[7/7] When Pawson last officiated Everton, a few of you reached out to point out his inconsistent management of the throw-ins.
He did it here as well, being very petulant with ARS players' position of ARS players more than with SUN players'.
Just one more frustration with his officiating.

[6/7] During the last few seconds of the game, some argue that Roefs held the ball for more than 8 seconds and a corner to Arsenal should have been awarded.
Well, no.
Roefs makes contact with the ball while jumping to get it, so he's not "in full control" yet; the countdown only starts later.

[5/7] Then, both Reinildo and Calafiori were on 5 fouls but only Reinildo got a yellow.
This was soft for both, as Calafiori was due a yellow for a rugby-like holding and Reinildo was due a second one for excessive force.

Arsenal remain the club with the fewest yellows (11)

[4/7] But Arsenal were right to be angry before the first goal because identical incidents in the same passage of play have been treated differently:
- Xhaka on Eze, doesn't get the ball, ref says no foul
- Zubimendi on Isidor, gets the ball, foul and yellow card
Frankly, that was bad officiating.

[3/7] Despite Arsenal's complaints, the last-gasp goal had no reason to be disallowed.
A player's foot higher than another player's head during a collision is a foul only if the action is reckless or dangerous, uses excessive force, or endangers the safety of an opponent. Neither was the case here.

[2/7] The penalty is a particularly baffling one, because it wasn't even reviewed by VAR (James Bell).
In this frame before the contact, Ballard is clearly raising his arm to impede Merino and not as part of his action to jump.

Merino stayed down for 4 minutes, but no one thought to review it.

www.liverpool.com/liverpool-fc...

[6/6] Mamardashvili has no intention to make any contact, and rather holds arms and legs to avoid it. He also has eyes on the ball the whole time. Doku is trailing his foot ever so slightly, hoping for a contact.
This is so soft and dubious that should not meet the threshold for 'Clear and Obvious'

[5/6] On the penalty, I have plenty (plenty!) more reservations.

This is one where the frustration comes from having people who have never played football rule by scrutinising a slow-motion video over and over. But also from going against the VAR protocol once again.

[4/6] Had Robertson remained still, LIV would have had a much stronger argument, but he ducks to not be in the way so he "participates". While extremely subjective, the letter of the law favours MCI.

This is one of the frustrating incidents where subjectivity should be removed from the equation

[3/6] from a MCI side:
- while the ball goes to VVD, Robertson is stretching his arm towards Donnarumma to impede him
- Robertson ducks to let the ball pass, and unfortunately, while not directly in line with the ball, this action makes him an active player here because there is a cause and effect

[2/6] from a LIV side:
- Donnarumma's vision is not impeded (a camera from behind shows he sees the header)
- he seems to jump in time, but can't reach the ball regardless
- Doku is the one going for a header in front of him, not Robertson
- an offside position is not "active" by default

... and this is only refs, I don't have all the data for VAR yet

I will report on the analysis soon, but here's a quick heads-up...
Since PGMOL was formed in 2001
- MCI had a Manchester ref in 231 matches
- MUN, 249
(11 derbies)
- LIV, Merseyside ref, 0
- EVE, 1
- ARS, CHE and TOT, London ref, 8 (none after 2004)

Bear in mind it is against PGMOL policies 🤔

But they are 1 of the only 3 teams to have had a player sent off for a double yellow (with Chelsea and Man United) and also got a red card.

And while they are the team with the fewest touches in the opposition box, they make the most of them, being the top for touches leading to a goal (11.33)

I forgot to share the link to Taylor's record...
Here it is: www.sportingnews.com/uk/football/...