Liverpool robbed of three points at Goodison Park

Liverpool were robbed of three points at Goodison Park.

Liverpool were hard done by in the opening ten minutes of their derby tie with Everton at Goodison Park as a highly questionable offside call nullified a Jordan Pickford dangerous challenge on Virgil Van Dijk at the near post.

Champions are notorious for overcoming adversity, that’s why they are champions, but it is nearly impossible to survive shabby and downright abysmal officiating. The fact that Michael Oliver injected himself into the mix to effect the outcome not once but twice is quite telling here.

So in the tenth minute Van Dijk is injured by an obvious red card foul by Pickford…no penalty and Pickford is allowed to carry on.

Liverpool were leading at this point on a skillfully crafted goal by Sadio Mane in the fourth minute. Andrew Robertson’s assist came from the flank but started with two passes brilliantly played before by Mo Salah and Thiago.

Joe Gomez came on to cover for the injured van Dijk, and had a very solid shift in the central defense; the corner kick assist to Michael Keene of Everton notwithstanding.

The Reds dominated the first half of play with intensity and clinical passing and great midfield play.

More of the same in the second frame as Mo Salah scored his 100th goal on a bullet left footed strike that gave Pickford no chance. Poor defense on the flank by TAA gave Digne the opportunity to lay in a cross to the middle of the penalty area where once again Liverpool defenders were beaten in the air, as Dominic Calvert-Lewin headed home the equalizer.

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A red card for a dangerous challenge on Thiago by Richarlison saw the Toffees go down to ten men with 10 minutes remaining in the tie. A 94th minute winning goal from Jordan Henderson was ruled out with another dubious offside call against Mane.

The Reds played well overall, a solid return performance after that loss to Villa before the international break. The addition of Thiago and Henderson in midfield nullified most of the threat from James Rodriguez and Everton’s midfield, who were not allowed to push into the Reds passing lanes to steal passes and drop passes into the channels or over the top as Villa had done to devastating effect.

So the 2-2 scoreline does not tell the whole story here or read well for Reds fans, a penalty denied and an early red card for Pickford; coupled with the loss of Van Dijk for who knows how long changed the entire complexion of the tie.

Nevertheless the champions played on with great intensity and determination. Once again Oliver and the VAR officiating crew injected themselves into the final outcome when Mane was erroneously ruled offside nullifying Hendo’s late winner.

Everton will be happy with the result as they were outplayed for the larger part in the tie. The Reds will be left to pick up the pieces and assess the injury to Van Dijk and Thiago before their trip to the continent midweek to face Ajax in their first group stage tie in Champions League.

Two obvious officiating errors cost the Reds three points here and robbed Jurgen Klopp and his Reds of a win they clearly deserved. The issues that plagued Premier League officiating last campaign have not been addressed and are once again influencing the results which is not what officiating is charged to do.

Klopp will be very happy with how his team performed overall, but he cannot be happy with the officiating; while the defensive errors by TAA and the standing around on corners and free kicks will be something he will be addressing to be sure. Adrian acquitted himself well as neither goal were the result of his keeping.

It is difficult enough to win 11 v 11; but when officiating errors determine the results even champions cannot overcome the three officials on-field and the poor call/no call coming from the VAR booth.

In the final analysis Liverpool were robbed here; and the most pressing issue now is how serious is the injury to Van Dijk?