Virgil van Dijk may well be wondering how a near-replica of the incident which saw him sent off against Newcastle last month went unpunished in Liverpool’s defeat at Tottenham on Saturday evening.
In one of numerous incidents from the game in north London which summed up the calamitous performance of the refereeing team, Micky van de Ven appeared to narrowly win the ball ahead of Joe Gomez in a 50-50.
There was contact between the two players as they crashed into each other, with the Spurs defender grimacing as he fell to the turf.
The incident sparked echoes of the one which saw Van Dijk dismissed at St James’ Park five weeks ago when, despite him appearing to get a toe to the ball, he was adjudged to have denied a clear goalscoring opportunity and duly shown a red card.
In a nutshell, there is the inconsistency of Premier League refereeing.
You can view the clip of Van de Ven’s tackle below, via @MrBoywunder on Twitter/X:
van Dijk got sent off for this a few weeks ago 🤣 pic.twitter.com/k8CpdJicJZ
— MB (@MrBoywunder) September 30, 2023
I will say it again, English officials are the MOST incompetent bunch of idiots that are spoiling this beautiful game. Acknowledging your error does nothing to change your ineptitude and serves only to make you seem humble. Simon Hooper should not ref ever again. He should be dragged into the street and flogged like the dead horse that he his.
Liverpool lost. Yes. BUT Tottenham DID NOT beat Liverpool.
Some time ago, I wrote that referees have been given TOO much power. They think they are the” privy councillors ” of FIFA . Their decision is final. But what when they say ” sorry, I was wrong ” . They should be punished and fined and the losing team should be restituted his due.
Hooper was horrendously the #12 player. L’pool was robbed by a football terrorist. PL must rid itself of the Hoopers, Englands and the like.
I no longer am a fan of football every year the refs decisions decide what team wins .no week goes by without some team being ripped off for points