Liverpool but other teams as well.
Midfield struggles
We were the better team against Tottenham but they had the better chances.
When you’re playing a high line like we do and you have three lads who have never played in midfield together, one very young and two who have been out for a long time, you’re going to be under the cosh defensively because our pressing game is the only way you can stop teams putting balls over the top.
That’s all they did, long balls over the top all the time. And if you’re not putting pressure on the player, they can put good balls in and they’ve got really good forwards.
They made it really difficult for us. That’s why we really struggled in midfield and struggled with them defensively.
They were rejuvenated because they’ve had a couple of weeks off and most the players who played have been free of Covid.
They were firing because they’ve had a decent rest. That’s what made it a really good game.
For the Premier League it was a brilliant game, one of the best games so far this season. Both teams were trying to score goals whereas teams normally just try to hit Liverpool on the break.
They actually tried to win the game and it was a great advertisement for the Premier League.
