Liverpool VAR duo told they deserve 'another chance' despite humiliating error
Chris Sutton insists VAR official Darren England and assistant VAR Dan Cook deserve to keep their jobs after their blunder in Liverpool's 2-1 loss to Tottenham on Saturday.
Luis Diaz had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside, with VAR mistakenly upholding the initial decision. The PGMOL later released a statement admitting the mistake, blaming the error on "significant human error".
And while Sutton branded the incident an "atrocious mistake", the former Premier League striker is not happy with the response in football, and believes neither England or Cook should lose their jobs because of a 'bloodthirsty mob'. He told the Daily Mail : "The 'off with his head' response to refereeing errors makes me uncomfortable.
"VAR Darren England and his assistant Dan Cook made an atrocious mistake. But don't you think they will know that better than anyone? They don't need fans calling for their heads on a spike to realise how poorly they performed.
"They're human beings who will have spent their Sunday thinking about nothing else. Watching back the Luis Diaz 'offside', I'm at a loss as to why England and Cook did not tell the referee Simon Hooper to stop play once they realised Tottenham were taking a free-kick.
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"Yes, I know the rulebook says you cannot do that once the game has restarted. But the fallout would not have been anywhere near as vociferous as this. What's the worst that could have happened if they had told Hooper to pause proceedings because it should be 1-0 to Liverpool?
"Tottenham would have been upset but, deep down, they would have known it was a legitimate goal being awarded. England and Cook would have been better off doing that and dealing with the ramifications of breaking a silly little rule. I don't think they should lose their jobs because of a bloodthirsty mob.
PGMOL admitted VAR made a "significant human error" during Liverpool's 2-1 loss to Tottenham (Getty Images)"They deserve another chance once they have served their time on the sidelines. It's hard to know what impact that trip to the United Arab Emirates had on England and Cook. It certainly wasn't wise to do that on the eve of such a mammoth match and that is on Howard Webb and the PGMOL as much as the officials involved."
Liverpool, meanwhile, issued a statement where they said they will "explore the range of options available, given the clear need for escalation and resolution". They also criticised PGMOL for putting the blunder down to "significant human error", branding it "unacceptable".
"Any and all outcomes should be established only by the review and with full transparency," they said. "This is vital for the reliability of future decision-making as it applies to all clubs with learnings being used to make improvements to processes in order to ensure this kind of situation cannot occur again. In the meantime, we will explore the range of options available, given the clear need for escalation and resolution."
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