In the opening period of Liverpool’s match against Tottenham, Curtis Jones was given a red card, which infuriated Gary Neville.
Jones first received a warning for a challenge on Yves Bissouma, but play was stopped as VAR looked into the incident. As soon as referee Simon Hooper arrived to view the footage, the punishment was changed to a red card.
The game’s turning point came when Jones was dismissed after just 26 minutes, when the score was still 0-0.
In less than 10 minutes, Son Heung-min scored the game’s first goal for Spurs after Luis Diaz had put the ball in the back of the net for Liverpool but it had been disallowed for offside.
During the VAR review, Neville asserted that the red card would be a turning point and ruin the game.
“They are checking it, but a yellow is correct. Neville stated this while providing commentary for Sky Sports. “[VAR is] showing [referee Simon Hooper] the end motion, which looks bad,” he continued. “That’s not how it actually turned out. He simply lets go of the ball with his foot. No red card for me. He’ll undoubtedly acquire one, and it will probably wreck the game.
“You can slow it down all day and it still looks like a leg breaker, but I believe he went in sincerely and that his foot just slipped over the ball. As a former player, my first impression was that the player wasn’t trying to harm the opponent.
Liverpool plays Royale Union Saint-Gilloise in the Europa League on Thursday following their meeting on Saturday, while Tottenham’s next game is on the road against Luton on October 7.
