A replay of Liverpool’s loss to Tottenham on September 30 was “the only way,” according to Klopp, after Luis Diaz’s goal was wrongfully disallowed due to a significant VAR mistake. Sky Sports, October 4, 2018.
The former England international responded by saying, “I agree – I will get my boots ready for the replay!” after one of his fans shared a picture of Kuyt flying in on Neville and demanded that the match from 16 years earlier be replayed.
Overboard
Although there is no denying that Liverpool was wrongfully denied a goal at Spurs, Klopp’s sincere request for a replay makes little logic and was always going to infuriate every other fan base in the nation.
Social media was immediately flooded with stories of how Liverpool had benefited from refereeing mistakes and fortunate outcomes, underscoring the reality that, if a replay were held, it would undoubtedly be requested after 99% of games going
After perhaps the most egregious instance, in which Rodri was not given a penalty for a handball in the area during a match that Everton lost 1-0 to Manchester City Sky Sports, Mike Riley apologized to Bill Kenwright.
And Liverpool themselves have benefited from contentious decisions against Everton in each of the previous two campaigns as well.
For example, Virgil van Dijk avoided a red card for a challenge on Amadou Onana last season, while Conor Coady’s apparent winner was disallowed in the 0-0 draw, and Anthony Gordon had a penalty awarded to him at Anfield the season prior, leading to a fine for Frank Lampard’s remarks.
Of course, there will be times when the Toffees benefit, but any team will have a long list of complaints, and as one of the top teams in recent years, Liverpool has benefited from more than others.
Although the quality of the officials in this country is far too frequently subpar, repeating just one game out of hundreds to fix it is utterly impractical.
