Liverpool\u2019s frustration with refereeing decisions grew once again following the 3\u20132 defeat to Brentford \u2014 and Mark Clattenburg\u2019s comments are unlikely to calm the anger around Anfield.<\/p>\n
Clattenburg backs VAR over both penalty calls
\nSpeaking to TBR Football, the former Premier League referee defended both contentious incidents, insisting the officials made the right calls.<\/p>\n
Discussing the moment that led to Brentford\u2019s third goal, he explained:
\n\u201cVirgil van Dijk clearly caught Dango Ouattara\u2019s foot right on the line of the penalty area. The line is considered part of the box, so contact there means a penalty. At first, it looked outside, but replays confirmed it was on the line.\u201d<\/p>\n
That VAR-confirmed decision allowed Igor Thiago to score from the spot, deepening the frustration for the defending champions, who have now lost four straight league matches.<\/p>\n
Clattenburg also addressed the earlier Cody Gakpo incident \u2014 one that pundit Steve McManaman argued should have been a foul \u2014 but the ex-referee backed the officials once again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe referee\u2019s call not to give a penalty was spot on,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can see Gakpo anticipating the defender\u2019s leg and going down deliberately.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former PGMOL chief Keith Hackett also supported Simon Hooper\u2019s original decision, saying the referee was \u201cperfectly placed\u201d to judge it \u2014 meaning VAR was right not to intervene.<\/p>\n
Liverpool\u2019s slump continues amid officiating controversy
\nDespite goals from Milos Kerkez and Mo Salah, Liverpool\u2019s defeat made it four league losses in a row \u2014 their worst Premier League run since 2021.<\/p>\n
The Reds have now shipped two or more goals in nine of their last ten games, a concerning pattern that manager Arne Slot must address quickly.<\/p>\n
Once again, refereeing dominated post-match discussions, but Clattenburg\u2019s verdict suggests that \u2014 by the laws of the game \u2014 there was little wrongdoing. Still, for Liverpool, it felt like another match defined by fine margins and key calls going the wrong way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Liverpool\u2019s frustration with refereeing decisions grew once again following the 3\u20132 defeat to Brentford \u2014 and Mark Clattenburg\u2019s comments are unlikely to calm the anger around Anfield. Clattenburg backs VAR over both penalty calls Speaking to TBR Football, the former Premier League referee defended both contentious incidents, insisting the officials made the right calls. Discussing …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":53034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/EOTK-FeaturedHero-Image-Templates-1-22-768x432.jpg.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53033"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53035,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53033\/revisions\/53035"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/53034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}