Arne Slot has responded to an admission from the PGMOL that James Tarkowski should’ve been sent off in the Merseyside derby at Anfield on Wednesday night.
Just 11 minutes into the game, the Everton defender scythed down Alexis Mac Allister with a dangerous lunge which left Gary Neville horrified and was punished with a yellow card by on-field referee Sam Barrott, a decision which was upheld upon review by Paul Tierney on VAR.
As reported by Paul Joyce for The Times, the refereeing body overseen by Howard Webb have since acknowledged that it should’ve been upgraded to a red card, with the nature of the follow-through meeting the threshold for serious foul play instead of being merely reckless.
What did Slot say when hearing of PGMOL acknowleding VAR error?
Slot spoke to the media on Thursday morning just after it had been reported that the PGMOL admitted to the error by Tierney, and the Reds’ head coach seemed philosophical about the chain of events.
He reflected (via Liverpool FC on YouTube): “I think it’s always good that, if they think they have made a mistake, they acknowledge that. We all know that mistakes are being made during football matches – by us, by me, by referees.
“It’s good that they acknowledged the mistake but I think it was so clear what I said yesterday that so many pundits that are not Liverpool fans, all of them were clear about it as well. It’s good that they acknowledged it and let’s go on to Sunday.”
Fair play to Slot for such a philosophical answer
Tarkowski himself issued a subsequent apology to Mac Allister in an acknowledgement of wrongdoing on his part, and while that is creditable on the Everton defender’s part, we hope he’ll learn from it and abstain from flying into tackles so dangerously again.
As for the officials, Tierney has quite an extensive rap sheet against Liverpool – take your pick from the blatant penalty not awarded for a clear foul on Diogo Jota against Spurs in 2021/22, Harry Kane and Oliver Skipp both avoiding red cards for dangerous challenges on Andy Robertson and Luis Diaz respectively, or harshly disallowing what would’ve been Dominic Solanke’s first goal for the Reds in a 0-0 draw against West Brom.
Not to mention that he was on VAR when Lucas Bergvall clearly fouled Kostas Tsimikas just seconds before scoring Tottenham Hotspur’s winner against us in the Carabao Cup earlier this season, and also when Julio Enciso kicked Wataru Endo in the stomach when Ipswich came to Anfield a couple of weeks later.
While Barrott should’ve awarded Tarkowski a red card on the pitch, how Tierney could fail to recommend a review of that decision from the sanctuary of Stockey Park is inexplicable.
Fair play to Slot for keeping his counsel in the face of such an inexcusable error from the VAR official, who doesn’t appear to be learning at all from previous mistakes.
