Mike Dean says referee ‘100%’ made a big first-half error which’ll have Arne Slot spitting fire
Mike Dean, the former Premier League referee, criticized the decision to only issue a yellow card to Andreas Pereira for a challenge on Ryan Gravenberch in Liverpool’s match against Fulham. Speaking on Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday, Dean argued that Pereira’s tackle, which caught Gravenberch on the top of his Achilles, warranted a red card. Dean pointed out that Pereira was “nowhere near the ball” and that the challenge was intentional, making it a clear red card offense in his view. This came shortly after Issa Diop’s yellow card for a dangerous challenge on Andy Robertson.
Dean is completely justified in his anger—it was a reckless tackle by Pereira, the kind that could easily cause a serious injury, and fortunately, Gravenberch wasn’t hurt by the Fulham player.
To make matters worse for Liverpool, just moments later, the 28-year-old opened the scoring by heading in Antonee Robinson’s cross, with a slight deflection off the unfortunate Robertson.
The Reds’ defense should have done a much better job preventing the goal, especially given their sluggish performance in the first 30 minutes. What’s even more frustrating is that the player who put Fulham ahead shouldn’t have been on the field at all when he scored.
To make matters worse for Liverpool, Robertson’s red card comes at a time when Kostas Tsimikas is still sidelined with injury, leaving Arne Slot without an experienced left-back for the rest of this match and possibly the next three games.
Once again, a potentially exciting Premier League match has been marred by official blunders, ensuring that the referees, not the players, dominate the post-match discussion.
