I just quickly sift through RAWK these days I'm afraid so apologies for effectively now being a mere interloper but reading what I can only term the naive posts of some within this particular thread compels me to do a quick post on what, lets be honest, is or at least should be a mind numbing issue for every true Red.
Cutting right to the chase, the thing is no way on God's earth are the three major game/result/possibly season changing referee/VAR decisions that Liverpool have suffered this season been borne out of mere officialdom incompetence, albeit that such utter incompetence is so plainly manifest in virtually every Premier League game I've seen either live or on screen.
No, the clear reality is that the officials in question in the specific games which have caused such anguish to every true supporter of our amazing club simply did not want to adjudicate in Liverpool's favour for any of the incidents despite the clear and overwhelming evidence which, with 100% certainty, should have compelled them to do so and more pointedly would have compelled any fair minded officials to do so.
We can take all three of the incidents in question - the disallowed Diaz goal, the Odegaard handball in the box and the Doku kung fu assault - and each one is crystal clear in respect of the decision that should have been given in Liverpool's favour by the collective officials. Yet in each case the officials contrived to ignore that crystal clear evidence to ensure the decision did not favour Liverpool.
There are, of course, a myriad of other decisions both this season and in past seasons both on and off the field of play and notably in the seemingly unerring selection of, shall we term them, scarcely our favourite match officials for Liverpool games. However, to harp on about these aspects merely serves to muddy the waters of the three huge adjudications which could have - but still hopefully will not have - a crushingly disastrous impact on our Premier League season.
As to what compels the officials in question and their ex-SYP lord and master to behave and rule in the way they have done by rejecting the reality of each situation and ruling against us, there is nobody other than the protagonists themselves who know the answer to that.
It may simply be intrinsic bias - corrupt as that is in the case of what is supposed to be impartial officialdom. It may be even more sinister than that. We can all have our suspicions but none of us can actually know. Certainly at this stage of the current shitshow we are all being subjected to.
However, mere incompetence is one thing it simply cannot be, given the manner in which we all witnessed each of the decisions being arrived at and subsequently either lamely and misleadingly apologized for in the case of the Diaz disallowed goal or supported in the case of the other two incidents.
The comments of the Man United fan Mark Godbridge in his superb video condemnation of the Webb response to the Doku debacle which someone posted above and a trawl through some of the associated comments in the wake of it of other non-Liverpool fans including even some Man City fans do actually provide a modicum of solace.
That said, the awful reality is nothing can compensate for the desecration of the so crucial level playing field philosophy and with it game we are all so attached to which is now blighting us all. Winning the league will, needless to say, make the pain go away and send us into our personal and collective nirvana. When all's told, however, what it won't do, sadly, is to dispel the rot at the very heart of our game.
