Jurgen Klopp’s answer started so well.
The Liverpool manager was measured. He explained quite reasonably that listening to the audio of the VAR team realise, in horrifying and excruciating real time, the extent of the mistake they had just made in disallowing Luis Diaz’s goal against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, had changed his perspective on the incident.
He went on to carefully warn everyone to “deal with it in a proper way.” He urged everyone listening to remember that “all the people involved… didn’t do it on purpose.”
Diaz’s goal was wrongly ruled out at 0-0 (Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
This was sensible stuff, and essentially continued the line that he took in the immediate aftermath of the game, opting to be magnanimous when his previous attitude to adverse decisions against Liverpool might have led us to expect that he would unleash fury. As he admitted, that might have had more to do with potential fines or other punishments heading his way, but in the moment his motivation didn’t really matter: Klopp playing things down was important.
And then, on Wednesday…
“…I can say immediately, even though some people might not want me to say…”
…oh no…
“…not as the manager of Liverpool so much, more as a football person…”
…don’t do it, Jurgen…
“…I think the outcome should be a replay. That’s how it is. Probably will not happen.
“The situation is unprecedented. I am used to wrong decisions, but something like that, as far as I can remember… nothing like that has ever happened.”
Ah.
The first thing to say is that, clearly, the game should not be replayed. Fundamentally because this was just an officiating error. Perhaps the worst officiating error in the history of the Premier League, which is why everyone has been talking about it and will continue to talk about it for some time, but just an error.
What about a replay for Sheffield United, when a glitch in the goal-line technology prevented them from being awarded a goal against Aston Villa in 2020? The game finished 0-0, and Villa finished that season fourth bottom on 35 points. Bournemouth were relegated with 34.
What about a replay for Watford in 2008, when Stuart Attwell awarded a goal for Reading when the ball had actually gone wide, that game ending 2-2?
Any chance of a replay, @ReadingFC? 👻pic.twitter.com/DmLBk23fgo
— Watford Football Club (@WatfordFC) October 4, 2023
Or the following year when Crystal Palace’s Freddie Sears put the ball into the back of the net against Bristol City, it bounced out and the goal was not given. Palace lost that one 1-0.
What about a replay for the 12 other games since the start of last season, in which refereeing errors were deemed so objectively incorrect as to be worthy of an apology to the clubs in question by PGMOL?
We could go on for a while, but let’s end with: what about a replay for Wolverhampton Wanderers, who were denied a perfectly good goal in their FA Cup third-round tie in January at Anfield thanks to an image that the VAR wasn’t shown? That game ended 2-2. Liverpool won the replay 1-0.
Maybe all of this is slightly facetious. Klopp is correct to say that this is an unprecedented situation, and it should be pointed out that games have been replayed before. Those of an age will recall a Leeds United vs Stuttgart Champions League tie in 1992, when the German side were found to have fielded more than the three foreign players permitted in European competition at the time.
Only this season, there was the slightly absurd scenario that saw Scunthorpe United’s National League North game against Buxton ordered to be restaged after it was abandoned due to torrential rain in the 96th minute. Arsenal offered to replay their FA Cup tie with Sheffield United in 1999 after they scored a goal following a throw-in that occurred because a United player was injured, and they did not return the ball, as is the sporting convention.
But none of those were because of an error in officiating.
In its most basic form, allowing a replay because an official made a mistake — as Klopp said, an honest, if serious mistake — would set a dangerous and frankly tedious precedent. Managers complain about what they view as incorrect decisions quite enough: imagine how their eyes would light up if they knew they could wipe out a bad result because of one.
Which does lead to another question: as a “football person”, would Klopp be asking for a replay if Liverpool had won, or even drawn the game? Or if Spurs had been on the receiving end of the catastrophic mistake?
Klopp appears to be broadly out on his own here. As my colleague James Pearce reported on Tuesday, most figures at Liverpool did not want a replay and accepted the outcome of the game. The club were rightly furious about what had occurred, and want some form of transparent investigation into what happened, with a view to ensuring something similar doesn’t happen again. Their path seemed to be largely justified but broadly realistic outrage.
Most people were sympathetic to Liverpool. This wasn’t a debatable red card or a marginal handball decision; the mistake was clear. Klopp’s initial response suggested he had some sense of perspective. Then a few days later… this.
It might not and maybe shouldn’t matter to Klopp and Liverpool, but this will lose them a significant amount of goodwill over the incident.
Also, it wouldn’t be a great look if this precedent was set and a replay granted for Liverpool, one of the biggest and best-supported clubs in the country, when it hadn’t for other, smaller clubs.
This mess should result in changes. Changes in how VAR works, changes in how officials communicate with each other, and changes in what points a VAR can correct their mistakes. But granting a replay won’t really solve anything.
Liverpool’s manager is right to say this is an extreme situation, but there’s an implication that something of this nature won’t happen again. What could be the same? I don’t know. You don’t know. It hasn’t happened yet. But there will be more moments of incompetence such as this in the future, because we’re people, and there isn’t much anyone can do about that.
Klopp knows there won’t be a replay. He said so. He knows it won’t really solve anything. So why bother?
(Photo: Nigel French/PA Images via Getty Images)
