Rafa Benitez thinks Fabinho was fouled by Erling Haaland when Phil Foden’s goal was disallowed during Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Manchester City on Sunday at Anfield, as he told Premier League Productions (16/10/22 at 7:10 pm).
Whilst Michael Owen also felt that it was a foul, he disagreed because he thinks it was ‘harsh’ to rule that goal out because of how far back the on-field referee, Anthony Taylor and VAR went.
Haaland felt he won a defensive duel in Man City’s final third, the ball was then played across to Kevin de Bruyne, whose laser-like through ball found the galloping Norweigan and his attempted shot at goal was smothered by Alisson Becker, before Phil Foden’s cat-like instincts rifled the rebound into the back of the net.
Liverpool’s complaints to the referee were as quick as Haaland rushing through on goal because they were on the referee straight away asking for the goal to be ruled out.
With Anthony Taylor consulting VAR, he was advised to go to his pitchside monitor where he decided to rule the goal out for Haaland tugging on Fabinho’s shirt and bringing him down in the build-up to the goal.
There were around ten seconds of action in between the Haaland/Fabinho duel to Foden scoring, as Benitez and Owen shared their thoughts on the incident.
“One of my concerns as a manager is that when you allow the game to carry on,” said Benitez. “It could be one-minute extra, then maybe you have an injury or a red card or then a goal disallowed. Then everything will change.
“It’s not easy to make a decision because the game was very fast. But it’s true, for me, it was foul and that’s it. Everything that can happen after that, it’s a risk, for everyone, for players and fans. They have to adjust that because it will be a problem in the future.”
Michael Owen added: “I think once the referee has seen it and played on, then unless something really drastic happened. Unless the hands of Alisson are on the ball, going back ten seconds earlier, for a tiny tug, I do think it’s a foul, don’t get me wrong.
“But going back that far, once he has let play on because, otherwise, you keep going back and back and back. It’s probably, being neutral, I think it’s harsh.”
LIVERPOOL OF OLD TURN UP
If Liverpool had performed like this all season long, then they would be sitting far better than just eighth in the Premier League table.
Jurgen Klopp and his players have been trying to find that spark this season, but that fire just hasn’t been lit, and added to error-prone performances, it has just made matters worse.
Perhaps there was or wasn’t luck involved with that Foden goal being ruled out because they went on to score via Mo Salah not soon after.
Either way, this could be a game to change Liverpool’s season and spark it into life.
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