‘Common sense…’ – Premier League legend calls for rule change after disallowed Van Dijk goal | OneFootball

A former Premier League attacker has called for a change to the Laws of the Game after Virgil van Dijk had a goal controversially disallowed on Sunday.

The Liverpool captain thought he’d equalised in the 38th minute against Manchester City, only for the offside flag to go up against Andy Robertson, who was harshly adjudged to have been interfering with Gianluigi Donnarumma even though he wasn’t in the goalkeeper’s line of vision.

The Merseyside club have since contacted the PGMOL to register their disagreement with the reasons given for disallowing the goal, with even Gary Neville claiming that the wrong decision was made and the Reds were hard done by.

(Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Le Tissier calls for rule change after disallowed Van Dijk goal

Matt Le Tissier believes that referees should be granted more autonomy to exercise their own judgement in such instances and claimed that, had Van Dijk’s equaliser been awarded, the outcome of the match on Sunday could’ve been different.

The Southampton legend told Football Insider: “This whole thing of just going, ‘Well, if he’s in line of sight of the goalkeeper, we’re going to disallow it’ – I think it’s too black and white.

“I think there needs to be a bit of nuance there, and I’d like to see the law changed a little bit where the referee can use his common sense or the VAR can use their common sense and just ask the question.

“At the end of all of it, ask the question, do I think the goalkeeper would have got it had he not been there? It’s a pretty simple question. Most football people will be able to look at that and go, ‘Yeah, he probably wouldn’t have done it, actually, so I think we should allow this goal’.

“It would have been a massive change in the momentum of the game. There’s no doubt about that. You know, you’re at 1-0 and you get back to 1-1. The impetus is with you, and it’s difficult then for the opposition to kind of change that impetus again, whereas they go and then get the second goal.

“All of a sudden, Liverpool are down and out, really. Their confidence is not great at the moment.”

(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Le Tissier’s pleas are unlikely to elicit change

Le Tissier is echoing the views of many football fans by clamouring for a greater usage of common sense around refereeing decisions, although his appeals for a change to the rules seem highly unlikely to materialise.

We suspect that authorities such as IFAB and the PGMOL would run a mile from a rule change which increases ambiguity and subjectivity, for fear that it’d open the door to even more controversy than we’re already seeing on a weekly basis in the Premier League.

Even with the current rules, Michael Oliver on VAR should’ve at the very least recommended a pitchside review to on-field referee Chris Kavanagh, who then would’ve had the opportunity to either change or stick with his original decision.

We get the arguments about the trajectory of the game potentially changing had Van Dijk’s goal been given, but while that’s a hypothetical argument, what’s much clearer is that Liverpool had more than 50 minutes to get back into the match and couldn’t, with Man City considerably better on the day.

Arne Slot was honest enough to admit as much after full-time, and he was also right to register his disagreement over the game’s most contentious talking point. Refereeing standards in the Premier League still aren’t good enough, and that needs to be made known at every opportunity.

You can watch Slot’s full post-Man City press conference via Empire of the Kop on YouTube: