Referee’s View
Jurgen Klopp was entirely justified in using the word “reckless” to describe Aaron Cresswell’s challenge on Jordan Henderson yesterday, and I am amazed the West Ham player was not sent off. He was not even shown a yellow card.
Cresswell went in with his studs showing and was using excessive force as he made contact with the ball and then the leg of the Liverpool captain.
The foul endangered the safety of the midfielder and I was disappointed that referee Craig Pawson failed to issue a sanction immediately. That was a clear and obvious error and Stuart Attwell, the video assistant referee, should have intervened.
Many people took to social media to argue that Cresswell had made a genuine attempt to make a clearance and that his studs, having made contact with the top of the ball, forced his foot to roll into Henderson’s knee.
I am afraid that is not really a defence. The International Football Association Board, the body responsible for the laws of the game, recently made clear its position on such incidents. It said: “Getting the ball first has minimal relevance as to whether a foul has occurred. There is no reference to making contact with the ball in the section relating to Fouls and Misconduct in the Laws of the Game, but it may be considered by the referee in deciding whether contact was careless, reckless or using excessive force.”
Referee Chris Kavanagh had an almost identical foul challenge in the Everton v Tottenham game and Var Jon Moss correctly intervened with the sanction of a red card to Mason Holgate for his challenge on Pierre-emile Hojbjerg.
The tackles by Cresswell and Holgate, which had strong similarities, were treated differently by two experienced match officials.
The game demands a consistent approach, so some work needs to be done by the management team of the Professional Game Match Officials Ltd to ensure that every referee is operating on the same page and that all stakeholders in the game understand that challenges that endanger the safety of an opponent are met with a red-card sanction.