Liverpool have written to PGMOL over two decisions made during their 1-1 draw with Aston Villa on Saturday. The Reds are seeking answers from Howard Webb over the decisions to rule out Cody Gakpo's strike for offside and give Tyrone Mings just a yellow card for a high challenge on the same man despite both incidents being looked at by VAR.
Liverpool had realistically needed to win on Saturday to maintain their faint hopes of finishing in the top four however the Reds were unable to overcome Villa at Anfield.
However, the match was not without controversy after two debatable decisions over the 90 minutes and the club have now written to PGMOL to ask for an explanation of the decisions.
The first relates to a 55th-minute call after Gakpo had put the ball into the back of the net with the score at 1-0 to the visitors. - John Brooks and his assistant had allowed the strike to stand but after several minutes of examination from VAR Nick Greenhalgh, Brooks was asked to review the decision on the pitch-side monitor, and he overturned his original call to disallow the goal.
The explanation afterwards was that Villa defender Ezri Konsa didn’t deliberately play the ball to Vigil van Dijk, who was standing in an offside position. But, he would have been played onside if Konsa had made any attempt to play the ball.
However, television replays suggested the opposite with the centre half had flicking his foot towards the ball in an obvious attempt to play it. The contact diverted it away from Gakpo originally and towards van Dijk who then squared for his international team-mate to fire home.
The other decision in question was a high challenge from Mings as he caught Gakpo at the top of his rib cage, causing extensive lacerations to the forward.
Liverpool are hoping for an explanation on why VAR Greenhalgh did not ask Brooks to go to the monitor over the challenge when he did over the disallowed goal. Despite evidence they feel supports the referee’s original decision.
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