“It’s a joke” – Officials slammed for turning ‘blind eye’ to contentious issue in Liverpool draw | OneFootball

Craig Pawson was indirectly criticised for turning a ‘blind’ eye to one recurring issue during the Liverpool v Chelsea game at Anfield on Saturday.

There was plenty to keep the officials busy this afternoon, with both teams having second-half goals disallowed for offside and both having penalty claims turned down.

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There were screams from Virgil van Dijk for a spot kick in the 79th minute as his header crashed off the crossbar, with the Reds captain being held by Moises Caicedo as he made contact with the ball, the referee ultimately deciding that each player was as guilty as the other.

Pawson criticised for ignoring penalty box grappling

Speaking to Football Insider after the Liverpool game, former PGMOL chief executive Keith Hackett urged the refereeing body to be more proactive in stamping out the penalty box holding which was so prevalent at Anfield today, and indeed throughout the Premier League this seson.

The former top-flight whistler said: “The referee and VAR just turn a blind eye to this type of grappling in the penalty area. The answer they give is that they are both grappling, so it cancels the offence out.

“Until the PGMOL management states clearly to their officials and stakeholders in the game that they are going to apply the law, it will continue. It is either a penalty kick or a foul to the defending team. Doing nothing is allowing grappling offences to increase.”

Journalist Henry Winter was also scathing of the officiating on corner kicks as he fumed on X: ‘It’s a joke how much grappling has been allowed by officials at corners in the Premier League this season.’

Image via @Fty1388998 on X

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Liverpool v Chelsea was marred by penalty box holding

As per Sofascore, Pawson awarded 34 free kicks in total this afternoon – 17 for either side – some of which were soft in the extreme, yet he was content to allow the penalty box wrestling to proceed throughout the game at Anfield.

Take the aforementioned 79th-minute incident on its own – as the corner kick was swung in, Reece James and Federico Chiesa had hold of each other, Malo Gusto appeared to bundle over Alexis Mac Allister, Wesley Fofana and Milos Kerkez had their own duel going on, Joe Gomez went to ground with two Chelsea players in close proximity, and of course there was the tête-à-tête between Van Dijk and Caicedo.

In that passage of play alone there seemed to be multiple fouls committed, yet the officials simply sat back and did nothing, almost as though they couldn’t decide which party was most guilty and thought it best to turn a blind eye, as Hackett termed it.

Until such time that this glorified WWE is penalised, it will continue apace in many Premier League games, not just the one at Anfield today.

Pardon the pun, but PGMOL chief Howard Webb really needs to get a hold of this prevalent issue and instruct his officials to deal with it properly, rather than pretending it isn’t happening.