Michael Oliver admits mistake over Pickford-Van Dijk challenge
Bildbyran

Jordan Pickford should have seen a red for the Van Dijk challenge.

Michael Oliver admits that Pickford should have been sent off for that horrific Van Dijk challenge in the Merseyside derby.

Van Dijk suffered an ACL injury and he is not expected to make a return before the end of this campaign.

 

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Oliver said: “The thought initially was, ‘it can’t be a penalty because it’s offside so we need to check the offside first’. I think I said to the VAR, ‘if it’s not offside, I’m going to give a penalty’.

“I have watched it back so many times. I genuinely don’t think Pickford has done anything apart from try to spread himself but he did it the wrong way, as the injury has shown.

“We have all, myself included, not thought about the challenge as much as should have done. We could still have given offside and sent Pickford off.

“What I was surprised about looking at it afterwards was that nothing was expected on-field in terms of a red card. None of the players were asking for that.

“We got sucked too much into going step by step as opposed to thinking of the bigger process, which was considering the challenge as well and not just the fact it can’t be a penalty. We should have restarted with the offside, as we did, but with a different punishment for Jordan Pickford.”

 

See More: Virgil van Dijk Net Worth: How Much Is He Worth?

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