Dermot Gallagher has said that Dominik Szoboszlai ‘will argue like mad’ over the incident which resulted in his red card at Anfield on Sunday.
In racing back to try and prevent a long-distance effort from Rayan Cherki crossing the line (which it eventually did), the Hungarian pulled Erling Haaland’s shirt and was sent off for denying a goalscoring opportunity, with the Frenchman’s goal also being chalked off after a VAR review.
However, the ball still hadn’t crossed the line when Manchester City’s number 9 dragged the jersey of the Reds midfielder in a clear attempt to stop him from getting back to make the clearance, although that was either unnoticed or ignored by on-field referee Craig Pawson and the officials in Stockley Park.
Gallagher: Szoboszlai was fouled in red card incident
Gallagher made his customary Monday morning appearance on Sky Sports News‘ Ref Watch, and he claimed that Szoboszlai was unfortunate that the ref’s view of Haaland’s shirt tug on him was inadvertendly impeded by the backtracking Nico O’Reilly.
The former top-flight official said: “The referee sees the foul and lets play go on because he thinks there’ll be a goal. Szoboszlai certainly gets fouled and, because of that, the referee sees the first one and lets it go on, but he doesn’t see the second one because O’Reilly is in his way and blocks his path.
“Without doubt, Szoboszlai will argue like mad that he’s fouled. He’ll want a free kick and that’s why it is. VAR points out to the referee, ‘You can’t give a goal because Szoboszlai’s fouled. You can go back to the original foul, where Haaland is denied a goalscoring opportunity, so it’s a red card’.”
Gallagher continued: “I feel for the referee in his situation. As he arcs his run, O’Reilly gets in his way and [Pawson] doesn’t see the second foul. If he’d seen it and blown, the ball has not gone in the net. He goes back and sends Haaland off and it’s job done.
“O’Reilly comes across him and unfortunately he doesn’t see that. We have a situation where it ends up in the net – Szoboszlai is fouled, there’s no doubt about that, and you have to default to the original.”
Fortune sticks two fingers up at Liverpool again
In the moment, Liverpool fans who spotted Haaland tugging Szoboszlai’s shirt may have been screaming for a free out, but replays showed that the first offence was committed by the Reds midfielder.
Would Pawson have called it differently if he’d seen the second shirt pull? Would the outcome from VAR have been different? These are questions to which we’ll never get concrete answers, and Arne Slot took a philosophical view afterwards, but the debate will linger.
There’s a case to be made that the officials ought to have just let Cherki’s ‘goal’ overrule the shirt grabbing by the two 25-year-olds, although the bureaucratic practices of the PGMOL don’t exactly leave scope for common sense to be applied.
The eventual outcome benefitted neither team at Anfield yesterday – Man City were denied a goal which might yet be decisive if the title race is settled on goal difference, while Liverpool will be without the suspended Szoboszlai for their trip to Sunderland on Wednesday night.
Fortune has once again turned its back on the Reds in this most chastening of seasons for the reigning Premier League champions.
This incident had nothing to do with the final result. The result was determined by the failure to send off Guehi when he pulled Salah back. If you think Dias is a covering defender, watch the incident in slow motion. Salah will take a couple of strides and hit the ball, this would be where the cut of the grass is. Dias wouldn’t have got anywhere near that interception point to block a shot. It’s a massive error cost Liverpool three points.
Yep – two egregious fouls on Salah not given. PGMOL is bent. Vested interests abound in trying to keep the league open. Stinks
Watching the epl is not a pleasure anymore I don’t understand why they not sending the ref to the check the television footage..disgrace