Dave Jones has revealed that the message from VAR to Sky Sports yesterday was that Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane was not sent off because of the speed and intensity of his challenge on Andy Robertson.
VAR message sent
Jurgen Klopp was left seething yesterday as Kane was allowed to stay on the field, despite lunging into a tackle on Robertson.
The Tottenham striker’s studs were certainly up and he made contact high on Robertson’s shin.
However, both referee Paul Tierney and the VAR official deemed the tackle only to be worthy of a booking.
To compound matters further, Liverpool then saw Robertson sent off after video evidence suggested that he showed too much aggression in a challenge with Emerson Royal.
And after the game Jones said that Sky had been given an explanation from the VAR hub.
“Harry Kane was a yellow card and Paul Tierney was not invited to look at the replays again, but the Robertson one was,” he said.
“The key phrase here is speed and intensity. That’s what we’ve heard on the Harry Kane one, why it wasn’t, and the Robertson one why it was.”
Carragher reaction
The message left Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher completely stunned though.
He said: “What I don’t understand is the terminology that’s been used. The VAR terminology was speed and intensity.
“Harry Kane is sprinting! He couldn’t go with any less intensity. That’s just a nonsense.”
The inconsistencies that VAR has shown continues to frustrate football supporters across the country.
And Klopp’s anger was clear to see as he marched over to Tierney at full-time.
It was understandable why the Liverpool boss was so cross – but it should be noted that Tottenham may not have been entirely happy with the refereeing decisions either.
Mohamed Salah did handle the ball in the build up to Liverpool’s second goal, and there were question marks over whether that should have stood.
It was a poor weekend all in all for VAR, with multiple incidents cropping up across many of the matches played, with a lot of criticism coming in for the usage of the technology once again.
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