It’s hard to imagine that in the same month Andy Robertson led Scotland to their first major tournament in the 21st century, he would be questioning his love of football.
Call it the VAR effect. The Liverpool left-back was on the end of one of those trial by television incidents on Saturday when he was adjudged to have conceded an injury-time penalty for a foul on Danny Welbeck in the 1-1 draw at Brighton.
But the decision was only ratified after referee Stuart Attwell went to consult the pitchside monitor.
Robertson’s frustration intensified on Sunday as he watched two similar incidents in different games end up with neither being given as a penalty.
His Liverpool colleague James Milner had tweeted on Saturday that he was “falling out of love” with the game and the Scotland captain is feeling something similar.
“I used to love going to football games and being in that moment and celebrating a goal,” he reflects. “That has been taken out of the game a wee bit.
“Sometimes you’re waiting two or three minutes to see if a goal is onside or offside. If it’s that tight, leave it to whatever decision has been made.
“Milly’s tweet was echoing what footballers and football fans are feeling and I agree with what he’s saying. People I’ve spoken to are not enjoying watching football as much.
“It’s constantly in review or on a screen, yet we’re still not getting the consistency that we maybe were looking for.
“Football is a great game that we fell in love with and still are in love with but it’s important we don’t lose that.
“I’m all for change and I know times change but it’s important to remember the key values of our sport. We’ve got to keep that.”
Robertson even admits that the constant analysis of decisions, whether they be tight offside or penalty calls, is proving a real turn off. And it has him pining for the old days.
“I would much rather leave it up to the referee’s naked eye,” he says. “It is much easier to accept a mistake like that than with so much technology involved. When referees make mistakes on the field, it’s what they see at that moment.”
Robertson and Liverpool are in Champions League action on Tuesday night, needing three points to progress to the knockout stages but manager Jurgen Klopp will be wary of an Ajax side that has scored 38 goals in the eight games since the Reds won 1-0 in Amsterdam last month.
Just as big a concern for the German will be to avoid adding to his injury list, which he believes all started in the Merseyside derby when he lost Virgil van Dijk and Thiago Alcantara.
“We had two massive impact injuries and it started from then,” he states. “If one player goes out for a long time, another who is maybe not ready, has to play more often than not.
“You can’t prepare a squad for two massive injuries in one position, in our case centre half. Another midfielder then has to play centre half and someone else has to play midfield who was not exactly ready.
“One thing leads to another, but we have to deal with it and try to make the best of it.”
Liverpool XI (possible): Alisson; N Williams, Matip, Fabinho, Robertson; Henderson, Wijnaldum; Salah, Jota, Mane; Firmino.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/33sZfae
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