Liverpool Were Denied, But They Also Failed To Make Arsenal Pay

We will not pretend the penalty call at Anfield was anything other than a disgrace. Alexander Isak was dragged back by Jurrien Timber as he rose for a header, Andy Madley waved play on, and VAR never bothered to intervene. On our screens, at home, in real time, it looked like a stonewall spot kick. We are not alone in thinking that, either. Even from the away end of the punditry world, the reaction was one of disbelief.

Former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel could barely contain himself discussing the incident afterwards. “We see it in real time, like 70 yards away,” he said, questioning why officials with access to multiple angles and a pitchside monitor still could not get to the right answer. It is hard to argue with him. This was not a fine-margins call. It was a shirt pull in the box that should never have needed VAR to spot in the first place.

A Penalty That Should Have Changed The Afternoon

There was broad agreement elsewhere in the punditry world that the officiating team got this one badly wrong, with the standard of refereeing throughout the game also coming under scrutiny. When decisions this clear are missed, with every tool available to get them right, supporters are entitled to ask what the video assistant is actually for. This was not a marginal shout. It was a missed penalty of the kind that decides results.

And yet we cannot let Liverpool off the hook entirely, because the penalty is only half the story from this defeat.

Our Own Profligacy Did Us No Favours

Strip away the officiating row and what is left is a Liverpool performance that never carried enough of a cutting edge. Failing to register a single shot on target against Arsenal at Anfield is a damning statistic regardless of who is refereeing. There was territory, there was pressure, and there were spells where Arsenal were pinned back. None of it translated into a goalkeeper being seriously tested. Arsenal defended with real discipline, but they were also allowed to see out a game at Anfield without their goalkeeper having to make a single meaningful save.

That is the uncomfortable truth sitting alongside the penalty row. Good teams make officials’ mistakes irrelevant by scoring anyway. Liverpool did not do that here, and it is worth remembering the next time we reach for the referee as the only explanation for a damaging result.

Two Problems For Iraola To Solve

Andoni Iraola leaves this one with a double headache. The first is a legitimate grievance with the officials that deserves to be aired loudly and often. The second, less comfortable one, is a Liverpool attack that still is not reliably punishing sides who sit in and defend their box. Both things can be true at once. The penalty should have been given. Liverpool also needed to be sharper in the final third regardless of what Madley and VAR decided.

We are furious about the penalty, and rightly so. But if this group wants to be taken seriously again, cutting out afternoons without a single shot on target matters just as much as winning the next refereeing argument.