Are Liverpool ‘alleging corruption’? Simon Jordan baffled by ‘escalation’ threat over VAR blunder | OneFootball

Jurgen Klopp shouts in frustration in Liverpool defeat to Tottenham.

Simon Jordan is baffled by the Liverpool statement issued in the wake of Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat to Tottenham on Sunday, questioning whether the Reds are “alleging corruption”.

Liverpool had a Luis Diaz goal ruled out in north London due to miscommunication between VAR Darren England and on-field referee Simon Hooper. The Premier League game was goalless at the time of the incident, with the Reds going on to lose 2-1.

Liverpool have now asked for the audio of the VAR procedure to be released, after they issued a statement on Sunday night saying they would “explore the range of options available given the clear need for escalation and resolution”.

Jordan was aghast at the statement, questioning whether they’re ‘alleging corruption’.

He said on talkSPORT: “Escalation and resolution – what the hell does that mean? What are you escalating and who are you escalating it to? What are you doing? Are you alleging corruption? You can’t escalate mistakes! People make them, it’s human nature.

“Liverpool have come out ramping up the rhetoric and they’re gonna get nowhere with it. Nobody’s going to take VAR back, we’re not going to strip it down, we’re not going to be the only league in European football without it.

“The outcome has already been determined, that is the end of the discussion. If that referee didn’t have VAR the goal would have still been disallowed, so which part are you going to take down now?

“The protocol is flawed. People keep saying ‘stop suggesting if VAR was not there’, you look at this where it is so evidently wrong.

“The on-field decision was bad, the VAR was bad, the whole thing was bad, so the bottom line is if this argument is centred on ‘get rid of VAR’, we still would have had a disallowed goal and we would have managers screaming about the competency of referees.”

Speaking further about the match officials, Jordan added: “They all failed. The whole [system] failed,” he began. “No one can excuse it, the competency of the individual is in question here, the diligence and paying attention to all that is going on in front of him.

“The protocol of the current rules are once the game has kicked off, you have to get on with it. Someone had to break protocol in the better interests of the game, had to be prepared to take the wrath of working for the PGMOL, break protocol and live with that in the better interests of the game.

“I bet they’d have been supported by [Howard] Webb. Leadership – there is not enough of it.”