It’ll likely be forgotten as we went on to comfortably win the game, but Liverpool fell victim to the latest VAR mishap against Newcastle.
With the visitors leading a 1-0, their skipper Jamaal Lascelles wrapped his arm around the neck of Joel Matip at a corner and hauled him to the ground to prevent him challenging for the ball.
VAR reviewed Andre Marriner’s decision not to award a penalty, and remarkably upheld it.
Thankfully, Liverpool would swiftly find their equaliser courtesy of some Sadio Mane magic.
But the reality is that, sooner or later, the lack of VAR intervention will cost us points, even if on this occasion we were too good for it to matter.
The so-called threshold for overturning decisions is clearly going to have been significantly lowered.
You can see Lascelles’ wrestling move in the images below, and have a look at Jurgen Klopp’s brilliant reaction to Mane’s subsequent goal by clicking this link.
Klopp on VAR and the Matip decision: “They did a review, I was told they did a review. Was I surprised that it was still not a penalty?! Yes!”
Did you think it was a penalty? pic.twitter.com/HVGyKVNZdT
— LFC Fans Corner (@LFCFansCorner) September 14, 2019
Penalty that. But not given. #LFC #LIVNEW #Anfield #Matip pic.twitter.com/KKscSwVjqU
— LFC Photo (@LFCphoto) September 14, 2019