Dermot Gallagher is steadfast in his belief that the officials got one major decision correct in Liverpool’s 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace on Saturday.
During the first half at Selhurst Park, the home side were awarded a penalty when Virgil van Dijk fouled Odsonne Edouard inside the box, before a subsequent VAR review saw the decision overturned for a foul by Will Hughes on Wataru Endo in the lead-up to the initial spot kick.
Reflecting on the incident for Ref Watch on Sky Sports News, the former Premier League whistler insisted that on-field referee Andy Madley ultimately arrived at the right call.
Gallagher said: “I thought it was a foul and I still think it is now. I also think it was a foul by Van Dijk [for the initial penalty] and a yellow card.
“Hughes pushes him over and catches him with a leg. When you look at it again, it’s very difficult to say it’s not a foul.”
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Liverpool fans – and indeed many pundits and supporters of other clubs – have justifiably castigated the operation of VAR at various points throughout the season, but the above incident is a case study in how the technology can actually be applied correctly.
The penalty would 100% have stood had Hughes not fouled Endo beforehand, but the subsequent review showed a clear infringement by the Palace midfielder on the Japan captain, so the officials were right to call it back and strike off the spot kick.
It’s noteworthy that Gallagher is speaking from an objective standpoint, with no bias for or against either team; and nor was he being a bland ‘yes man’ for referees, having voiced disagreement with other decisions from the weekend on this morning’s Ref Watch segment.
Despite Roy Hodgson’s no-holds-barred grievances about the refereeing performance on Saturday, the officials came to the right conclusion in reversing the first-half penalty because of the foul on Endo.
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I beg to disagree.
If the referee did not have VAR to rely on, he would have been more alert to call the initial foul on Endo and thus would not have allowed play to continue and called the PK, which was a PK, and had to waste so much time to reverse it and the YC.
Stop trying to justify VAR. It has caused more harm than good to the game.
This complacency by the referees is all because of VAR and delaying calls until they become a KMI.
Not because I’m a Liverpool supporter, the fowl on Endo was the correct decision, the VAR was super good. I trust this is a lesson learnt for future games.