Unfortunately for Reds fans the refereeing upstaged the quality of the football.
Simon Hooper is a liability. When I see him as the ref for any game I despair. He frequently makes mistakes. He just isn't good enough. On the opening day of the season he was stood down for failing to give Wolves a penalty when Man U goalkeeper Onana clattered a Wolves player in the box. He was looking straight at it. Onana took the player clean out of the game without getting the ball. Nailed on pen. Not given.
Yet seven games later and he was handed the biggest fixture of the weekend. Why? I know Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor can't ref every game (unfortunately) but surely they should always be given the games that will have a direct effect on the title race. To be fair to Hooper, VAR was worse and did Hooper no favours.
Simon Hooper is a liability. When I see him as the ref for any game I despair. He frequently makes mistakes. He just isn't good enough. On the opening day of the season he was stood down for failing to give Wolves a penalty when Man U goalkeeper Onana clattered a Wolves player in the box. He was looking straight at it. Onana took the player clean out of the game without getting the ball. Nailed on pen. Not given.
Yet seven games later and he was handed the biggest fixture of the weekend. Why? I know Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor can't ref every game (unfortunately) but surely they should always be given the games that will have a direct effect on the title race. To be fair to Hooper, VAR was worse and did Hooper no favours.
Our first inkling that there may be a twat in the VAR hot seat was when Hooper yellow carded Curtis Jones for a bad tackle on Bissouma. Jones misjudged the tackle and caught Bissouma high on the shin. He was going to trap the ball and got it wrong. Bissouma was lucky to escape serious injury but there was no intent on the part of Jones. Hooper had a clear view of the incident in real time. Free kick. Yellow card. Get on with it. But VAR intervened and called Hooper to the screen. As Hooper arrived at the screen he was greeted with a still image capture of Jones' foot impacting Bissouna's leg. At that moment I knew Jones was a goner. Why did VAR show Hooper the bad looking still image first? Were they trying to get Jones sent off? It defo seemed like it. Hooper duely obliged and sent Jones for an early bath. These tackles always look worse in slo-mo, and Hooper had witnessed the same incident in real time from a very close proximity. Yellow was the right decision, but he changed it.
Hooper and VAR were off to the worst possible start. It got worse! Later in the game Salah's pass was clearly onside but was ruled offside by VAR. It later transpired that VAR knew it was the wrong decision but failed to say or do anything. Had the goal stood, it can be reasonably assumed that Liverpool would have went on take the 3 points. But it didn't.
Then Hooper made another howler when he yellow carded Jota for a nothing touch on a Spurs player. The Spurs player was running with the ball when he clipped Jota and went over. A free kick to Spurs was the correct decision but Hooper added a yellow card. Seconds later Jota commited another stupid fowl and got a second yellow. With the game at 1-1 and Sod's Law very much evident, Liverpool scored an own goal in the last minute to hand the three points to Spurs and bring to an end a game of shame for the PGMOL. They have apologised and stood down the personnel involved, but it really is not good enough.
So, with City losing, Spurs go one point behind the champions. They play first next weekend against Luton and three points will take them top knowing that City face Arsenal at the Emirates on Super Sunday, Liverpool face Brighton on the south coast and Newcastle face West Ham in the capital. Points dropped by some of the chasing pack. Spurs didn't deserve the 3 points last weekend but if they beat Luton it puts them in a great position just before the October international break.
Then Hooper made another howler when he yellow carded Jota for a nothing touch on a Spurs player. The Spurs player was running with the ball when he clipped Jota and went over. A free kick to Spurs was the correct decision but Hooper added a yellow card. Seconds later Jota commited another stupid fowl and got a second yellow. With the game at 1-1 and Sod's Law very much evident, Liverpool scored an own goal in the last minute to hand the three points to Spurs and bring to an end a game of shame for the PGMOL. They have apologised and stood down the personnel involved, but it really is not good enough.
So, with City losing, Spurs go one point behind the champions. They play first next weekend against Luton and three points will take them top knowing that City face Arsenal at the Emirates on Super Sunday, Liverpool face Brighton on the south coast and Newcastle face West Ham in the capital. Points dropped by some of the chasing pack. Spurs didn't deserve the 3 points last weekend but if they beat Luton it puts them in a great position just before the October international break.
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| Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports |
The offside was a disastrous call but I felt both send off decisions were justified. I didn't think much of that tackle by Jones.
ReplyDeleteRed cards should be rescinded as part compensation . When the Reds lost # 2- 1 @ the Etihiad on Dec 26 , they had a Sterling goal wrongly disallowed for offside & a City goal should of been chalked for the same reason . Result should of been # 1 -2 . Reds lost the Prem by just 2 points ! How about the peno that Everton should of got V City last April ? City won the title by just 1 point ! Why wasn't a white line drawn on the screen on saturday ? Everyone could see it was onside .
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