Liverpool are the only team this season (probably in the history of football) where the referees agreed a goal should be awarded but didn’t.
But other clubs are much more vocal when it comes to referees.
Given the exceptional circumstances, it is justified for Liverpool to issue an official statement. The same goes for Arsenal, who published their own figures on the club’s website just weeks after Mikel Arteta spoke about refereeing standard error.
Of course, Jurgen Klopp has drawn attention with talk of a rematch. But this was completely out of context. The Liverpool manager did not insist on this, simply explaining that it appeared to be the most correct solution to an error that falls outside the normal realm of refereeing football matches.
More than halfway through the season, this Spurs setback remains Liverpool’s only lost game. But Klopp and the club thought nothing of it, and the manager avoided talking about the referee for a long time. But Arsenal still do.
Arteta’s title hopes are high ahead of the FA Cup with Liverpool and after suffering back-to-back defeats to West Ham and Fulham in the league. Later, word came that a complaint had been filed with the PGMOL. In particular, Arsenal plan to increase protection for Bukayo Saka, who is currently considered relatively unpunished.
The Daily Mail claim this was discussed as part of wider talks with PGMOL earlier this season.
All clubs are said to be involved in this conversation, so Arsenal’s complaints are not that serious. But the nature of the complaint raised Klopp’s eyebrows. After all, compared to Mohamed Salah, it would be fair to say that PGMOL is putting pressure on the officials to remove Bukayo Saka. He claimed to have made the third most mistakes in the Premier League in 2023. Ironically, this was cited by some as supporting Arsenal’s cause, but the Liverpool man would dream of winning plenty of free kicks.There have been many articles covering this topic before. Tomkins Times takes an in-depth look at 2022.
Data from the 2020/21 season shows Saka taking almost one free-kick every 35 minutes to Sadio Mane, while Salah needed the full 90 minutes.
Furthermore, 2019/20 was one of his “good” seasons, logging 120 minutes per attack. If I had any complaints about PGMOL, it would be inconsistencies of this magnitude.
The original article featuring Salah and other top players is worth a look. The Egyptian is off the scale in terms of time to make up and is completely out of step with all his position mates. free kick.
If you’re wondering if things have changed since then, they haven’t. In 19 league games this season, Salah has taken just 18 free-kicks. Saka 43 (FBref) won in less than a minute. 0.93 fouls per game won and 2.34 fouls per game won.In the Champions League, the intrigue thickens even more as Salah earns a much more reasonable number of fouls (through exercise).
There appears to be a real problem with the Premier League and the referees’ handling of the 31-year-old. This is the case of PGMOL. But this Arsenal team is at least talking about their winner. Its fair share of free kicks. The complaint is probably that the opposing team usually avoids the first hard foul. But that’s exactly the problem Liverpool have with Salah.
Perhaps the timing is not good for Arsenal, the complaints coming at the start of the season. But after two defeats, things look very bad. There needs to be some introspection from Emirates on how to revive the property offering and blaming PGMOL is not the answer.
This adds extra excitement to the upcoming FA Cup clash with Liverpool. Salah is set to play at the Africa Cup of Nations and it remains to be seen whether Arteta will rest Saka. But now all eyes will be on the foul count and referee John Brooks.
