Erik ten Hag still trusts the Professional Game Match Officials Limited despite a number of high profile errors seen in the Premier League this season.
The Manchester United manager has seen his side become victims of bad officiating this season, like when Alejandro Garnacho’s goal against Arsenal was ruled offside or Cristian Romero’s handball when we travelled to Tottenham, but Ten Hag doesn’t uses them as excuses when results don’t go our way.
“I don’t give comments often on refereeing because they do what they need to do,” Ten Hag said at his press conference, as quoted by the Manchester Evening News. “The standards need to be high.
🗣️ “The standards have to be high.”
Erik ten Hag says he has full trust in the match officials in the Premier League despite the growing amount of high profile errors recently. pic.twitter.com/Bed5ennlEV
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) October 2, 2023
“You can expect, the fans can, a high standard, so it should be because it’s the Premier League. I’m sure they do what they can, I trust them.”
Reporters were keen to ask Ten Hag about his thoughts on PGMOL following Liverpool’s strongly worded statement in which they claimed sporting integrity was undermined when Luis Diaz’s goal was ruled offside against Tottenham by referee Darren English.
VAR believed the on-field decision had been to award the goal, so there was a completely miscommunication with the referee and his fourth official. PGMOL put the incident down to “significant human error”, but Liverpool have threatened to “explore a range of options available”.
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 30, 2023
Unlike United, Liverpool got an apology from PGMOL after the game, yet Ten Hag’s trust in the referee association remains.
It comes as no surprise that the Scousers would overreact. Some fans are even calling for the game against Tottenham to be replayed, which led to former Premier League striker Jonathan Walters pointing out how their fans have reacted with a freakish sense of outrage.
I’ve got a timeline full of Liverpool fans moaning ‘The game needs to be replayed’ ‘Sign this petition’ … just bore off.
Someone made a big error and said sorry. It’s a mistake so move on.
There’s been plenty of mistakes this season with red cards, penalty decisions and goals…— Jonathan Walters (@JonWalters19) October 2, 2023
You didn’t hear us cry, wanting a replay of the games against FC Porto in 2004 or Chelsea in 2010, but yet again Liverpool show their true colours.
If the club isn’t pushing for a replay, what other options are they seeking? Their statement is not going to resolve anything but it will pressurise referees to ensure they get favourable decisions in the future.
Jurgen Klopp was fuming after Saturday’s defeat to Tottenham, too, using terminology like “crazy decisions” BBC Sport(via ) when two Liverpool players were rightly sent off.
The German coach added that the PGMOL apology “doesn’t help”, but what more does he want them to do after a mistake?
Furthermore, former United right-back Gary Neville said Liverpool have made a huge “mistake” by releasing a statement in response to the PGMOL’s admission of failures.
Neville covered the game for Sky Sports and believes that Liverpool should have accepted the apology and moved on.
Jurgen Klopp handled the situation well last night after the game. Most football fans will have had empathy with what happened and recognised it was wrong!
However Liverpools statement tonight is a mistake! Talk of exploring all options ( what does that mean!!! ) and sporting…
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) October 1, 2023
I’m relieved Ten Hag isn’t the type of manager to look for excuses after a bad result or run of poor results.
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