Howard Webb says officiating communication with fans must improve

Jurgen Klopp might have held hope that his final season in charge of Liverpool Football Club wouldn’t be subjected to heinous officiating errors and VAR mishaps.

No such luck for a manager left exhausted by a multitude of 12:30pm kick-offs and Pep Guardiola’s relentless Manchester City side.

You could certainly forgive the German tactician for sticking to his guns and waving goodbye to life in the Premier League after watching Jeremy Doku kick Alexis Mac Allister in the chest.

The failure to penalise the Belgian international and award the Reds a deserved penalty rightly inspired criticism from ESPN FC’s Steve Nicol over the quality of the officiating.

Here’s hoping new boss Arne Slot isn’t left scratching his head over events on the pitch beyond his control.

Howard Webb agrees over Liverpool communication issue

Kiaran Saunders posed an important question to PGMOL chief Howard Webb over the severe communication concerns that were raised during Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat to Tottenham last term.

For context, the VAR team present (Darren England and assistant Dan Cook) failed to intervene after Luis Diaz’s opening goal was wrongly ruled offside.

However, there was a failure to confirm that the on-field decision (disallowing the goal) was at odds with VAR’s expectation (that the goal had been allowed to stand).

“My big one’s communication to fans in the stadium. Because we’re all in the air and we have no idea what’s happening,” the producer and Liverpool fan inquired on The Overlap’s latest segment.

“The big one last season was the Tottenham-Liverpool game. The Diaz one and the Curtis Jone sending off and we all had no idea.”

Webb admitted that communication with fans in the stands very much remains a work in progress.

“I absolutely agree it needs to be better, doesn’t it, in terms of sharing the information with the fans,” the 53-year-old replied.

“It’s a bit complicated in some places if you’re going to use the video board because in your place [Anfield] you don’t have a board, for example.

“So you’ve got those little strips around the field and that little bit of scoreboard, but how do you share [that information otherwise]?”

“More coffee” ☕️ 🤣

Liverpool fan Kiaran asks Howard Webb an important question about VAR. 👀 pic.twitter.com/xJo3kxzMtK

— The Overlap (@WeAreTheOverlap) October 18, 2024

Howard Webb puts Roy Keane in his place

It was practically inevitable that one of Manchester United’s alumni would stick their oar in with a dig at Liverpool’s expense.

All it took was Saunders’ fair query to invite a cheeky response whilst Webb noted the lack of available video boards at L4.

“Small clubs, isn’t it? Bigger clubs have the screens, yeah,” the Irishman quipped.

The former Premier League referee was quick to reply with: “Man U’s not gone one either. Just funnily enough.”