Liverpool & VAR: The stench of entitlement is off the scale

Liverpool love releasing statements. If there’s something to moan about, they’re quicker than most to start whinging. Will someone please make it stop?

They’ve been at it again after their 2-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, issuing a brief statement that stinks of entitlement.

The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system was the target of their angst, with the club threatening to ‘explore the range of options available, given the clear need for escalation and resolution’.

Liverpool’s whining centred around the decision to disallow a Luis Diaz goal for offside. Replays showed the attacker was marginally onside.

Not content with demanding the officials should be hung, drawn and quartered for their indiscretion, Liverpool subsequently doubled down.

They have announced they will appeal the red card shown to Curtis Jones during the game. His tackle on Yves Bissouma was a potential leg-breaker, but who cares?

Liverpool’s stance on both issues stinks. Let’s start with Jones. He should be hit with a longer ban due to the spurious nature of the appeal.

Jones endangered the safety of an opponent, which is a red card. No debates. No ‘he didn’t mean it’ nonsense.

An independent panel will evaluate the incident, and his ban could be extended to four games if the decision goes against Liverpool.

They should make it 20 Premier League games – that would immediately stop this type of claptrap.

As for the VAR offside issue, the officials messed up. The thing is, anything that has humans operating it is prone to error.

The nature of the way VAR works has opened the door for every element of a football match to be micro-analysed.

It subsequently invites critique from overly entitled clubs such as Liverpool, allowing them to undermine officials at every turn.

In an ideal world, we would go back to a system where officials make most decisions without the aid of technology.

VAR should be consigned to the dustbin, aside from determining whether a goal has been scored.

Failing that, clubs need to start respecting the fact that match officials are humans and errors will occur.

Clubs criticising match officials and asking for retrospective action after something goes against them must stop.

Dishing out a points deduction on a sliding scale for any club that does this would eradicate the constant whining.

Officials make mistakes – they always have. Perhaps if clubs stopped giving them such a hard time, they’d be free to do a better job.

This mentality seems to work in rugby. Maybe football should give it a go, if for no other reason than to stop Liverpool bleating like deranged sheep.