Jurgen Klopp has taken time to have a swipe at the Premier League’s VAR shambles during his final Liverpool pre-match press conference.
Klopp, 56, is set to bring the curtain down on his time at Anfield on Sunday afternoon. The German will depart Merseyside with one Premier League title to his name – but he could have been in the running for a second this season.
Liverpool’s title challenge fell away last month after a string of poor performances. However, the Reds might still be challenging Manchester City and Arsenal if it wasn’t for a series of shocking Video Assistant Referee decisions earlier in the campaign.
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Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk are set to lock horns in a huge clash this month with each fighter attempting to etch their names in boxing history as the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 1999. The stakes couldn’t be higher as the pair will go head to head for the prestigious WBC, WBA, WBO, and IBF titles.
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The failings of VAR has been a hot topic in recent days – and clubs will vote on whether to scrap its use from next season. Players and managers have all spoken out about the system, which has been used since 2019 supposedly to help improve decision making.
The vote comes after Wolves submitted a formal resolution, meaning representatives of the 20 clubs will be allowed to make a decision at a meeting in Harrogate on June 6. Speaking on the possibility of scrapping VAR, Klopp said: “How it’s used is definitely not right, how they use it, I would vote against it.
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“These people cannot do it properly. VAR is not the problem, you cannot change the people so I would vote for scrapping VAR.”
Liverpool’s Luis Diaz was involved in the most controversial moment of the season when he saw his perfectly legitimate goal against Tottenham Hotspur disallowed. Diaz was flagged offside, but replays showed he was onside.
Darren England, the VAR, mistakenly believed the on-field decision had been to award the goal, leading him to tell Simon Hooper, the referee, that the check was complete. The strike would have put Liverpool 1-0 up in a game they lost 2-1.
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Liverpool were also denied a clear penalty when Martin Odegaard handled the ball in the penalty area during their clash with title rivals Arsenal at Anfield, with fans joking he was playing basketball. Liverpool drew the game 1-1.
In both cases, former referee Howard Webb, chief refereeing officer for Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), later admitted the officials had got it wrong, stating the Reds should have been given the goal at Spurs and awarded a spot-kick versus Arsenal.
Speaking about the second decision, he explained: “The game expects a penalty in this situation and I would agree. As such, this one did not reach the right outcome on that basis.”
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Amazingly, there was more penalty heartbreak for Klopp when they were denied a spot-kick against City at Anfield. In the final seconds of their clash, with the sides level, Citizens forward Jeremy Doku caught Liverpool midfielder Alexis Mac Allister with a foot to the chest. The title six-pointer ended 1-1.
Webb claimed VAR got the decision correct, but Sky Sports’ Peter Smith fumed: “That is in the box, in the last seconds of a huge, potentially title-deciding, game. It’s a massive call. Liverpool fans, I expect, will be coming away from that explanation thinking ‘that should have gone our way’.”
Klopp, however, admitted Liverpool haven’t been the most unlucky side this season: “Wolves are the most unlucky team I saw with VAR decisions. We had a few but they are the champions of that.”