Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was incensed after Kane’s last-gasp penalty earned Spurs a point, saying he would have to pay “the biggest fine in world football” if he vented his true feelings. Klopp was angry Moss punished Virgil van Dijk’s challenge on substitute Erik Lamela with a spot-kick that ended up being almost the final kick of the Premier League match. “There were some real challenges in the first half, lots of moments when it could have been a free-kick – but the referee said ‘today that’s the game, that’s allowed’ and then the softest touch in the whole game decides the game,” he said. “It is not a penalty, it is a situation. I am angry but I can’t change things so what’s my job? To create headlines? To get punished? To pay a fine? If I said what I think I would pay the biggest fine in world football. That makes absolutely no sense.”
Liverpool were also furious at the first penalty award, with new signing Van Dijk accusing Kane of diving. “You see him diving clearly and no-one is talking about it but I think it is a dive,” said the Netherlands centre-back. “There is a lot of discussion about whether it is offside, yes or no, but I think it was offside as well.” Kane has since refuted the claim, saying he “felt contact”. “I’m not going to jump out of the way because it’s football,” added the 24-year-old. PGMOL has taken this unusual step of issuing a statement in a bid to clarify the penalty award to Tottenham.
The merits of the decisions will be debated and argued over by fans and pundits for weeks to come. How exactly should “deliberately played the ball” be interpreted when judging offside? And was there sufficient contact between Liverpool’s Karius and Harry Kane to warrant a spot-kick? What remains inexplicable is Jon Moss asking fourth official Martin Atkinson “have you got anything from TV” when trying to clear up if Dejan Lovren had played the ball on its path through to Kane.
For the avoidance of doubt, any such move to officiate via a TV replay would be against the laws of the game. The VAR system is currently on trial in certain competitions – but not the Premier League. Furthermore, crudely viewing a touchline monitor is a far cry from the sophisticated system and protocols that have been used in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup this season. Asking for guidance from a TV broadcast is wrong – and refs know this.
We’re told by PGMOL that Atkinson didn’t reply to Moss’s request, that he didn’t view a TV monitor and did not relay any information to the on-field officials. But the question hangs in the air – why would referee Jon Moss ask his touchline assistant such a thing in the first place?
