{"id":1883314,"date":"2026-04-15T11:35:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T08:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1883314"},"modified":"2026-04-15T11:35:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T08:35:44","slug":"liverpool-arne-slot-says-var-has-gone-against-his-side-this-season-is-he-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1883314","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool: Arne Slot says VAR has gone against his side this season – is he right?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Slot says VAR has gone against Liverpool – is he right?<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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‘I wasn’t surprised’ – Slot critical of overturned Liverpool penalty<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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By<\/span><\/p>\n
Dale Johnson<\/span><\/div>\n

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Football issues correspondent<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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    It could have been very different for Arne Slot’s <\/b>Liverpool<\/b> against Paris St-Germain on Tuesday night.<\/b><\/p>\n

    Trailing 2-0 from the first leg, the Reds were given a 64th-minute spot-kick which might have transformed the tie. <\/p>\n

    Then the video assistant referee (VAR) stepped in to tell referee Maurizio Mariani he had made a mistake.<\/p>\n

    For Slot, it was the story of his season.<\/p>\n

    The Dutchman feels his team have conceded penalties in similar circumstances, with little contact but no VAR intervention.<\/p>\n

    Five minutes after play restarted, Ousmane Dembele scored and PSG went on to win 2-0 on the night, and 4-0 on aggregate.<\/p>\n

    “I’m not surprised,” Slot said. “So many decisions have gone against us this season.<\/p>\n

    “It’s quite simple. If the referee doesn’t give a penalty the VAR would have never overturned it.<\/p>\n

    “I’ve seen so many soft penalties given, but people say VAR can’t interfere because there is contact. That is what we clearly see.”<\/p>\n

    Is Slot right to feel hard done by?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    What happened at Anfield?<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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    The controversial moment came when Alexis Mac Allister went to claim a loose ball inside the area.<\/p>\n

    The Argentina international placed his body in front of PSG defender Willian Pacho, before going to ground.<\/p>\n

    Mariani pointed to the spot but the VAR, Marco di Bello, very quickly sent him to the pitchside monitor.<\/p>\n

    A VAR intervention was controversial because there was contact by Pacho on the back of Mac Allister’s boot.<\/p>\n

    You can argue whether that was enough to cause the Liverpool player to fall over, but usually contact means there should be no clear and obvious error.<\/p>\n

    So why might there have been an intervention?<\/p>\n

    The bedrock of a review is how the referee describes the incident to the VAR.<\/p>\n

    Did the referee give it for a push? Or a trip?<\/p>\n

    We will never know, but the description had to be of material difference to what the pictures showed for the VAR to get involved. <\/p>\n

    In fairness to Slot, he did concede that his side were fortunate in the first leg. A PSG penalty was overturned and another claim could have gone to a VAR review. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    <\/span>Image source, <\/span>Getty Images<\/span><\/div>
    Image caption, <\/span><\/p>\n
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    Defeat by PSG ended Liverpool’s hopes of winning a trophy this season<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    Is Slot right about soft penalties?<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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    Slot referenced two incidents in his news conference, but hinted he had a much longer list. <\/p>\n

    One was a penalty conceded at Brentford. A free-kick had been awarded for a soft foul by Virgil van Dijk on Dango Ouattara.<\/p>\n

    The VAR intervened in to tell the referee that the foul happened inside the area, which made it a penalty.<\/p>\n

    It was one of those boot-on-boot challenges which referee Tim Robinson probably felt did not meet the threshold for a penalty.<\/p>\n

    Yet it was not a clear and obvious error to give a foul, so a soft free-kick became a penalty by default. Slot had a point.<\/p>\n

    There is a difference with Tuesday’s incident. Van Dijk was clearly making a tackle, whereas contact from Pacho seemed to be incidental rather than a challenge on an opponent.<\/p>\n

    Slot also referenced a penalty awarded to Leeds United at Elland Road.<\/p>\n

    He suggested this had stayed with the on-field call but he must have misremembered – there was a VAR intervention to award the spot-kick after Ibrahima Konate brought down Wilfried Gnonto.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    Have Liverpool been hard done by?<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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    You can understand why Slot might feel a little aggrieved.<\/p>\n

    Liverpool have, along with Brighton, conceded three VAR penalties in the Premier League this season – more than all other teams.<\/p>\n

    As well as the spot-kicks conceded at Brentford and Leeds, goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili was penalised for bringing down Manchester City’s Jeremy Doku in November at the Etihad.<\/p>\n

    Slot’s side have conceded one spot-kick not given through VAR – in the reverse meeting with City when Matheus Nunes was bundled over by Alisson.<\/p>\n

    Liverpool have been awarded only two penalties – neither through VAR and, coincidentally, both against Burnley. <\/p>\n

    Only Aston Villa and Tottenham have had fewer, and they are yet to get a spot-kick.<\/p>\n

    In general VAR overturns, Liverpool have had six interventions against them. Only Fulham, on nine, have suffered from more.<\/p>\n

    Liverpool have had five negative goal outcomes – two disallowed for them and three conceded. Again, only the Cottagers come out worse on seven goals.<\/p>\n

    Looking at net VAR interventions – those in favour minus those against – only Everton (-4) have a worse outcome than Liverpool (-3).<\/p>\n

    Yet for all that, Liverpool have only suffered one recorded VAR error. That was a missed red card for Bournemouth’s Marcos Senesi 13 minutes into the opening game of the Premier League season. <\/p>\n

    But there are also controversial decisions which are not included in VAR stats.<\/p>\n

    These are the incidents Slot may have been referring to.<\/p>\n

    For instance, there was Florian Wirtz’s penalty claim against Arsenal in January after he was challenged by Leandro Trossard.<\/p>\n

    The Premier League’s Key Match Incidents Panel voted 3:2 that the on-field decision of no penalty was correct, which shows it was a borderline call.<\/p>\n

    In the game at Brentford in October, there was a 3:2 vote in favour of no spot-kick for a challenge by Nathan Collins on Cody Gakpo.<\/p>\n

    But it can go the other way too. Liverpool might count themselves fortunate after Konate’s challenge on City’s Omar Marmoush in February. That was also a 3:2 vote in favour of no spot-kick.<\/p>\n

    We have heard City boss Pep Guardiola and Manchester United manager Michael Carrick bemoan their luck with referees this season.<\/p>\n

    Yet as far as VAR decisions go, only Chelsea have a more favourable record this season than those two teams.<\/p>\n

    Looking at the statistics, maybe Slot does have more reason to complain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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          [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/articles\/cj0vvp030e5o”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/branded_sport\/1200\/cpsprodpb\/fe56\/live\/b3e23d50-38c4-11f1-930d-fbf2959e80bc.jpg”] Slot says VAR has gone against Liverpool – is he right? To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. This video can not be played Media caption, ‘I wasn’t surprised’ – Slot critical of overturned Liverpool penalty By Dale Johnson Football issues correspondent Published 2 hours ago 743 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-1883314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1883314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1883314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1883314\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1883314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1883314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1883314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}