Adrian Durham fumed over Mohamed Salah not being ruled offside in the build-up to Naby Keita’s goal in the 3-1 win over Southampton.
The broadcaster shared he wanted to go through the controversial decisions from the weekend and ranted that the decision wouldn’t have been overturned even if VAR had been in use.
“Anyway the equaliser came when Trent-Alexander played the ball down the right-hand side right into the path of Mo Salah, he received the ball but when the ball was played, he was offside,” said Durham on talkSPORT (Monday April 8th, 17:38)
“But it wasn’t given by the lino, anyway, a few phrases later, this new expression by Fifa, Liverpool score.
“The understanding is, it’s a mistake, should have been flagged offside, it was a mistake, but it wasn’t flagged and my understanding is that next season when it goes to VAR, it will not go back, it won’t go back using VAR to view the original offside or wipe out the goal because, here’s the phrase you need, the Southampton defence had reset.
“So because of that they won’t go back even though they have the technology to do that. ”
Darren Gough tried to cut Durham off to explain pulling a game that far back to use VAR would see football “go to pot”, but the broadcaster then attempted to convince the former English cricketer otherwise.
The broadcaster claimed it was obvious that Salah should have been flagged offside and that it seem absurd that VAR wouldn’t have effected anything.
“So you’ll be watching the box and Salah is offside there hang on, and play goes on, surely once the ball goes in, far as I remember the ball didn’t go out of play, surely the guy in the room in Stockley Park can say to the referee in his ear there was an offside,” added Durham.
“There is a limit but when it’s so obvious that it should have been flagged offside but we’re not going to use it? Doesn’t it seem absurd?”
OPINION
Durham seemed equal parts angry at the offside flag not going up as he did about the use of VAR being set to make no difference with these sort of incidents. In fact the broadcaster’s rant about the decision went on so long, that he didn’t really end up talking about any of the other decisions that caused debate in the Premier League this weekend. While the broadcaster seems aggrieved, there’s probably not many Reds fans moaning over the call. Keita’s goal came at an important time and was key to the Reds being able to get back in the game in order to turn what was looking like a loss into a victory. Also it’s fair to say that Salah’s involvement in the goal appeared to be at least a minute before the ball hit the back of the net, and him being slightly offside when receiving the ball didn’t really give the Reds any clear advantage as a result. It’s doubtful Southampton would even blame conceding in that moment on the linesman’s poor decision.
