Curtis Jones will serve his three-match ban for the red card he received during the 2-1 defeat at Tottenham following Liverpool’s unsuccessful appeal.
Jones was shown a yellow card for his tackle on Yves Bissouma in the first half of Saturday’s clash, but referee Simon Hooper changed his sanction to a red card after VAR advised him to check the monitor at edge of the field.
The Reds appealed the decision on Monday in a bid to overturn the midfielder’s three-match suspension. However, the club have since confirmed that these attempts were unsuccessful.
It was a controversial decision from Hooper, with Jones unlucky to put Bissouma through after his foot slipped over the ball.
The decision to increase his penalty to sending off means the challenge was classed as serious foul play and therefore merits a three-match suspension.
Liverpool hoped the decision would be overturned, as was the case with Alexis Mac Allister’s red card against Bournemouth in August, but their appeal was rejected.
The images Hooper saw on the monitor did not comply with VAR protocol and would probably have encouraged the Reds to launch their appeal.
This means the 22-year-old will miss upcoming fixtures with Brighton, Everton and Nottingham Forest, with his return to his homeland set to take place against Bournemouth in the League Cup.
There was a possibility that the suspension could be increased to four games if the appeal was deemed “frivolous”, but after evaluation this was not concluded to be the case.
Jones will be eligible to feature in Thursday night’s Europa League match with Union SG, with the penalty not applicable in UEFA competitions.
PGMOL releases VAR audio, explanation of Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal
The PGMOL has released audio recordings of the conversation between match officials during their review of Luis Diaz’s incorrectly disallowed goal in Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
Jurgen Klopp’s side suffered their first defeat of the season in controversial circumstances at the weekend as Son Heung-min and a Joel Matip own goal equalized for Cody Gakpo.
Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota were also sent off for the Reds, although Klopp’s 10 men should have broken the deadlock when Diaz was slipped by Mohamed Salah and past Guglielmo Vicario.
However, the linesman’s flag immediately went up and the VAR room – made up of Darren England and his assistant Dan Cook – gave Simon Hooper the green light to restart after a quick check following a Tottenham free-kick .
However, replays showed Cristian Romero Diaz playing in the team and the PGMOL admitted “significant human error” after learning of the inexplicable error from England and Cook.
The PGMOL’s admission of error led to continued calls for audio of the conversation to be released, and the panel of arbitrators complied, releasing a two-minute clip of dialogue between Hooper, the England,
Cook, fourth official Michael Oliver and a replay operator.
After a 2D line was drawn on Romero’s boot, showing Diaz clearly behind the last Tottenham defender, England immediately said: “Check complete, check complete, good, perfect” and seemed to believe that the goal was scored on the field of play.
Play then resumes after a Tottenham free-kick, with Hooper saying: “Well done boys, good run”, before the replay operator realizes something is wrong and exclaims:
“The decision on the pitch was offside, are you satisfied with it?
Cook responds: “Yes, offside, goal, yes.
That’s not true, Daz,” to which England responds, “What? “Before being informed that the linesman had flagged an offside position, the VAR official let out an expletive.
Oliver then requested a postponement of the game, but when the match had already started after the free-kick, England bluntly replied that the referees “couldn’t do anything” before swearing again.
In a statement released alongside the audio recording, England pointed to a “lack of focus and concentration” and said: “As we said shortly after the final whistle on Saturday night, we have acknowledged in a statement that there was a significant human disturbance during the match.
An error occurred.” The match mentioned above, which we are aware of, should have resulted in a goal due to VAR intervention.
“As with all goal situations, the VAR team looked at every aspect of the goal. After the pitch officials disallowed the goal for offside, the review phase began and the process was carried out correctly by VAR.
The selection of the kick point was correct and the use of a single 2D line at the foot of the penultimate defender was also correctly positioned.
“The image created showed that Luis Díaz was clearly on the page without the need for a second line.
At that point, due to a loss of focus and concentration, the VAR lost sight of the decision on the pitch and it incorrectly communicated “Review Complete”, thus inadvertently confirming the decision on field.
He did it without any dialogue with the AVAR [VAR Assistant].
“The game then resumed immediately. After a few seconds, the replay operator and then the AVAR questioned the VAR about the result of the review and asked him to review the image created, emphasizing that the initial decision was made on the pitch and that he There was an offside, but it never happened.
Communicated to the team on the field at any time during the match.
“The VAR team then considered whether play could be stopped at that point, but VAR and AVAR concluded that the VAR protocol in the Laws of the Game did not allow this and decided that intervention was not possible because the the game had begun. Again.
“Below is the audio between the referee team on the pitch and the VAR team.
The PGMOL has conducted an you investigation into the circumstances that led to this incorrect result and subsequent lessons will be implemented to reduce the risk of errors in the match. future.”
England and Cook have both been suspended as referees for this weekend’s Premier League matches following Saturday’s unprecedented blunder.
