‘He should ask himself…’ – Andoni Iraola told he may have made a grave error in Liverpool loss

A former Premier League referee has suggested that Andoni Iraola may have erred in not substituting Ryan Gravenberch before the midfielder was sent off in Liverpool’s 3-0 defeat to Manchester City on Sunday.

The teams were level when the Dutchman was shown a second yellow card in the 62nd minute for a foul on Jeremy Doku, having earlier been booked for catching Elliot Anderson slightly late, with Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher both feeling that those decisions were harsh.

It proved to be a game-changing moment as the visitors scored twice in the five minutes after the 24-year-old was dismissed, with Rayan Cherki later completing the victory.

Hackett: Could Iraola have substituted Gravenberch?

Ex-Premier League referee Keith Hackett also felt that Gravenberch was hard done by, but raised the question as to whether Iraola should’ve substituted Liverpool’s number 38 after the first yellow card.

The former top-flight whistler told Football Insider: “The referee did not have the ideal viewing angle and wrongly issued Ryan Gravenberch with a yellow card. Frankly, I did not see this as a foul, as the Man City player was off balance and going to ground.

“In a game such as this, the manager has a decision to make. He should ask himself, ‘Should I substitute this player after he has received that yellow card to avoid the risk of a second yellow followed by a red card?’ A pity, given the context of this game.

“It was a yellow card in law. However, in a high-profile game with a great deal of tension, the referee should have raised the threshold for yellow cards higher to keep the card count down.”

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Iraola doesn’t have a case to answer

We see the point that Hackett is making about whether Gravenberch should’ve been subbed rather than sent off, but that also seems to be a classic case of being wise after the fact.

We don’t think Iraola should take any blame for not withdrawing the midfielder, who’d been having an excellent game and wasn’t exactly a ticking time bomb after his first yellow. It wasn’t as though he was recklessly lunging into challenges or pushing the boundaries of the ref’s patience.

However, the ex-PGMOL chief is correct in saying that Chris Kavanagh ought to have taken the context of the match into account by realising how much tension there’d be after the off-field scandal involving Man City, and adjusted his decision-making accordingly.

The red card for Gravenberch ruined what had been an absorbing contest, with the quickfire goals by Erling Haaland and Doku completely taking the game away from Liverpool, who’d surely have made a much better fight of it had the Dutchman not been dismissed.

We just hope that Kavanagh learns from yesterday and, the next time that he’s handed such a tinderbox of a fixture, will be less impetuous in reaching for his pocket and read the room better.