As the 2023/2024 English Premier League Season concludes its seventh round of matches, tensions and dramas begin to take over the competition, with Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal and the defeats to both Manchester United and Manchester City becoming the heavyweight news for Matchday 7 of this year’s English Premier League. Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal for Liverpool against their last week’s opponents Tottenham Hotspur of course filled not only the English club football news, but also the global club football one, since it raised more questions towards errors from referees and the technology of Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
Let us delve into what went wrong during the match between the Reds and Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last weekend.
What Happened in the Match Between Spurs and Liverpool?
The first major incident happened in the match between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool came in the 24th minute, when 22-year-old England midfielder Curtis Jones was sent off after a bad tackle on Yves Bissouma. Referee Simon Hooper initially gave Jones a yellow card but decided to change his decision to a red upon VAR checks. Then came the most controversial moment of the match, or perhaps the 2023/2024 English Premier League Season thus far.
In the 34th minute, Liverpool’s forward Mohamed Salah fed his strike partner Luis Diaz with a great pass, and the Columbian finished the goal in style, only to be ruled offside at the end. Just when fans from the Reds thought they were given the first goal of the match when the referee went for a VAR review, the unusually quick one meant Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal remain a valid decision, despite the obvious indication showed that the Columbian was onside when Egypt magician Salah passed him the ball.
With a man down and Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal incident happened for the visitors, Spurs quickly capitalised on the opportunity and broke the deadlock via skipper Son Heung-min minutes later, before Cody Gakpo levelled things up seconds prior to the break. In the second period, Liverpool were once again showed a red card, this time on substitute Diogo Jota, since the Portuguese picked up back-to-back yellow cards within the space of two minutes. Apart from Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal and the two red cards, the last blow given to Kop was a last-minute winning own-goal to Spurs via Joël Matip. The Cameroon’s own goal made sure the home side are back to winning ways in the Premier League.
Liverpool fans watching the replays of Luis Díaz’s disallowed goal 🤬 pic.twitter.com/XDUTiRavMH
— B/R Football (@brfootball) September 30, 2023
Liverpool FC’s Official Statement on Luis Diaz’s Disallowed Goal
In light of the horrible decision and Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL)’s affirmation on the significant human error committed during the Liverpool-Tottenham game, particularly Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal, the Reds released a statement: “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. We fully accept the pressures that match officials work under but these pressures are supposed to be alleviated, not exacerbated, by the existence and implementation of VAR. It is therefore unsatisfactory that sufficient time was not afforded to allow the correct decision to be made and that there was no subsequent intervention.”
Liverpool were not the only who saw red cards in their games; Spanish La Liga’s RCD Mallorca were also recently given a red card in their league encounter against the mighty Barcelona. Nevertheless, the ten-man Mallorca managed to lead twice in the game and leave the match with a point by pulling a shocking 2-2 draw against Xavi’s Barca. We have the full match details here.
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Jürgen Klopp on PGMOL Admitting to the Error: “We Won’t Get Points for It.”
Liverpool’s manager Klopp made sure that his words are heard about Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal in the Spurs game despite PGMOL’s apology. The 56-year-old said: “Who does that help? We had that situation in the Man Utd game. Did Wolves get points for it? We won’t get points for it. We all thought that when VAR came in it would make things easier. The decision was made really quick for that decision. It changed the momentum of the game.” Klopp also added that the red card given to Jones was unnecessary, calling it an “Unlucky” decision.
Klopp’s counterpart last weekend Ange Postecoglou from Spurs, on the other hand, had this to say during the post-match conference on Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal: “I think I’m on record saying I’ve never really been a fan of [VAR] since it’s come in, not for any other reason than I think it just really complicates areas of the game that I thought were pretty clear in the past. But, I can see at the same time why it was inevitable that technology would come in, but I guess we have to deal with it. The biggest problem I think we fail to grasp is that no form of technology is going to make the game errorless.”
Also Read: Carabao Cup Round 3 Complete Rundown: City and Villa Fall While Other Contenders Progress
Other Headlines in Matchday 7 of the English Premier League Season
Apart from Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal for Liverpool against Tottenham Hotspur, other news that stole the show were defeats suffered by both Manchester clubs, United and City. The Red Devils succumbed to their opponents for the fourth time in seven league matches last weekend, this time in the hands of Crystal Palace, the team whom they defeated a few days earlier in the EFL Cup Third Round, while the Cityzens, on the other hand, had their perfect start in 2023/2024 vanished thanks to a 2-1 loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Premier League clubs Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City will play Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, Galatasaray and RB Leipzig respectively in Matchday 2 of this season’s UEFA Champions League competition this midweek next.
