Keith Hackett, the former PGMOL chairman, has issued a clear conclusion on whether Liverpool should have been awarded a penalty when Cody Gakpo went down in the area during their Premier League defeat to Brentford.
Liverpool went to the Gtech Community Stadium hoping to break their run of consecutive defeats in England’s top league. However, they were defeated in west London, suffering their fourth consecutive loss.
Brentford jumped ahead after five minutes when Dango Ouattara scored. Brentford extended their advantage through Kevin Schade, but Milos Kerkez halved the deficit on the stroke of halftime.
The Bees regained their lead when Igor Thiago converted a penalty on the hour mark. Liverpool threatened a comeback when Mo Salah scored beautifully with one minute of normal time remaining, but it was too late for the Reds, who were defeated 3-2.
Ex-PGMOL Chief Issues Verdict on Controversial No Penalty Decision.
Liverpool fans were outraged when they were not awarded a penalty in the first half. Cody Gakpo fell down inside the box after a challenge from Nathan Collins, leaving the Reds behind 2-0.
Despite Liverpool’s protests, referee Simon Hooper waved them away. The Premier League Match Centre explained the decision on X, writing: “The referee’s call of no penalty to Liverpool was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed that there was no foul by Collins on Gakpo.”
Liverpool fans were furious in the second half when Brentford were awarded a penalty after Virgil van Dijk fouled Ouattara.
Keith Hackett, the former PGMOL chief, has now spoken out on Simon Hooper’s decision not to award Liverpool a penalty kick. He informed Football Insider:
“Referee Simon Hooper was in an ideal position to determine whether there was any contact and award a penalty kick.”
“Frankly, there is no clear proof that there was actual contact, thus the VAR did not interfere.
“These rulings are far more credible when the referee is close enough to the action to accurately determine what has occurred. Without that obvious evidence of contact, you would not award a penalty kick.
Liverpool will try to reverse the rot with many big games in the coming weeks. They play Crystal Palace in the EFL Cup midweek before hosting Aston Villa at Anfield on Saturday, November 1.
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