Pochettino says Chelsea players felt a repeat of the 'feeling' against Liverpool in latest PL loss
Soon after Dominik Szoboszlai made it 3-0 in favour of Liverpool against Chelsea, Christopher Nkunku cut into the Reds’ lead in the 71st minute. Preceding these events, Mauricio Pochettino’s side saw a penalty shout go against them, as Conor Gallagher ran into Virgil van Dijk with their knees colliding. The referee rightly decided to not award a penalty.
However, soon after Chelsea scored via Nkunku, a 73rd-minute challenge from Van Dijk on the Frenchman went to VAR but the on-field decision from Paul Tierny stood. While real-time footage will surely polarise opinions, a slow-mo run back on the same clearly shows the Liverpool captain catching Nkunku’s right foot.
What makes VAR not overturn the on-field decision is surely a doubt, but one could argue that there was decent enough contact for the incident to go down as a penalty and potentially change the game’s complexion. While Chelsea were not great by any means on the night, a potential penalty might have changed proceedings which ended 4-1 in the Reds’ favour. Nevertheless, former Liverpool man Jamie Carragher agreed with Chelsea being hard-done-by on that occasion, and here is his tweet:
A common ground for both teams to agree on is the fact that independent of any decisions throughout this game, VAR needs to show more consistency across all games in general.
Regardless of team allegiances, there remains a consensus that VAR decisions need to exhibit more consistency across all football games. The call for greater uniformity in VAR decisions reflects a shared concern among football stakeholders that the technology should provide fair and consistent outcomes, irrespective of the teams involved.
In the case of Chelsea vs Liverpool, even if certain VAR decisions had gone in Chelsea’s favour, it would not have changed the overall narrative of the match that outlined Liverpool’s superiority and Chelsea’s struggles.
While debates around VAR decisions will persist, it’s crucial to assess a team’s performance comprehensively. Chelsea, under Mauricio Pochettino, faced challenges throughout the match, and the final result was reflective of Liverpool’s dominance rather than a single contentious decision. There still remains a lot of scope for improvement. As far as avenging results are concerned, Wembley awaits.
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