Gary Neville thinks that PGMOL’s error in improperly reviewing Luis Diaz’s goal against Tottenham Hotspur for offside was ‘horrendous,’ but adds that’something hasn’t been right’ with VAR this season.

The climax of the controversy occurred in the 34th minute of Saturday’s defeat in North London. Diaz pounced onto Mohamed Salah’s through ball and blasted past Guglielmo Vicario to give the Reds the lead.

So it seemed. It occurred less than 10 minutes after Curtis Jones was controversially removed for what was termed significant foul play, raising spirits among the away fans. However, the goal was quickly disallowed for offside, allowing Spurs to take the lead moments later.

With Liverpool chasing the game, Diogo Jota made two hasty choices that resulted in him being sent out in the second half, further exacerbating the situation. The hosts then found their winner in the 96th minute.

Sky Sports was compelled to apologize because they, too, were unaware of the verdict against Diaz’s goal. Normally, the broadcaster has access to photos used by referees with hand-drawn lines to detect offsides, but these were not available.

And it turns out they didn’t exist at all, as VAR Darren England and his assistant Dan Cook committed a’significant human error’ in their positions by failing to intervene and overturn the on-field decision. PGMOL issued an apology, implying that the goal should have stood.

Because this was made public while Sky was still broadcasting, presenter Kelly Cates read it to pundits Neville and former Liverpool footballer Jamie Redknapp.

“No, no. “Kelly, seriously?” Neville exclaimed, stunned. “Yes, yes, yes.” That’s exactly what occurred,” Cates said.

“No, no,” the ex-Manchester United fullback continued. At the time, I thought ‘that’s onside’ since we got VAR up on the commentary box before anyone else. Then you suddenly hear in your ear [the goal has been ruled out].

“We get the pictures up in the gantry – the VAR officials’ commentary to the referee – and you get ‘check complete.’” You’re thinking, ‘What?’ There are no lines. It was too fast, and something was clearly wrong.

“That is incredible. That is a poor choice. A extremely, really [poor error]. That is extremely significant –

At this time, Redknapp interjected, saying, “It makes you wonder how many others [decisions VAR officials have gotten wrong].”

“Oh, I know,” Neville said. “The last few weeks have just felt off, and I’ve been wondering if we have the right cameras in these stadiums.” We never seem to be in line these days. We’ve always followed the rules.

“The lines are on the pitch. By the way, these groundskeepers exhibit laser-like precision. They never mess up a line. When you look at the lines on the pitch, they are really exact.

“I’ve supported VAR and offsides as facts, but there’s been two or three in the last few weeks where I’ve felt something wasn’t quite right – the angles aren’t right, have they painted the lines on [correctly?]

“It was all too fast, and it wasn’t right.” At the moment, I thought to myself, ‘okay then, we’ll go on,’ and I walked down to the director, who said they’d definitely drawn the lines on at Stockley Park. ‘How could they have done it?’ I thought. Was it too quick? ‘Did they draw the lines?’

“Obviously, we know the explanation for how they got it wrong.” –

“And it doesn’t make you feel any better if you’re the Liverpool manager – how do you feel about that?” Redknapp interjected again. That is a heinous error.”

“That is a terrible one because I can see by times you may have had a lot of players in the way, they may have drawn it on the wrong shoulder, that is clearly Romero’s foot and clearly Diaz’s shoulder.” “Everyone sees it,” Neville concurred with his co-pundit for the second time.

“There are only two players, there’s plenty of space, it’s not like there’s a line of players, but something hasn’t felt right over the last few weeks.” We used to have cameras at every position in the stadium, but it’s almost as if there are no cameras now.

“What are they up to?” They’re using the wrong cameras to record the lines. It’s just odd. I’ve stated it before: they’re using the wrong cameras to put the lines on. “There’s something off about this.”

Following Dale Johnson’s explanation of how the officials arrived at their decision, Neville later tweeted: “I’m pretty sure if you look at the refs face they were thinking of taking the game back and saying it was a goal.” The ref seemed to be ill at one point! While the game was going on, the VAR screen on the gantry (which you can’t view at home) was stuck on the offside judgment. They understood pretty much right away, but for some reason didn’t go back or couldn’t because of rules!!”

TV footage showed referee Hooper appearing to listen to his earpiece and lifting his whistle towards his mouth moments after Spurs took their free-kick, before pausing and allowing play to continue.