For 24 hours or so after the final whistle at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last Saturday, Liverpool were in the rare position of receiving widespread sympathy from fans of other clubs on social media over the disgrace of Luis Diaz’s legitimate goal being disallowed for offside.
That lasted until the club had the balls to put out a statement on Sunday night to call for ‘improvements to processes in order to ensure this kind of situation cannot occur again’ and seek to ‘explore the range of options available, given the clear need for escalation and resolution’.
Cue the usual depressing chorus of ‘those Scousers demanding a replay and special treatment, they need to just get over it’.
It’s easy knowing that anyone spouting such nonsense never actually read through the statement, for not once did it mention anything about replaying the match against Spurs, on which people may have lost out on bets made with any UK bookmaker not on Gamstop.
Here’s the thing – Liverpool have the best interests of every Premier League club at heart in calling for improvements to refereeing standards and the operation of VAR. What happened to us last weekend could easily have been any other top-flight team on another day.
Just when we thought the situation couldn’t get any more farcical, out comes the audio on Tuesday evening, which exposed Darren England’s horrendous arrogance in saying he could do nothing about his mistake despite being urged to go back and reconsider.
If anything, that damning clip strengthens LFC’s case in calling for officials to do their jobs better. And guess what much of the reaction on social media has been? Yup, ‘suck it up Scousers, teams get done every week by bad refereeing’.
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Then there are those who are so agenda-driven that they wheel out clips of decisions – some from two decades ago – which went in Liverpool’s favour and play the ‘other clubs didn’t whinge’ card. They mightn’t have made a formal statement, but their managers probably have a good old moan (not looking at you at all, Jose Mourinho).
The online tribalism is bad enough; it certainly isn’t helpful when journalists like Jonathan Liew are posting sarcastic tweets about a host of other infamous matches being replayed, or Simon Jordan’s disgusting comment on the airwaves about a ‘victim culture’.
Before we know it, another round of Premier League games will be upon us. By Sunday night, there’s a very strong chance we’re once again trying to pick the bones out of a controversial decision (perhaps several) arising from a VAR review or a refereeing error.
To all those disparaging rival fans taking aim at Liverpool for daring to seek improvements to a crucial part of the sport where it’s very much needed, make a good note of this next point – this is your fight too.
It could be your team suffering next, so put your agendas aside and wake up to the reality that LFC are doing everyone a favour by demanding better.
Strange one this one! Liverpool only vehemently complains when they are at the wrong end of decisions.
There were a period between 2018-2021 when VAR decisions always seemed to benefit them hence it being dubbed LIVARPOOL.
No sympathy from me @ all.
Well said Liam!!! @BangBang muppet missing the point completely!!!!