Luton Town vs. Liverpool: *Bumper* Post-Match Analysis

Paul Tomkins, Andrew Beasley, Daniel Rhodes and other TTT regulars will give their thoughts on the match for 24 hours after the game, so the article received via email is unlikely to be the final version. There's statistics from the match and videos too.

Post-Match Thoughts

Paul Tomkins

Thankfully Luis Díaz, of all people – and please, let his father be released soon – rescued a point for Liverpool in a horrible game, at a horrible stadium full of horrible fans (not all of them, but those chanting and acting like it's still the 1980s, which for some of them it may be).

This is the new horrible away FA Cup tie. That's because the FA Cup is now for reserve players, and even the underdogs rest their players. Tight grounds. Feral, almost Neanderthal fans enjoying their big day, being as offensive as possible. Officials as ultra-homers, scared of their own shadows. I said before the game that this would likely be tough.

“Always the victims” and “feed the Scousers” rang out loud, from a bunch of throwbacks, on a throwback pitch, in a throwback stadium.

Luton played well, like you'd expect from a bunch of also-rans at home with a free hit, playing as if it's the World Cup final (as it's the biggest game of all their lives), and Liverpool were very poor indeed for large chunks of the match – or at least, frequently made poor decisions. In fairness to inbred fans, they do tend to make a lot of noise, and prove intimidating places to go, with some utter nutcases in the stands.

But when Virgil van Dijk was hauled down in the box, and it went to VAR, you knew, after what happened yesterday when Andy Madley was VAR (and a ref who gives Liverpool nothing) that no decision is always the easiest decision, and so teams can just haul the best aerial player in the league down at their will, as the officials look to favour the underdog.

Luton could make deliberate handballs (which none of the officials flagged up if the ref couldn't see) and other clear yellow-card offences, but refs find it easier to hand them out for backchat, or if it's a Liverpool player, kicking the ball away (when that rule is applied, which is 6% of the time).

It's been another low in the weekend of officiating, as the officials are too scared, blind and spineless to act (albeit I'm going partially blind and have a spine that's a mess; I've never been called brave, either).

I mean, this ref didn't think this, yesterday, was a red card with the aid of video, so he was never going to send off a Luton player for what looked a bad foul:

(I assumed a fully off-the-floor lunge was a straight red? There can be no ‘in control’ once both feet are off the ground and you’re launching; contact should be irrelevant.)

More than four years in, and subjective foul decisions are simply not given to Liverpool by VAR. (Offsides are, but offsides are objective, and offside overturns are given by VAR as the linesmen get it wrong so often.)

I also felt it was Jürgen Klopp’s first big mistake of the season playing both Mo Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai for most/all of the Bournemouth game on Wednesday, in tough conditions. By all means play them, to keep them ticking over, but take them off after 60 minutes. Neither is an injury risk, but neither looked fresh today.

Liverpool’s evening was almost summed up by Trent Alexander-Arnold hitting sensational long passes and utterly stupid long shots, and just some utterly brainless football all-round in the final third, but based on weight of chances and the clear penalty shout at 0-0 (albeit the handball shout for their goal, before they broke, was not a penalty you expect to get, albeit with hands out in a star-shape), a draw seemed fair. And there couldn't have been a better scorer, off his shoulder, with a bit of luck.

I'll defend Darwin Núñez below, who was busy and wasteful, but this felt like a slightly self-inflicted dropping of points.

The second half of my analysis and the analysis of the others follows for subscribers only.