Jordan Pickford avoids disciplinary action for Virgil van Dijk challenge
Jordan Pickford will face no disciplinary action for the wild challenge that potentially left Virgil van Dijk missing the rest of the season through injury.
The Everton goalkeeper slid in recklessly on Van Dijk, with his studs over the ball, in the 10th minute of the Merseyside derby on Saturday. On Sunday, Liverpool confirmed the defender will undergo surgery on his right knee after sustaining damage to his anterior cruciate ligament.
The injury could keep the Dutchman out for anything from six months to a year, but Pickford will not be punished. Under the Football Association’s disciplinary rules, retrospective action can only be taken if an incident was either not seen at the time or when it was reviewed by VAR.
In this instance, however, and after consultation with match officials, the FA concluded that the incident had been seen.
The verdict has raised further questions about the decision on the day, however, taken by the referee Michael Oliver in conjunction with his video assistant referee David Coote.
Coote apparently examined the incident involving Pickford and Van Dijk without evaluating the possibility that the goalkeeper’s challenge constituted serious foul play. This is thought to have happened because Oliver felt the challenge was not a red-card incident.
Instead the check was to see whether a penalty should have been awarded for the tackle, a decision that was ultimately rendered obsolete after Van Dijk was adjudged offside in the buildup. Coote did have the authority to revisit the red-card decision but chose not to, calling check complete.
Under a revision of the application of VAR protocols in the Premier League this season, the referee should have been encouraged to look at his pitchside monitor to decide whether he had made an error in deciding not to issue a red card for Pickford’s foul.
The Liverpool manager, Jürgen Klopp, admitted on Monday that the date for Van Dijk’s operation has yet to be scheduled but acknowledged the Dutch international is likely to be missing for a considerable period.
“We don’t want to set any timeframe, to be honest, because each player is different and each individual is different and these possible timeframes are always for the x, y, z player [but] Virgil is Virgil and we don’t want to set any timeframe,” Klopp said.
“We feel now in this moment extremely, extremely for him because most of us were in a similar situation and we know that these situations are absolutely rubbish. You don’t need it. You don’t need it but you have to get over it and Virgil will get over it, 100%, and today is already the first day, if you want, of the recovery.”