Premier League referee Tony Harrington. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
Virgil van Dijk has accused referee Tony Harrington of failing to properly manage Liverpool’s clash with Fulham because he was “nervous”.
The Reds had to settle for a 2-2 draw in a ding-dong battle at Anfield, twice coming from behind to secure a point.
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In reality, Liverpool will probably be quite happy with the draw given Andy Robertson’s 17th-minute red card, which came just six minutes after Andreas Pereira had given Fulham the lead.
But Liverpool he still managed 16 shots and 2.26 xG and on another day could have easily pulled off a big win.
Robertson was sent off for denying Fulham a scoring chance when he brought down Harry Wilson inside the penalty area.
While that decision was pretty clear, Liverpool still had plenty of reason to be frustrated with Harrington in the opening minutes.
Robertson appeared to be injured in the second minute when Issa Diop caught him with a robust challenge, picking up a yellow card.
A few minutes later, Pereira was also shown a yellow card when he got on the heels of Ryan Gravenberch in a terrible tackle.
Former referee Mike Dean believes Pereira should have been given his marching orders for the challenge.
“Pereira caught Gravenberch on top of his Achilles and scraped it. He’s nowhere near the ball. He knew what he was doing. It’s 100% a red card,” Dean told Sky Sports (via Empire of the Kop).
Two minutes later, Pereira opened the scoring for Fulham, while within eight minutes, Robertson had been sent off.
Virgil van Dijk criticizes ‘nervous’ referee Tony Harrington
It was a chaotic opening to the match, to say the least, and one which, according to Van Dijk, Harrington failed to deliver, showing clear signs of nerves.
“A great comeback is very positive. It’s disappointing to have 10 men, but we showed fight, we kept trying to create chances. It could have been more, but let’s take the point and move on,” Van Dijk said after the game (via BBC Sport).
“Keep calm. It’s easier said than done. I would always be hard on them. We saw that last year and last week against Arsenal. We had to turn around and keep fighting. We tried.
“I had conversations with the Fulham players and we heard that the referee was nervous. He couldn’t communicate properly with Robertson, I felt. We can’t blame the referee. We all talk about protecting the referee but I haven’t been able to talk to him. It shouldn’t be a big deal because he’s not the reason we dropped points.
“It is what it is. Let’s take the points, recover quickly and be ready for Wednesday’s game.”
