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Beth Lindop
Liverpool‘s head coach Arne Slot stated that it is “obvious and clear” Virgil van Dijk’s goal should not have been disallowed during the team’s 3-0 loss to Manchester City.
Late in the first half, Van Dijk appeared to have scored with a header, but the linesman ruled the goal out, claiming that Andy Robertson was offside and obstructed the view of goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. VAR concluded that Robertson had made an “obvious action” that influenced the play.
Slot acknowledged that the decision was incorrect but emphasized it did not determine the outcome of the match.
“It’s challenging to share my perspective,” Slot remarked. “In my opinion, it’s clear that an error was made regarding the decision.
“[Robertson] did not interfere with the goalkeeper’s ability to play. After the match, someone pointed out a similar goal that the same referee approved — City against Wolves last season.
“It took the linesman 13 seconds to flag for offside. So there was evidently some communication, but as I mentioned, that could have positively impacted our game.”
Following the defeat, Liverpool has lost five out of their 11 league matches this season and will head into the international break sitting in eighth place, trailing the leaders, Arsenal, by eight points.
“It feels like there are too many [losses],” Slot noted in his post-match conference. “The last thing I should be discussing right now is the title race. We need to concentrate on securing results before contemplating that. The reality is we are eighth currently, and one team is quite far ahead, while City is just four points behind Arsenal. The rest of the teams are relatively close.
“I often said last season, even when we had an early lead, that the most effective way to assess the league table is after 38 games, with the next best assessment likely being after 19 games since all teams will have faced the same opponents by then.
“Our primary focus must be on achieving results, and the last thing we should be concerned with is the title race.”