Alisson put on yet another impressive performance for Liverpool on Saturday, but following a 2-1 loss at Tottenham, he was forced to bring up referees once more.
When Heung-min Son and James Madison were denied, Alisson would have garnered some of the attention for a series of dramatic stops.
Instead, the spotlight is on the referees after Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota were sent off and a goal from Luis Diaz was legitimately disallowed for offside. Joel Matip’s terrible own goal added insult to injury on an absurd evening.
Although the magnitude of errors by referee Simon Hooper and in particular VAR Darren England is alarming, it is unfortunately not uncommon.
Alisson expressed his annoyance to ESPN Brazil after the game, but said that players feel like prisoners since they are unable to criticize officials.
Regarding Diaz’s ‘offside’ goal, he added, “My perspective is clear, everyone saw it.
I don’t enjoy discussing arbitration, and we can’t discuss arbitration. We experience moments of feeling like prisoners.
We suffer consequences on all sides when we speak.
Since we are all human, we must find this kind of behavior repugnant. Yes, that’s how the fans feel. Our sentiment, too.
Cody Gakpo tied the game before halftime when Jones was sent off, and there were even hopes for a late winner after Jota was sent off as Liverpool fought heroically after falling behind to Son’s tap-in.
Alisson, on the other hand, was left to lament the Diaz ruling as a mistake that cost the result of the game as Matip put Dejan Kulusevski’s cross into his own net.
Today might have gone completely differently. We must now handle this, he continued.
We will handle this internally. I also hope that these occurrences stop occurring internally at PGMOL.
I’ve always argued that VAR is beneficial in cases like this. Amazingly, these occurrences persist despite something being so straightforward and objective.
And the technology is there. Why don’t you use the technology that FIFA used in the World Cup?
Alisson is referring to semi-automated offsides technology, which the Premier League rejected for the current season despite a positive trial at the 2022 World Cup.
Of course, Hooper’s illogical decisions cost Liverpool more than just the offside; one of them included giving Jota his first caution for being close to Destiny Udogie when he tripped himself.
We came back to play the second half and, unfortunately, there was another expulsion, which is also worth mentioning, Alisson continued.
This game has a lot of refereeing-related topics; I believe it is up to you [in the media] to talk a lot about them.
