Liverpool have been knocked out of the FA Cup by West Brom.
Liverpool crashed out of the competition in a dramatic game at Anfield on Saturday night. At the end of a frantic first-half, West Brom were leading 3-1, and despite Mohamed Salah’s goal 12 minutes from the end of full-time, the visitors hung-on to claim an unlikely, but deserved, 3-2 victory against Jurgen Klopp’s side.
Roberto Firmino opened the scoring after just six minutes, when he chipped the ball over Ben Foster. That goal looked like it was going to be the first of many, but a minute later, West Brom were level. Jay Rodriguez buried a first-time shot from the edge of the penalty area past Simon Mignolet, and got his second four minutes later to leave Anfield stunned.
6' Roberto Firmino 😎
7' Jay Rodriguez 😱Two special goals in the space of 68 seconds! What a start 😳
📺 BT Sport 2 HD & 4K UHD pic.twitter.com/q023r4Mpu9
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 27, 2018
VAR cancelled out a third goal for West Brom, Firmino missed a penalty and Joel Matip scored an own-goal just before half-time. Liverpool attempted to rally late in the game, but couldn’t find an equaliser.
There will be two talking points from the game – Liverpool’s defence, and the VAR.
The video assistant referee system is being used in this season’s FA Cup, and will be in use at the World Cup this summer. It overturned two incorrect decisions in the first-half, but the process of consulting with the video referee often took a little bit of time, and slightly interrupted the flow of the game.
This is what the VAR saw for West Brom's third goal, which was subsequently ruled out for offside.
25 minutes in and what a game we have already 😳 pic.twitter.com/ilr9yLDC6X
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 27, 2018
Some made the connection between VAR and Liverpool’s defence to make a seemingly obvious joke, as it prevented Liverpool from conceding even more goals in the game.
Who’s Liverpool’s best defender?
🔁 VAR
❤️ VVD pic.twitter.com/5qirbhbbTb— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) January 27, 2018
VAR is Liverpool’s best defender
They are SO weak back there
— Jan Aage Fjørtoft 🇳🇴 (@JanAageFjortoft) January 27, 2018
The right defender Liverpool had to buy was VAR not VVD😂😂😂
— HisMoshenessBrazilian (@HisMoshenessBBM) January 27, 2018
Liverpool should tie down VAR on a long term contract imo. Clearly their best defender by miles.
— Tuchel Era (@TuchelandGo) January 27, 2018
https://twitter.com/WinksyEsque/status/957346181226663936
VAR cost Liverpool nothing. Best bloody defender they have
— Damian McCullough (@d_mc_cullough) January 27, 2018
Liverpool signed the wrong defender.. should have paid just 20m for VAR instead of 75m for VVD
— Deji (@bobskino) January 27, 2018
