Jamie O’Hara: Virgil van Dijk should have seen red for Liverpool v Everton
Jamie O’Hara has brandished the decision to not send Virgil van Dijk off a “complete joke” as Everton drew 0-0 with Liverpool in the Merseyside Derby.
The Liverpool defender was only shown a yellow card after a rash tackle on Everton midfielder Amadou Onana in the 76th minute of the clash at Goodison Park.
O’Hara was left perplexed as the decision wasn’t upgraded to a red card with VAR being in use.
Talking on talkSPORT Breakfast [08:13], he said: “It’s a straight red
“VAR is a complete joke and that Virgil van Dijk one is a straight red, he’s gone over the ball and caught him right on the shin. They’ve watched that in slow motion and deemed it a yellow card.
“It’s a dangerous tackle and whether he’s mistimed it or not it’s a red card.”
50/50
The tackle from van Dijk is a tricky one to make a call on because in real-time, the decision to award a yellow card looked like the right one.
However, when looking at the challenge with VAR, there is a case to suggest that he could’ve been dismissed for the incident, albeit potentially quite soft.
The question needs to be asked if it was a clear and obvious error from the official and the answer is probably not considering how it occurred in real-time.
His tackle was more mistimed than anything, with there being absolutely no intent to go and injure or hurt Onana.
On the whole, the standard of officiating this weekend has been sub-par and desperately needs addressing. What is making the decisions worse is that with the help of a video assistant, there shouldn’t be any mistakes made.
Instead, every single small decision is being picked apart and completely ruining the spectacle for fans attending the game and watching from home.
The decision to disallow Conor Coady’s goal for offside has also been slammed by outspoken Mike Parry (via Twitter, 3 September)
The quicker VAR is scrapped, the better for everyone involved.