Piers Morgan accused Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford of ‘assaulting’ Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk as he tore into VAR in a scathing rant on talkSPORT.
The outspoken TV personality was stunned that Pickford wasn’t sent off for his reckless lunge on the Reds star, and said the England international ‘would have been arrested if he tried to do that on the street’.
Van Dijk could reportedly miss the rest of the season having suffered knee ligament damage that requires surgery from Pickford’s shocking challenge early in Saturday’s feisty Merseyside derby.
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It appeared a certain penalty and red card for the goalkeeper, but neither of those was given as Van Dijk was deemed offside then the Video Assistant Referee didn’t regard the tackle as serious foul play.
The FA then confirmed on Monday afternoon that Pickford will face no retrospective action either, which has led to a huge backlash from Reds supporters.
Former Liverpool player Danny Murphy is one of them, and he told talkSPORT: “I’m absolutely gobsmacked, perplexed, bemused.
“The FA aren’t going to punish Pickford because VAR concluded that it was not worthy of a red card? Please, whoever made that decision, get on the phone, because they have to explain themselves how that cannot be deemed a red card in football.
“Anywhere else on the pitch by any other player, it’s a straight red, instantaneously.
“I know it’s not going to change Van Dijk’s injury, but it’s an absolutely ludicrous decision. It’s an absolute disgrace!”
Diehard Arsenal fan Morgan also joined talkSPORT host Jim White on air on Monday to have his say on the incident.
He said – in the way that only he can – that it was so obviously a sending off for Pickford that ‘even Stevie Wonder could have seen it’.
And he admitted he’s been left with the verdict that’s it’s time the ‘pointless’ VAR system is abandoned.
“It’s another ridiculous farce involving VAR isn’t it,” said Morgan.
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“Every football fan I talk to is just sick and tired of VAR. It was supposed to make things better, it was supposed to make things easier.
“But if VAR can’t even work out whether that Pickford assault on Van Dijk is a serious offence in football… if he tried to do that in the street he would be arrested!
“It was so blatant, so outrageous, and the consequences for Van Dijk have been utterly appalling.
“It doesn’t matter what team you support, in every single game now VAR seems to get something wrong, and when it’s completely blatant like that, you think, ‘well, what’s the point of it?’
“Really, what’s the point of it?
“It slows everything down. Purely as a fan I can only say that when you watch it, VAR slows everything down now.
“Football was always a great, passionate, fast-moving sport, but now it’s become something where two or three times in some games you stop for three minutes while some people stare at a screen and try to work out if Jordan Pickford has wiped out Virgil van Dijk.
“I could have told them that in one second. Stevie Wonder could tell you what he did!
“What is going on with this system?
“I feel for everyone who supports a team where these decisions can have really serious consequences. They can decide whether teams win titles and get relegated.
“I really don’t know what we’ve gained from taking decision-making away from referees and giving it to technology that is consistently getting things wrong.”
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