Carabao Cup match officials: Referee in officiating fiasco that cost Liverpool three points picked
Farrell Keeling
English referee Stuart Attwell blows his whistle during the English Premier League football match between Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, on March 7, 2021. - - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. (Photo by John Walton / POOL / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. (Photo by JOHN WALTON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Liverpool fans will be far from pleased to see that Simon Hooper has been selected for the Reds’ Carabao Cup second-leg meeting with Fulham.
Though, in fairness, there are few officials currently about in the English game that wouldn’t inspire an eye roll from the fanbase.
The news in question was delivered on X (formerly Twitter) by an under-fire PGMOL.
You’ll remember Simon Hooper for the god-awful officiating of Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat to Tottenham around the start of the campaign. It cost the visitors three points after Luis Diaz’s opener was unfairly ruled out by an incompetent VAR team.
The 41-year-old on-pitch official, to be completely fair to him, was utterly powerless to stand in the way of such a call that Jurgen Klopp’s men will hope won’t prove costly in the context of the title race.
The good news is that VAR won’t be present for the upcoming cup tie, which, theoretically should be a positive.
You just never really know in this day and age of substandard officiating.
