‘Sorry we f**ked up was enough!’ – Neville hits out at Liverpool for ‘vague and aggressive’ statement

Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville thinks the statement from Liverpool criticising the Professional Game Match Officials Limited was a “mistake”.

The PGMOL admitted that VAR officials Darren England and Dan Cook had failed to act after Luis Diaz’s 34th-minute strike was wrongly disallowed for offside in the Reds’ 2-1 loss to Tottenham.

There were still images which showed Cristian Romero playing Diaz onside with the disallowed goal coming when the match was still goalless.

Curtis Jones was also controversially sent off when a yellow card was upgraded to a red card for a tackle on Yves Bissouma and Diogo Jota was also sent off late on for a second bookable offence.

Jurgen Klopp and his players were incensed at a number of decisions on the day and Liverpool released a strongly-worded statement on Sunday warning that they will “explore the range of options available” following the VAR controversy.

The statement read: “Liverpool Football Club acknowledges PGMOL’s admission of their failures last night. It is clear that the correct application of the laws of the game did not occur, resulting in sporting integrity being undermined.

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“We fully accept the pressures that match officials work under but these pressures are supposed to be alleviated, not exacerbated, by the existence and implementation of VAR.

“It is therefore unsatisfactory that sufficient time was not afforded to allow the correct decision to be made and that there was no subsequent intervention.

“That such failings have already been categorised as ‘significant human error’ is also unacceptable. Any and all outcomes should be established only by the review and with full transparency.

“This is vital for the reliability of future decision making as it applies to all clubs with learnings being used to make improvements to processes in order to ensure this kind of situation cannot occur again.

“In the meantime, we will explore the range of options available, given the clear need for escalation and resolution.”

But Man Utd legend Neville thought the statement from Liverpool was “a mistake” and accused the Reds of using “dangerous phrases”.

Neville wrote on X: “Jurgen Klopp handled the situation well last night after the game. Most football fans will have had empathy with what happened and recognised it was wrong!

“However Liverpool’s statement tonight is a mistake! Talk of exploring all options (what does that mean!!!) and sporting integrity are dangerous phrases along with being vague and aggressive.

“Sorry we f***** up was enough!! I said this last night. Sorry should be respected and not undervalued.

“This is a snap reaction that can always be wrong but I feel strongly about it.”