Amidst the baffled reactions to the officiating calls during Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with Tottenham, Specsavers’ official Twitter account seized the opportunity to fire a dig at VAR’s inconsistent application.
The technology came under fire after failing to invite Paul Tierney to take a closer look at Harry Kane’s reckless challenge on Andy Robertson in the first-half, despite later instructing the official to reconsider his yellow card call for the Scot’s tackle on Emerson Royal.
Jurgen Klopp was understandably apoplectic at various points in the tie, reacting sarcastically after the referee showed the German a yellow card for his touchline antics.
Amusing as Specsavers’ post-game intervention was, one has to seriously question why VAR chose to selectively get involved in proceedings when there were clear opportunities to intervene.
It’s not so much to refute Andy Robertson’s red card (an objectively correct call) but to question why such an application of VAR wasn’t consistently applied throughout the tie in cases where VAR stepping in was warranted.
The whole point of the technology, after all, was to intervene where referees failed to make the correct call or misjudged from a poor angle or perspective.
At the very least, this may hopefully invite some investigations into the continued viability of the technology and the standard of officiating within the English top-flight.
Fouls, indirect free-kicks and match-fixing: Liverpool vs. Inter Milan 1965