Southampton legend-turned-pundit, Matt Le Tissier, took to Twitter last night and aimed a presumptuous pop at the Reds after our 3-1 win at St Mary’s.
In response to a fellow Saints fan grilling him on the expectation we would drop points in the fixture, the Sky Sports critic claimed refereeing decisions played a part in the outcome.
Might have done if the correct offside was given 🤷♂️ clearly the more talented team won but they shouldn’t need the officials to turn the game around 🤔 https://t.co/jOabzjKjSU
— Matt Le Tissier (@mattletiss7) April 5, 2019
While some photos suggest that Mo Salah was marginally offside when the ball was played to him, our other two goals were world-class and we would likely have settled the game anyway.
Besides, according to Sky Sports presenter Kelly Cates (King Kenny’s daughter and unfortunate victim of the Carragher/Neville mix-up), Naby Keïta’s first goal for the club would have stood even if VAR were in place.
“The VAR centre have told us that when it’s introduced next season, this isn’t a goal that they would disallow because the Southampton defence has a couple of opportunities to reset,” she said during half-time on Sky Sports.
The Egypitan’s initial cross didn’t actually contribute to Keïta’s goal, and the Saints apparently had enough time to recover and clear the ball. So, the VAR panel would have given it anyway but it shows there will be much controversy next season when it kicks in.
How to perpetuate a myth. 1. Telegraph show photo Salah being “a yard offside”, but crop out the player who was level with him (and offside kinda applies to the *whole* defensive line). 2. Ignore major mistake of the game, Keita being taken out in box. Result? “Lucky Liverpool” pic.twitter.com/etEDtoaw2W
— Paul Tomkins (@paul_tomkins) April 6, 2019
Later, trying to exonerate himself by quoting the Naby Keïta penalty shout, the former Saints striker suggested that the Guinean should have been awarded a spot-kick.
Yep looked like a penalty to me but goals change games massively and your equaliser shouldn’t have stood that’s all 🤷♂️ https://t.co/neW48Si8Ll
— Matt Le Tissier (@mattletiss7) April 6, 2019
Le Tiss is obviously bitter that his former side were bettered by the Reds on Friday night; he can’t have any complaints about the way we secured the victory with world-class goals from Salah and Jordan Henderson.
Of course he is disappointed his team weren’t able to take points off us, but perhaps it would be best for him to keep these cheeky digs to a minimum in the future.