Luis Diaz's goal for Liverpool at Tottenham was mistakenly disallowed by the officials; VAR failed to overturn an incorrect offside call after believing the on-field decision had been to award the goal; Liverpool have called on PGMOL to release the audio between the officials
Tuesday 3 October 2023 07:11, UK
Jamie Carragher says the officials responsible for incorrectly confirming the decision to disallow Luis Diaz's goal at Tottenham "panicked" and "froze" once they realised their error.
Diaz was flagged offside after scoring for Liverpool at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday but replays showed he was actually onside.
However, PGMOL said Darren England, the VAR, mistakenly believed the on-field decision had been to award the goal, leading him to tell Simon Hooper, the referee, to stick with the original call.
PGMOL released a statement after Spurs' 2-1 win over Liverpool, saying the decision was a result of a "significant human error", while IFAB rules state that play could not be brought back to correct the mistake once the referee restarted the game.
But speaking to Monday Night Football, Carragher said: "The bit where I'm really struggling is that they must know within two seconds because Tottenham have taken a free-kick, they haven't kicked off.
"I'd be screaming at the referee that a mistake has been made but maybe they're saying they have to wait until the ball goes out of play. They're saying they stayed with protocol, that they're not allowed to stop it but I don't believe that. They panicked, they froze.
"I know that's the rule but that's a red-tape rule. If they had reversed it, we'd have been praising their leadership.
"There's talk that the officials didn't know until half-time that a mistake had been made but when that ball goes out of play [after the incident] the look on that referee's face... it's a look of something has gone wrong."
Carragher also echoed Liverpool's calls for PGMOL and Howard Webb, who leads the referees' body, to release the audio of the conversations that took place between the officials during the incident.
"The only way Howard Webb and PGMOL will gain any sort of credibility back was to get it out there," said the former Liverpool defender.
"I think it's unbelievable that all the parties involved haven't released the audio. I find it unfathomable."
PGMOL's apology to Liverpool was the second they have been forced to make this season following the decision not to award Wolves a late penalty during their defeat at Manchester United after Andre Onana clattered into Sasa Kalajdzic.
The apologies follow a series of high-profile errors last season and Carragher said: "I don't think the feeling about VAR has been lower. It's at crisis point.
"It's not just this decision - it's on the back of other incidents this season, like the Wolves one with Manchester United on Monday Night Football.
"I don't want to pile into the officials or Howard Webb - they must feel awful. I'm not into the conspiracy theories - no one gains anything from this.
"We've all made mistakes. But this is a horrendous mistake, unprecedented."
