The latest Liverpool news as the Premier League have confirmed the match officials for matches this weekend
Arne Slot will be reunited with Stuart Atwell this weekend(Image: PA)
Stuart Atwell will referee Liverpool for the fourth time this season when they play Leicester City this weekend. The Reds have won both Premier League matches he has officiated.
One was Arne Slot‘s first home game against Brentford, with the other their midweek match with Newcastle United in late February. However, between those fixtures, Atwell oversaw the League Cup semi-final first leg against Tottenham Hotspur.
That match earlier this year was marred by the decision not to show Lucas Bergvall a second yellow card. The teenage midfielder scored the game’s only goal, inflicting Liverpool’s second defeat under Slot.
Bergvall wiped out Kostas Tsimikas to the extent he was still off the field receiving treatment when Spurs opened the scoring. Slot took particular umbrage when asked about that decision.
“I don’t think there’s any debate about that,” the Reds head coach when concurring that a shown caution should have been to outcome.
“They say he (the referee) didn’t (want to) stop the counter-attack. I say every manager would prefer, when a tackle is being made 40 yards from our goalkeeper, that the player is given a second yellow card rather than to continue the counter-attack with a player less to play that counter-attack with.
“The next discussion is, was it reckless enough to give advantage and come back and say the tackle was still too reckless and then give a yellow. When he (the referee) didn’t give the second yellow, nobody thought it would have such a big impact 30 seconds later.
“I haven’t asked him, but I’m 99.9% sure I wasn’t the only one who felt ‘wow, not the best’. I’m 99.9% sure when Bergvall scored, the referee thought, ‘Oh, is this really happening?.
“Because he couldn’t change it anymore. I think, for him, it was also far from ideal.”
That tie was the first in English football when officials relayed video assistant referee decisions to supporters inside the stadium over its public address system. Atwell had to do so when Dominic Solanke had a goal disallowed for offside.
Alluding to that, Slot said: “In the offside decision, he had to tell everyone what the decision was. Unfortunately, he didn’t have to do that with this decision.
“It would be more interesting for everyone if he would have explained why (Atwell) didn’t give a second yellow card than explaining why he cancelled a goal everyone could see on the screen. But I know that’s not the rule; the VAR wasn’t involved in the second yellow.”
Before the Dutchman concluded: “Many people say these things will eventually match up in a season. I’m not one who believes that, as sometimes you can be unlucky or lucky in a season.
“On Saturday, a decision went against them. Maybe today, a decision went in favour of them, which is, of course, very unlucky for us.
“If you go down to 10 for a few seconds against a team that can play good football like Tottenham can, it’s far from ideal.”
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