- Liverpool felt they should have been awarded a penalty in the first half of December
- Odegaard was deemed to have made contact with the ball to regain his balance
- Marcus Rashford thinks he’s untouchable; he has no respect for the manager or his teammates. He’s out of control – Listen to It’s All Kicking Off
David Coote will be the VAR official for Liverpool’s titanic Premier League clash against Arsenal this weekend, despite failing to ‘get the right outcome’ after Martin Odegaard’s handball in the reverse fixture.
The sides played out a thrilling 1-1 draw at Anfield in December, which was notable for the foul miss in the first half of the match.
With his back to his own goal, the Arsenal captain made contact with his hand on the ball in his own penalty area after losing his balance. At the time, fans were quick to say the Reds should have taken a penalty, claiming the foul was ‘egregious’ on social media.
PGMOL chief Howard Webb later agreed, claiming the situation was not an example of Odegaard ‘accidentally falling on the ball’, and admitting the referees had failed to make the correct call.
‘That is the element that is important here. Whether instinctive or deliberate, he gets a huge advantage by bringing the arm back to the ball, and the feedback we got back was very clear; the match expects a penalty in this situation.’ Webb said on Match Officials Mic’d Up.
David Coote has been confirmed as VAR official for Sunday’s big match in the Emirates
Liverpool felt they should have been awarded a penalty in the first half after Odegaard handled the ball in the area in the reverse fixture last month
Your browser does not support iframes.
“I agree with that, and that’s why I don’t think this led to the right outcome.”
At the time of the incident, the appeals were waved away by referee Chris Kavanagh and VAR official Coote agreed with the decision on the pitch and did not instruct the referee to look at the pitch monitor again.
Following news of Coote’s selection for Sunday’s match, fans reacted with dismay on social media.
“The PGMOL are actually too funny,” read a post on X, formerly Twitter, from one account. ‘Howard Webb joined Sky Sports and confirmed that David Coote should have given VAR a handball at Odegaard vs Liverpool. So what did they do? They put David Coote on VAR for Arsenal against Liverpool this weekend.”
One stunned Reds fan wrote: ‘David Coote was on VAR in the reverse match and did not award a penalty for handball – in which PGMOL chief Howard Webb said he had not applied the laws correctly… Yet he has been assigned to this match on VAR too.’
‘David Coote, who was VAR for the Odegaard handball against us at Anfield last month, has been reappointed VAR for the reverse fixture at the Emirates on Sunday.’ Wrote another one. “You can’t make it up anymore, they keep trying.”
A third said: ‘So after Howard Webb admitted David Coote made a huge mistake as the VAR during our home game against Arsenal last month, guess who’s on VAR this weekend, yes, David Coote. “It’s so blatant what’s going on, it baffles me that people still can’t see it.”
Howard Webb claimed he felt the referees did not achieve ‘the right result’ when checking a possible handball from Martin Odegaard
Liverpool fans could not hide their surprise at the decision to install Coote as VAR official after his mistake in the first match
Anthony Taylor will referee the big clash in the Emirates, assisted by Gary Beswick, Adam Nunn and fourth official Craig Pawson.
Meanwhile, Kavanagh will be the VAR official at Old Trafford as Manchester United welcome the visit of West Ham in Sunday’s early game.
Before these matches, a series of matches will take place this week, culminating in Liverpool’s match against Chelsea on Wednesday. Arsenal will be looking to continue their improved league form against Nottingham Forest on Tuesday evening.