Sky reporter shares what Liverpool officials said to referees at half-time vs Spurs
Liverpool officials were the first ones to let Simon Hooper know of his mistake to disallow Luis Diaz’s goal vs Tottenham Hotspur.
Diaz’s first-half strike at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium already lives in infamy, with the on-pitch officials and their colleagues in the VAR room conspiring to serve up an almighty mix-up.
In the days since the incident, it has been front-page news. And with Sky Sports showing last night’s game between Fulham and Chelsea, it was still a major talking point.
With Jamie Carragher offering some interesting insight, host Dave Jones added another fascinating little nugget of information, too.
“It is our understanding that the on field officials were not made aware of the decision until half-time,” he said. “So they didn’t know there was anything wrong until the interval and I think it might have been Liverpool officials who made them aware of it to start with.”
Hooper in the dark until half-time
This is an important point, because there have been suggestions in the days since Saturday that referee Hooper was made aware soon after Diaz’s goal had been disallowed that the wrong decision had been reached.
It seems as though VAR protocols meant that it was too late to change the decision at that point anyway.
But had Hooper known, he still had the power to do something about it.
Obviously, there should be some blame apportioned to the referee if that was the case. If he knew what had happened and failed to do anything about it, he should be held accountable, protocol be dammed.
Clearly, the major fault lies with the VAR officials either way, though. They will have known almost immediately that an almighty error had been administered, and should have advised Hooper on the best way to proceed.
If – as is suggested – they didn’t, then that only adds another layer to their incompetence.
It shouldn’t be up to the team on the wrong end of the decision to let the refereeing team know what their colleagues have already seen. Liverpool have every right to fight this as hard as they possibly can.
