Liverpool stitched up by ‘obvious and clear’ VAR error says Arne Slot; Man City admission made

Liverpool Arne Slot has doubled down and claimed that Virgil van Dijk’s headed goal against Manchester City should NOT have been disallowed, despite VAR officials ruling the opposite.

Manchester City deservedly beat Liverpool 3-0 at the Etihad. The result leaves the Reds eighth in the Premier League table, eight points adrift of leaders Arsenal, and perhaps out of the title race.

The Cityzens dominated the game, especially in the first half, and goals from Erling Haaland (who earlier missed a penalty), Nico Gonzalez and Jeremy Doku were the difference between the two sides.

But Liverpool’s manager felt that it SHOULD have been 1-1. Before City’s second goal, Virgil van Dijk headed home from a corner, but the goal was disallowed for offside.

Andy Robertson, while standing in an offside position, ducked out of the way of the header. He was not in Gianluigi Donnarumma’s line of sight, hence Liverpool’s frustrations.

A BBC expert has already explained that the goal was ruled out because even if Robertson blocked Donnarumma’s view, his action still impacted him: “This isn’t about line of vision, it’s about an obvious action which could impact an opponent,” said Dale Johnson.

But Slot disagrees, and insisted that the call from the linesman which was backed up by VAR officials was wrong, in his post-match interview.

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“It’s difficult for me to give my view. I think it’s obvious and clear that the wrong decision has been made because he didn’t interfere at all with what the goalkeeper can do,” Slot said on Sky Sports.

“Immediately after the game I saw a video showing the referee allowing a similar goal last season for Wolves. That could’ve influenced the game in a positive way.

“A set piece can make a difference and we conceded 2-0 at the difference. That was maybe a fair reflection of where the first half was, 2-0, though.

“We would’ve been lucky going 1-nil down at halftime, let alone 1-1 or 2-nil down. It was an influential decision which is not to say it would’ve changed the game because it was obviously and clear that City were a better team.”

When asked whether Liverpool were “really poor” in the first half, Slot added:  “Either really poor or [Man City] were really good. They were dominating the game.

“They were better than us. We were having a lot of trouble bringing the ball out from the back. That didn’t lead to chance after chance after chance. The goals, the first one was a cross where we were in the right position.”

And when asked if Liverpool’s title defence is in trouble, Slot said that there are still positives to take from Liverpool’s recent performances.

“Last season when we were eight points clear it never felt like it was done already but I don’t think at Liverpool now we should talk about the No. 1 position we should talk about our own performances which have to be better,” Slot said.

“This week gave me a lot of positives to take into the games after the international break. You could focus only on the negatives but there were a lot of positives this week.”

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