Van Dijk is badly injured, Pickford is certainly not punished

Liverpool –

What is true Liverpool. Already Virgil van Dijk had to be out for a long time with a knee ligament injury, Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford even escaped punishment.

Disaster for Liverpool when Van Dijk picked up the injury during the weekend’s Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park. Van Dijk was attacked by home goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and made him have to be pulled out.

After the match, Van Dijk underwent further tests at the hospital. As a result, the Dutch defender suffered a break in the ACL ligament and required him to undergo surgery.

Van Dijk had to undergo an operation which cost him around 7-9 months of absence. This news is certainly not wanted by Liverpool considering Van Dijk is so important to the Reds.

Therefore Pickford was also the target of Liverpool fans’ frustration, because he was responsible for Van Dijk’s injury. Especially at that time Pickford escaped from the referee Michael Oliver’s punishment.

At that time Michael Oliver did not send Pickford out because Van Dijk was in an offside position before the duel which started his injury. However, the FA have a rule that such incidents can be reviewed after the game and open the opportunity for severe penalties.

So Liverpool then asked the Premier League to provide an explanation about the decision and also regarding Jordan Henderson’s goal that was disallowed.

Unfortunately the Reds’ wish will not be granted. Quoted The Athletic, Pickford escaped any sanctions because his position at that time was indeed offside, so it was considered a violation first.

In addition, VAR in its review concluded the Jordan Pickford tackle was not a serious foul that deserved the red card. The FA’s policy for out-of-match penalties applies if there is an incident that escapes VAR monitoring.

For the Virgil van Dijk incident himself, Oliver as the referee saw VAR during the match, so it did not meet the requirements above.

(mrp / then)