An incident during Everton’s clash with Newcastle at the weekend was a carbon copy of one Liverpool were punished for earlier in the season, but the outcome was quite different.
Everton came away 3-2 winners, meaning the decision that went in their favour early in proceedings may have earned them two points.
It was during the opening goal from a corner, where a Jarrad Branthwaite glancing header ended up in the far corner, but not before flying over the ducking head of James Tarkowski, who was in an offside postion.
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FA Cup trophy is pictured on display ahead of the fourth round clash between Macclesfield Town and Brentford (Credit: Getty Images/James Gill - Danehouse). The Premier League trophy pictured at Anfield before Liverpool's final match of the season against Crystal Palace at Anfield (Credit: Getty Images/Julian Finney).
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The goal was given but it didn’t take long for Liverpool fans to notice the hypocrisy of it all, stemming from a near-identical incident against Man City earlier in the season.
Arne Slot surely livid over referee inconsistencies on display against Everton
Slot has voiced grievances with the referees on a number of occasions this season, and he must have been frustrated at Everton’s good fortune.
Why? Because earlier this season, a near-identical incident involving Andy Robertson saw a goal chalked off during Liverpool’s 3-0 loss to Man City.
It happened at a crucial point in the game, when Virgil van Dijk thought he had drawn his side level in the 38th minute. The goal was disallowed, with Robertson ducking in an offside position — importantly, outside of the keeper’s field of vision.
The LED board shows the decision to disallow a goal scored by Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool due to offside during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Liverpool at Etihad Stadium
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So exactly what happened with Tarkowski.
This kind of inconsistency has become a feature of Premier League officiating. It’s really not good enough for the most watched league in the world.
Premier League’s KMI panel were split on Robertson decision
To further illustrate how ambiguous the rules have become, the Key Match Incidents panel that reviews the big decisions of each matchweek was split three to two when sharing their verdict on Liverpool’s disallowed goal.
BBC Sport reported on the decision.
First, they ruled in favour of Liverpool, concluding that the assistant should not have given offside. But then, they also voted that VAR was right not to intervene. 3-2 in both instances.
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The introduction of this new technology is supposed to bring consistency to these big moments where a decisive decision needs to be made. This season, it has felt as inconsistent as ever.
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