Popular English referee Michael Oliver admitted that he made a big mistake during the derby between Everton and Liverpool (2-2) on October 17 earlier this season in the Premier League. This is the situation in which the goalkeeper of the hosts Jordan Pickford dived sharply into the body of Virgil van Dijk and thus caused him a serious injury, due to which he risks missing the whole season. However, the English national was not sanctioned even with a yellow card. Oliver and his VAR teammate David Coote then turned their attention to whether the Liverpool defender was in an offside situation, ignoring what happened next.
Although that would not have altered the outcome of the injury Van Dijk suffered, it would have eased the sense of injustice Liverpool fans had over the incident. “We have all, myself included, not thought about the challenge as much as we should have done,” Oliver admitted.
“We could still have given offside and sent Pickford off.”
“What I was surprised about looking at it afterwards was that nothing was expected on-field in terms of a red card. None of the players were asking for that.” He continued: “We got sucked too much into going step by step as opposed to thinking of the bigger process, which was considering the challenge as well and not just the fact it can’t be a penalty. “
“We should have restarted with the offside, as we did, but with a different punishment for Jordan Pickford.”Although that would not have altered the outcome of the injury Van Dijk suffered, it would have eased the sense of injustice Liverpool fans had over the incident.
