Liverpool have made a formal request to access the audio related to Saturday’s offside controversy at Tottenham, the PA news agency understands.
The club had a Luis Diaz goal ruled out in north London due to miscommunication between VAR Darren England and on-field referee Simon Hooper. The Premier League game was goalless at the time of the incident, with the Reds going on to lose 2-1.
PA understands the Reds have now formally requested the audio of the conversation between the two from referees’ body Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL).
Liverpool Football Club acknowledges PGMOL’s admission of their failures last night.
It is clear that the correct application of the laws of the game did not occur, resulting in sporting integrity being undermined.
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) October 1, 2023
Liverpool issued a statement on Sunday night saying they would “explore the range of options available given the clear need for escalation and resolution”.
Much of the focus since has been on precisely how the club would like the matter escalated and resolved, and their first step has been to seek access to precisely what England and Hooper said to each other which led to the mistake.
PGMOL issued a statement on Saturday night acknowledging a “significant error” had occurred. Hooper and his assistants had given offside against Diaz on the field, and the PA news agency understands that although England followed the correct procedure in drawing lines, he lost focus and mistakenly thought the initial on-field decision had been onside.
Following Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-1 win over Liverpool, PGMOL have acknowledged that the Video Assistant Referee made a “significant error” in not overturning a decision that awarded Luis Diaz as offside after scoring in the first half of the match.
More: https://t.co/LDdcQmCs2B pic.twitter.com/GcQ3qKvOMd
— Premier League Communications (@PLComms) September 30, 2023
This resulted in him issuing a ‘check complete’ notice to Hooper, rather than advising of an intervention and the goal being awarded.
Once the officials realised an error had been made, play had restarted and VAR protocols state that once that has happened, there is no way back to revisit a decision.
England was replaced as a fourth official for the Nottingham Forest v Brentford match on Sunday while his assistant VAR at Tottenham, Dan Cook, has been replaced for Monday night’s match between Fulham and Chelsea.
Referee and VAR appointments for the coming weekend’s matches are due to be announced at 10am on Tuesday morning.
