Mark Clattenburg believes that the officials made the wrong call over one of Liverpool’s disallowed goals in their 2-0 win at Burnley on Boxing Day.
Cody Gakpo thought he’d doubled the Reds’ early lead when he found the net just before the half-hour mark, but his strike was chalked off as Darwin Nunez was adjudged to have fouled Charlie Taylor in the build-up.
The former Premier League referee was giving his views on the game’s big incidents on Amazon Prime last night, and he explained why he felt the Dutchman’s goal ought to have counted.
Clattenburg said (via Liverpool Echo): “I thought Paul Tierney refereed this game really well. He played a wonderful advantage for Liverpool’s second goal but this one I don’t agree with.
“You look at the reaction of the Burnley defender – he puts his hands to his head. He’s gone in front of Nunez and when I see it from different angles I don’t see any contact from Nunez, therefore I don’t see it as a foul.
“Once Paul Tierney gives it – and this is why there’s so many arguments if the VAR is doing his job or not – this is such a subjective call. He’s made the decision on the field of play and the VAR’s gone ‘You know what? There’s not enough to disallow it’.
“I don’t agree, I think the best decision would have been to play on and the goal be given. There isn’t enough contact, for me, to be awarded as a foul.”
Clattenburg isn’t alone in spotting Taylor’s despairing reaction to Gakpo finding the net – Sky Sports reporter Pete Gill also picked up on it at the time. When the Burnley defender seemed resigned to conceding the goal, his response ought to have offered a big clue to the officials.
Therefore, how Tierney and the VAR came to decide that Nunez had fouled him warrants an explanation.
It wasn’t the only goal Liverpool had chalked off last night, with Harvey Elliott’s strike after half-time being disallowed for Mo Salah being pushed into an offside position, and it was just as well that those decisions ultimately didn’t cost Jurgen Klopp’s team.
For a neutral party in Clattenburg to state that Gakpo’s goal was a fair one is yet another strong indicator that the officials were wrong to rule it out.
It means the 24-year-old is still waiting on his first Premier League strike since the defeat to Tottenham three months ago, coincidentally another occasion in which referees and VAR dominated the post-match discussion.
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