Liverpool shock
West Brom triumph amid VAR furore
A fourth round tie that was memorable and dramatic enough for its on-field action will be remembered far longer for the manner in which the video assistant referee system made its obtrusive presence felt on English football.
If earlier examples of the replay system had served as a mere hors d’oeuvres, this was a fully-fledged banquet of controversy.
This was the best result of Alan Pardew’s Albion reign, and possibly one of the club’s best in years, but most viewers, impartial or otherwise, will remember it more for the seven-plus minutes of delays that were caused by the three key times in the first half – and eight in total – that the VAR was called into play. “It’s hard to know where to start,” said Albion manager Alan Pardew. “I don’t think that is what we want to see going forward, whether you are a Liverpool or West Brom fan.
“Firstly there is no communication from the referee to us. Like in the NFL, when there is a call and they say they are going to look at that.
“But the bigger decision was the four minutes for the Salah decision. You are going from high tempo workrate to nothing. We had a hamstring (injury) just after that. As a coach, we have to change, we are going to have to get our players to mentally warm-up in that situation and keep themselves ticking over. You could say that is a lack of professionalism against us. I don’t know. It is just bizarre. As a football person on the sidelines, I wasn’t comfortable with the first half. It was a mysterious situation at times.”
After 19 minutes, Albion believed they had scored a third goal after Craig Dawson towered above Roberto Firmino to head in Chris Brunt’s corner although it quickly became evident that referee Pawson, or at least a voice in his headset, had other ideas. After at least two minutes, and consultation with VAR official Andre Marriner, Pawson disallowed the goal for an offside decision against Gareth Barry, who had been standing in front of Simon Mignolet,
although the referee was about to become even less popular with the visitors just a few moments later on Liverpool’s next attack.
Mo Salah went down heavily in the West Brom area after what appeared to be a tug on the arm by Jake Livermore. It was an infringement that again brought no immediate reaction from the referee but one from his studiobound assistant before Pawson moved over to the dug-out area to take a look for himself at the replay. Review suggested the duo were again correct, much to Albion’s fury, as Pawson pointed to the penalty which, after a delay now mounting well over three minutes, Firmino took and struck against the underside of the crossbar with the ball bouncing down and out.
It was an unprecedented passage of play and the tie still had more of the bizarre to offer as Albion lost two players – Gibbs and Hal Robson-Kanu – to muscular injuries within the space of a minute, using two substitutes by the 38th minute. Nor had the half finished with its VAR drama as West Brom finally claimed the third goal they thought they had been denied earlier after Dawson drove a low shot on goal from a wide angle which flew in via Liverpool’s Joel Matip, with Jay Rodriguez in an offside position at the far post although Marriner and Pawson collectively decided the goal should stand.
The tie had started in dramatic enough fashion with Rodriguez, who was interviewed by the FA on Monday after allegations he racially abused Brighton’s Gaetan Bong in a recent game, scoring twice in the opening 10 minutes. After six minutes, Georgina Wijnaldum lost the ball to Brunt, who squared for Rodriguez who finished ruthlessly with a magnificent finish from a step inside the area.
That came barely 65 seconds after Liverpool had taken the lead through Firmino and some poor defending this time from the visitors as Brunt’s mis- hit back-pass played Jonny Evans into trouble with the centre half compounding the issue by failing to stop Salah as he bore down on goal.
Ben Foster managed to stop the initial attempt but, when the ball broke kindly to Firmino on the edge of the area, the Brazilian deftly chipped the ball over the prone keeper into the exposed goal.
But quickly level, it took Albion just a further four minutes to take the lead as they once more exposed indecision and weakness in the home defence.
Grzegorz Krychowiak’s superb run, which Emre Can could not stop even illegally, ended with a ball wide to Kieran Gibbs and an unerring cross which Rodriguez drove in.
Klopp threw James Milner, Jordan Henderson and Danny Ings on and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s driven cross was mis-controlled by Firmino and Salah pounced on the ricochet, driving the ball home from 12 yards.
Surprisingly, and to his credit considering this was Liverpool’s first home defeat in 19 games this season, manager Jurgen Klopp would not criticise the system he has long championed.
“I think it’s normal that it will change things,” he said. “Is it nice that West Brom celebrate a goal then somebody tells them it’s not a goal? No, but I think it’s important if a goal needs to be disallowed, it is disallowed.
“Normally after a game I have to explain to you a defeat which was not deserved because we didn’t get a penalty or they scored another goal. Is it cool in January to have delays when it’s cold, especially for the players? Maybe not.
“But it will become smoother and more fluent in the future. You ask me about it and I have said this in plenty of interviews already.”