Ryan Mason fumed that Diogo Jota ‘shouldn’t have been on the pitch’ for his last-gasp winner for Liverpool in Sunday’s 4-3 win over Tottenham.
Shortly before his match-winning goal, the 26-year-old was booked by Paul Tierney for catching Oliver Skipp on the head with a high boot, with the Spurs midfielder subsequently going off.
The north Londoners’ acting head coach was left raging over the incident, as he said afterwards (via talkSPORT): “I don’t think there was luck involved because they were clinical. Even a moment at the end from a player who shouldn’t have been on the pitch, he took the finish well.
“I’d like an explanation. It’s hard to understand why it wasn’t [a red card]. I understand sometimes referees and officials on the pitch missing it, even though my feeling at the moment was an instant red card.
“When your studs are showing five-and-a-half feet in the air and you make contact with the player’s head, draw blood and create a gash, I think it ticks all the boxes.
“There’s an experienced referee in the VAR room. You want him to help the official on the pitch in that moment. It’s decided the game, because that player on the pitch shouldn’t have been on there in the end.”
Firstly, the challenge from Jota wasn’t a good one, so we can understand why Mason felt it would’ve been worthy of a red card, particularly given how his own playing career was ended by a serious head injury while playing for Hull City in 2017 (The Guardian).
He’s right in saying that one player in that incident ‘shouldn’t have been on the pitch’, because Skipp was lucky not to have been sent off for a horrendous over-the-top challenge on Luis Diaz in the first half, which of course was conveniently overlooked by many broadcasters after the game.
What those two flashpoints show is that both managers had legitimate grievances over the officiating yesterday, with the standard of refereeing continuing to be one of the biggest blemishes on Premier League football.
You can see Mason’s comments on the Jota/Skipp moment below, via @talkSPORT on Twitter:
“The player who decided the game shouldn’t have been on at the end.”
“I’d like an explanation & to understand why it wasn’t a red card…”
Ryan Mason can’t understand why #LFC’s Diogo Jota wasn’t sent off 🟥 pic.twitter.com/fMTXRMrjyo
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) April 30, 2023