Spot the difference – Liverpool undone by Murillo goal but refereeing inconsistency will enrage Slot

Murillo struck to give Nottingham Forest the lead at Anfield on Saturday afternoon, but Liverpool will be left raging as the inconsistency of Premier League officiating was exposed yet again.

Just after the half-hour mark, the visitors won a corner kick that the home side could only clear straight to the Brazilian defender, who gleefully gobbled it up and fired past compatriot Alisson Becker to open the scoring.

However, replays showed that Dan Ndoye was standing in the goalkeeper’s line of sight and appeared to be marginally offside, but the goal survived a VAR check and Sean Dyche’s team duly took a 1-0 lead.

On that occasion, Virgil van Dijk’s headed equaliser was chalked off after Andy Robertson was in an offside position and harshly deemed to be interfering with Gianluigi Donnarumma’s vision of the play. Instead of the game going to 1-1, the Reds went on to lose 3-0.

The Premier League Match Centre on X subsquently confirmed that Ndoye ‘was not in the line of vision of Allison and did not make an action that impacted an opponent’, hence why Murillo’s goal was allowed to stand.

Liverpool’s concerns go much bigger than a couple of refereeing decisions – defeat today would deepen the pain of what’s been a horrific season so far – but Arne Slot must be incandescent with rage over the shocking lack of consistency in terms of officiating.

How on Earth can Robertson be deemed to be interfering with Donnarumma at the Etihad Stadium, but Ndoye not be in Alisson’s line of vision today?

We’re constantly fed all this self-aggrandising guff about the Premier League being the best domestic division in the world, but the officating within it is so far removed from world-class that it’s appalling.

Slot’s post-match comments on that decision – especially in the context of what happened against Man City – will be most interesting to hear. Unfortunately, Liverpool have to take it on the chin for now and try to salvage a win in the second half, at the time of writing.

You can view Murillo’s goal below, taken from Canal+ Sport’s match coverage and shared via @freezytopceltic on X: