Gary Neville unimpressed by ‘clumsy’ challenge on Florian Wirtz which had VAR interested | OneFootball

Gary Neville wasn’t impressed by a ‘clumsy’ challenge on Florian Wirtz which had Liverpool players screaming for a penalty.

There were no goals in the first half between the Reds and Arsenal, with Conor Bradley coming the closest to scoring after his lob over David Raya came off the crossbar, although there was a talking point within minutes of the restart.

Neville bemoans ‘clumsy’ Trossard challenge on Wirtz

LFC’s number 7 took possession just inside the penalty area and slalomed past a couple of Gunners players before finding himself in a shooting position.

At that point, Wirtz was stopped in his tracks by Leandro Trossard, who collided into the Liverpool playmaker without getting anywhere near the ball, with the 22-year-old then dragged back to his feet unceremoniously by Gabriel.

There was a brief VAR check for a potential penalty, but the officials in Stockley Park concurred with Anthony Taylor’s on-field decision not to award a spot kick.

Neville seemed to suggest that the Arsenal forward may have been fortunate to get away with his challenge on the German, saying on co-commentary for Sky Sports: “That was clumsy. What a risk from Trossard that was.”

Image via @zu19C on X

Did Trossard get away with one on Wirtz?

VAR seemingly decided that there wasn’t sufficient grounds for a ‘clear and obvious error’ to justify deviating from Taylor’s initial call, but what if the referee had pointed for a penalty? Would it have been overturned in that instance?

Trossard got quite a bit of Wirtz and none of the ball and was late with the contact, and similar incidents in other games may well have led to a spot kick being given.

As Neville said, it was ‘clumsy’ at best from the Belgian, who was substituted a few minutes later, with Mikel Arteta perhaps fearing another indiscretion from Arsenal’s number 19.

Arne Slot may have a thing or two to say about the incident in his post-match media duties, but he and Liverpool are powerless to change that now. At the time of writing, all they can do is keep showing positivity and taking any scoring chances which present themselves against the league leaders.