Overall, the Manchester United 1-1 draw with Liverpool wasn’t the best officiated match by referee Michael Oliver and his crew. You had this extremely aggressive challenge by Paul Pogba on Jordan Henderson that escaped booking.
So that’s a major blown call, but you had some other very questionable calls. Some felt that Wayne Rooney got away with some stuff while others believed Antonio Valencia was offsides on United’s lone goal, a scoring strike by Zlatan Ibrahimovic which tied him Chelsea’s Diego Costa and Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez for the Premier League.
Those who believe Liverpool got totally hosed on both of those calls? Former referee Howard Webb.
The long time and very accomplished official told The Times that he believes United’s equalizer should not have counted:
“Because he is too far down the touchline, he cannot judge whether Antonio Valencia is just offside before he receives the ball, which he is. In those circumstances, he gives the benefit of the doubt to the attacker. He will have known he lost his position at a crucial time.”
On the questionable plays made by Wayne Rooney, Howard Webb said:
“I think Wayne Rooney’s tackle on James Milner, for which Michael Oliver gave a foul and no more, is one of those that is somewhere between a red and a yellow card.”
“Looking at the video, which Oliver did not have the chance to do, I would ultimately say it is a yellow card. Rooney’s tackling technique is poor, and he is reckless, but he puts his foot in the direction of the ball and does so with less than the excessive force that would make it a sending-off offense.”
Webb’s comments are no doubt music to the ears of Liverpool supporters everywhere, but are of course no real consolation to them, as the result yesterday obviously will not and can not be overturned.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, Bold and the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication, appears regularly as a guest on CGTN America, WGN CLTV News and KOZN 1620 The Zone.
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