Newcastle upon Tyne –
Referee Michael Oliver also opened his voice after two months after the Everton vs Liverpool duel. Oliver admits that Jordan Pickford should have been on the red card at the time.
Pickford was the culprit for Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk’s long injury on October 17 during the Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park. Pickford at that time lunged Van Dijk in a duel for the ball.
Unfortunately, Pickford was not red-carded at that time because Van Dijk was considered offside first. Well, it invited strong protests from the Liverpool camp who raised objections to the Premier League over the decision.
Oliver as the referee was criticized for not doing anything to see a dangerous tackle from Pickford. Almost three months after the incident, Oliver finally opened his voice too.
Oliver admitted, the penalty was not given because Van Dijk had committed a foul first. But it was only after seeing the replay that Oliver admitted that he was wrong in not driving Pickford out.
Because at that time Pickford also wondered why no Liverpool player had asked Pickford to be sent off.
“It was a big game. Both teams were doing well. The line judge gave offside and there was a delay in raising the flag, as has often been the case this season, then Pickford hit Van Dijk,” Oliver was quoted as saying Daily Mail.
“My initial thought was that I couldn’t be penalized for offside, so first we had to check the offside. As I recall, I said to the VAR referee, ‘If it’s not offside I’ll give a penalty.’ I looked at the video a few times. I thought Pickford was just trying spread his legs, but he’s doing it the wrong way, “he continued.
“We should be able to keep going offside and throwing Pickford off. What surprised me was there were no players [Liverpool] on the field asking for a red card. None of the players asked for it. “
“We are too focused on thinking step by step as opposed to thinking about a bigger process, which also considers the tackle, not just the fact that it can’t be a penalty. We should be able to keep offside, like we did, but give Jordan a different penalty. Pickford, “Michael Oliver concluded.
(mrp / pur)
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