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Mark Goldbridge highlighted the baffling inconsistency of VAR in the Premier League after Virgil van Dijk’s goal for Liverpool on Saturday afternoon.
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The Reds have maintained their winning streak with a 5-2 victory over West Ham on Anfield, with Hugo Ekitike opening the scoring inside five minutes before the LFC captain doubled the lead midway through the first half.
The 34-year-old headed to the net from close range, and the goal stood despite a brief check from Stockley Park as Joe Gomez appared to be in an offside position but was deemed to have had no involvement in the play.
Van Dijk had a largely similar goal disallowed in Liverpool’s 3-0 defeat to Manchester City in November as Andy Robertson was adjudged to have interfered with Gianluigi Donnarumma despite not touching the ball in that passage of play.
Goldbridge highlights VAR inconsistency over Van Dijk goals
Taking to X just after the Reds skipper netted today, Goldbridge pointed out the inconsistency of how two near-identical incidents resulted in different conclusions.
He posted: ‘VAR just totally contradicted themselves on that Van Dijk goal and proved they should have given his goal against City. Exactly the same circumstances, one given and one not.’
(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
VAR inconsistency continues to enrage football fans in England
While Liverpool fans will no doubt be delighted with the five goals plundered by their team today, Goldbridge has raised a pertinent argument about the contradictory nature of VAR between this match and the defeat at the Etihad Stadium.
The right decision was made today as Gomez wasn’t impeding Mads Hermansen from the corner kick which led to Van Dijk’s goal, but the fact that the Premier League’s Key Match Incidents panel concluded that his header against Man City should also have counted sums up just why football supporters are so frustrated with officiating standards in this country.
It should give PGMOL chief executive Howard Webb plenty to mull over after the weekend’s action, and West Ham fans might also be pointing towards the inconsistency over those two incidents, seeing as they were on the receiving end today.
From a Liverpool perspective, we can be glad that the win this afternoon was comprehensive enough for refereeing decisions to have no major impact on the result. While our attacking play was excellent, Arne Slot won’t be pleased over how the Irons’ two goals were conceded.
Van Dijk is now in something of a rich scoring streak for a defender, with three in his last six Premier League games, and he’s making the most of the Reds’ new-found set-piece prowess since the beginning of January.