Premier League of England: Bungling Video Assistant Referee officials are held accountable.

Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota were both dismissed from the game, which reduced Liverpool to nine men.

Joel Matip’s own goal in stoppage time gave Spurs the victory.

Following Liverpool’s erroneous goal being incorrectly disallowed in their 2-1 Premier League loss to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, VAR officials Darren England and Dan Cook have been changed for two games this matchweek.

Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota were both dismissed from the game, which reduced Liverpool to nine men.

Joel Matip’s own goal in stoppage time gave Spurs the victory.

The Merseyside team believed they had seized the lead in the first half when Luis Diaz snuck in behind the defense and blasted past goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario into the bottom corner.

The goal, however, was disallowed by the referee for offside.

The organization that oversees referees, Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), eventually acknowledged that it was the erroneous call to rule against Diaz’s effort, attributing the error to human error, and that the goal “should have been awarded through VAR intervention.”

The PGMOL said on Sunday that Darren England, the VAR for the Tottenham Hotspur vs. Liverpool game, and Dan Cook, the assistant VAR for the same match, had been swapped out for the matches between Fulham and Chelsea tonight and Nottingham Forest vs. Brentford tomorrow.

At the City Ground, Craig Pawson will now take over for England’s responsibilities as the fourth official, and Eddie Smart will succeed Cook as the assistant referee at Craven Cottage.

Klopp upset

Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp was exasperated after the match.

“The (Diaz) offside goal. That’s not offside when you see it. They drew their lines wrong,” said Klopp.

“The ball’s between Mo’s (Salah’s) legs. They … didn’t judge the moment when Mo passed the ball right. It’s so tough to deal with it.

“We scored an own goal, that’s really tough to take… The first red card, Curtis steps on the ball and goes over.

Not a bad tackle. It looks different in slow motion. He steps full throttle on the ball and goes over the ball. That’s unlucky.

“(Jota’s) first yellow was not a yellow. Then he gets a second and to defend with eight outfield players is tricky.”

Despite the nature of the defeat, Klopp said he was proud of his team’s backs-to-the-wall performance.

“You want to build something you need players with mentality and I saw them today (Saturday), they fought.

Pretty special,” added Klopp, whose side last tasted defeat by Tottenham in 2017 and had lost once to them in their previous 21 league games.

Virgil van Dijk told BBC: “The VAR should be absolutely clear and obvious.”

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Jurgen Klopp will be forced to make some changes to his starting XI.

Curtis Jones is set to serve a three-match ban after receiving a straight red card due to “serious foul play” against Tottenham on Saturday and so won’t be available for Liverpool’s upcoming Premier League fixtures against Brighton next Sunday, Everton (October 21) and Nottingham Forest (October 29), providing the Red’s don’t lodge an appeal.

However, the scouser will be able to play a part in Liverpool’s European campaign as the ban only extends to domestic games meaning he can take to the field for Europa League group stage fixtures versus Union Saint-Gilloise on Thursday and Toulouse (October 26).

This will be especially beneficial for Joe Gomez and Stefan Bajcetic, who have been drafted in as make-shift right-backs to cover for Trent Alexander-Arnold while he is being phased back into the starting lineup after a spell on the sidelines.

Alexander-Arnold got his first minutes since September 4 off the bench against Tottenham at the weekend and may not be ready to start next week.

The presence of Jones, who has impressed as an inverted right back in Alexandre-Arnold’s absence, means that Gomez and Bajcetic will be able to play in their natural positions on Thursday while Jurgen Klopp won’t be forced to rush the re-integration process for his first-choice full-back.

Jones was extremely impressive in the role during Liverpool’s 3-1 win against Leicester City in the Carabao Cup with Klopp heaping praise on the young midfielder for his “super smart” adaptions.

Explaining his decision to play Jones at right back after the game, Klopp said: “I sold the right-back idea with the captaincy, let me say it like that!

“But he was already completely excited when I told him he would play right-back. The way he executed it was super special, I have to say. Wow. Super.

Diogo Jota’s one-match ban and Cody Gakpo’s injury won’t benefit Klopp’s selection process up top but should lead to more minutes for Darwin Nunez.

The 24-year-old has only been handed three starts so far this season but Klopp will be left with no option but to start him down the middle – at least for Liverpool’s visit to the south coast this weekend.

Jota will be suspended for that game alone while Gakpo is expected to be out for “several weeks” after injuring himself while scoring Liverpool’s equaliser on Saturday.

When asked if the injury for Gakpo was a ‘bad one’, Klopp replied: “Possibly, I don’t know. He wore a brace. He scored a goal, but after that shot he felt it even more. It was from the foul before.