PGMOL acknowledges Everton defender James Tarkowski should have been sent off for his tackle on Liverpool’s Alexis Mac Allister, Sky Sports News understands.
Tarkowski met the leg of Mac Allister high and with force when following through on a tackle in which he first won the ball during Everton’s 1-0 defeat at Anfield.
The challenge was deemed reckless and he was given a yellow card, with the challenge then reviewed by VAR.
PGMOL are understood to agree that the challenge saw Tarkowski clearly play the ball initially. However, the nature of the follow-through met the threshold for serious foul play.
Referee Sam Barrott felt the challenge was reckless in real time and the VAR then checked that on-field decision of a yellow card, deeming the referee’s call was not a clear and obvious error.
However, the view of PGMOL is that a review should have been recommended and ultimately the original decision overturned.
Merson: They should be ashamed – it was an ‘absolute shocker’
Paul Merson on Sky Sports News:
“It was one of the worst ones I have seen by VAR that somebody has got away with.
“I thought it was an absolute shocker. I can understand the ref coming over and giving a yellow because the tackle comes in and his natural reaction is to follow the ball. So I get that, he gives him a yellow and you can make your mind up.
“But when you go up to VAR and they watch that as many times as they want to watch that, and they don’t think that’s a red card, they shouldn’t be allowed back in that booth.
“They shouldn’t be allowed because they are putting players in danger. That is a shocker. He should have been sent off straight away. You’ve only got to look at that once. I mean every time I see it, I want to look away. It’s a terrible tackle.
“For the people up in VAR, they should be ashamed of themselves this morning. They should be really ashamed.”
Slot: Good that PGMOL have ackknowledged mistake
In his pre-Fulham press conference on Thursday morning, Liverpool head coach Arne Slot said: “It’s always good that if they think they’ve made a mistake, that they acknowledge that.
“We all know that mistakes are being made in a football match by us, by me, by referees, and it’s good that they acknowledged the mistake, but I think it was so clear, that so many pundits that are not Liverpool fans, all of them were clear about it as well.
“I think it’s quite an OK [season] for the referees in England. Mistakes are being made but the most important thing is that it doesn’t influence the league table. The only answer to that is at the end of the season if we see the table and feel if it has influenced. But it’s normal that it does because mistakes are part of our lives, also from referees.”