Gary Neville believes Liverpool were wrong to question the “sporting integrity” of the Premier League after the VAR error in the match against Tottenham this weekend.
Neville delivers brutally honest verdict on Liverpool statement after VAR error
Gary Neville has criticized Liverpool for issuing a “dangerous” statement after Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) admitted “significant human error” during the Reds’ match against Tottenham.
Jurgen Klopp’s side left north London empty-handed on Saturday night after receiving two red cards and a goal wrongly disallowed.
Just before the half-hour mark, Curtis Jones was controversially sent off for a dangerous foul on Yves Bissouma.
Moments later, Luis Diaz thought he had given the visitors the lead after a superb pass from Mohamed Salah.
The 26-year-old winger beat Guglielmo Vicario, but the linesman ruled it offside. Diaz’s goal was ruled out despite footage showing the Liverpool star in action.
Diogo Jota received two yellow cards in quick succession in the second half, but many fans believe the first should not have been given.
Nonetheless, the PGMOL released a statement later in the evening, apologizing for the poor decision regarding Diaz’s offside.
Liverpool eventually responded to the announcement with a statement of their own, which Neville described as “dangerous” and a “mistake”.
The 48-year-old wrote to X, previously known on Twitter: “Jürgen Klopp handled the situation well after last night’s match.”
“Most football fans sympathize with what happened and realize it was wrong!
However, Liverpool’s statement tonight is a mistake! Talk of exploring all options (what does that mean!!!) and sporting integrity are dangerous, vague and vaguely aggressive expressions.
“I’m sorry we got together, it was enough!! I said it last night. Apologies should be respected and not underestimated. It’s a knee-jerk reaction that can still be wrong, but I I have a strong feeling about it.
Klopp will now be without Jones and Jota for Liverpool’s trip to the Amex Stadium next weekend, while Cody Gakpo remains a doubt for the Brighton game due to injury. After the match, the Reds boss delivered a severe blow to Ange Postecoglou, saying his side were not a ‘kicking team’.
“The red card for Curtis, everyone here [at the press conference] is probably thinking about the red card, but I played football and you didn’t,” Klopp said, as quoted by ESPN.
“If you see it in slow motion it looks terrible, but in real time it doesn’t look bad.”
“The game is in real time, but we judge it in slow motion. If they didn’t use slow motion, I’m sure we still wouldn’t see eye to eye in many situations.
“Curtis wasn’t even about to do it on purpose.” We are not a football team.
“How can Jota leave the pitch with two yellows in this match? The first one just grazed him and it definitely wasn’t his fault.
That’s the problem. We have a lot of things.” When was the last time you heard about an 11-on-9 game? And we were close to 11 against 8! There were no terrible mistakes.
“We haven’t sent off any players or anything. The guys made the game really intense, it’s crazy how much we fought.
In the end we achieved nothing. The result is gone, but the performance will stay with me forever.
I loved our attitude and our desire. I learned a lot about my team, much more than if we had won here.I don’t think we noticed anything about it.
