John Aldridge has his say on the controversial refereeing decisions in Liverpool's loss to Arsenal in the first half of his weekly ECHO column
Liverpool players remonstrate with referee Andy Madley during the 1-0 defeat to Arsenal at Anfield
Liverpool players remonstrate with referee Andy Madley during the 1-0 defeat to Arsenal at Anfield
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Losing to Arsenal like that will be a hard one to swallow for Liverpool. It’s not that long ago that Man City beat us at Anfield.
We’ve now lost to both of the top two at home in the space of a few weeks. These are the sides you want to be challenging. And for different reasons, you’re left wondering what could have been because they’re both fine margins.
Don’t get me wrong, we didn’t deserve to win against Arsenal. But we didn’t deserve to lose either.
I’ve got to say it about the officiating - it has become a joke now. But no-one's laughing, it is inept. Howard Webb's the head of refereeing and since he's been there, it's got worse, VAR's got worse.
And if that happens in any other industry, you get demoted, you get sacked. What's wrong with this industry? They're not answerable. What have we got to do?
It was the dark arts from Arsenal. I knew it was going to happen. We saw it at Man City with Pep Guardiola; Mikel Arteta does it now. And Arsenal do it fairly well.
They make themselves look stupid from a football point of view, going down the way they did. It's embarrassing for the game to get to this level. From an ex-footballer's point of view, watching and playing in the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s, it's totally embarrassing the way they go to ground and all that.
And it's not sour grapes. Liverpool should have had a penalty. Personally, I think they should have had two. They’re two fouls, they’re both fouls. There’s no other way about it.
What's Alexander Isak got to do? Go to ground? It's a foul. The other one's a pull, it's two fouls in the box, it's two penalties!
The referee doesn't see it, and VAR does nothing. I’m not sure what’s worse, if they’ve not seen it, with all those cameras and replays, or do see it and, for whatever reason, don’t intervene.
Everyone watching can see it’s a penalty, apart from the people paid to see it and make the decisions. It’s broken. Either the way they implement VAR isn’t right or the officials aren’t good enough.
So, where do you go? Where do you go from here? Well, I'd tell you where you go. You go to the top. Howard Webb, since he took over, the refereeing and the VAR has got worse instead of better.
So you go to the top. And if he can't get the referees, the right referees to do the right jobs, then he should go. In any other job, it goes to the top.
If a team isn’t performing the manager gets sacked. If the referees aren’t performing, we have to look to the top and ask these difficult questions.
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Yes, I'm hurting because we lost 1-0, and we didn't deserve to win the game first and foremost. But it goes both ways, to an extent. I think Liverpool got stung worse but Trey Nyoni should have been booked early on and he wasn't.
It's time and time again now, to a whole host of clubs too - not just Liverpool. I love the club so to me, it feels like we’re getting the brunt of it, but I know other clubs will be affected too.
The football I love has gone in a way, and it's not helped by the referees. It feels that we’ve been caught out more than our fair share over the last few years.
In years gone by, yes, I'll hold my hand up. When I was on the Kop in the '60s and '70s, we got decisions which were ridiculous. The Kop influenced the referees because it was intimidating, and I get that.
But now, with all the screens where they know it's going to be shown repeated from numerous angles and scrutinised, and to still come to the wrong decisions for whatever reason. It’s not right, it’s not good enough.
It should go to the top. If Howard Webb isn’t up to the job and can’t improve things then he should resign. He should resign, and someone else should come in and hopefully clear it all up. Since VAR's come in, it's supposed to help the game, but it's instead got worse.
It’s not just me who thinks this or says it, we all do. No-one ever says that VAR is getting better or how great it is for the game. It’s not being implemented properly at all.
So who does that come down to? The fingers has to be pointed, because it’s a joke.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some decent referees out there, of course there is. But as a whole, what we're seeing is not good enough and it’s so, so frustrating. Football is getting worse and officiating is a big part of that.
The whole world's complaining about it. Even Arsenal fans are hiding after the weekend because they know deep down, they got away with one.
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