A brilliant match between Liverpool and Manchester City on Sunday was overshadowed by yet another VAR controversy in the dying minutes at Anfield.
With the teams level at 1-1, Jeremy Doku caught Alexis Mac Allister in the chest inside the visitors’ penalty area. On-field referee Michael Oliver missed it, and Stuart Attwell in Stockley Park somehow came back with a carry-on verdict of ‘check complete’ despite the infringement being clear in replays.
Taking to X, the Liverpool Echo’s Paul Gorst summed up the woeful inconsistency of top-flight officiating with an image of that incident alongside the one which earned the Reds’ Argentine midfielder a red card in the 3-1 win over Bournemouth at the start of the season.
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The journalist shared the two stills side-by-side and pointed out: “One of these was deemed a high boot and worthy of a sending off. The other was apparently not even a foul. Making it up as they go along on a week by week, game by game, minute by minute basis.”
As bad as the decision not to penalise Doku felt during the match yesterday, it appears even more baffling when compared with the red card that Mac Allister was shown against the Cherries.
The Liverpool midfielder caught Ryan Christie boot-on-boot roughly a foot off the ground, whereas the City winger already had his leg at chest height before following through on the 25-year-old with studs showing.
VAR failed to give a penalty because they apparently deemed that the Belgian played the ball first. While he got a toe to it and then caught Mac Allister, his leg was already dangerously high before making any contact with the ball.
It said a lot that even Gary Neville insisted that Doku was very lucky to avoid being penalised, and that the red card in the Bournemouth game last August was swiftly overturned on appeal.
Once again in the Premier League, the officials have done their utmost to dominate the narrative and take the shine off what was a thrilling match between two top-quality teams.
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