KMI Panel Rules Timber Shirt Pull on Isak Should Have Been Penalty

According to the Premier League’s Key Match Incidents Panel, Liverpool should have been awarded a penalty against Arsenal following an incident where Alexander Isak was pulled back by Jurrien Timber.

The panel voted 4:1 that the penalty should have been awarded on the field during the game at Anfield on 1 November. There was a 3:2 vote that the video assistant referee should have intervened and sent the referee to the pitchside monitor, BBC Sport reported.

Referee Andy Madley did not award a penalty at the time, and it was checked and cleared by video assistant referee Stuart Attwell. Footage of the 21st-minute incident captured Timber pulling the striker’s shirt as he attempted to connect with a cross from Bradley Barcola.

Virgil van Dijk calls shirt-pull on Alexander Isak 'a clear penalty' — NBC Sports

Kai Havertz had put Arsenal ahead 1-0 earlier, and that scoreline ultimately stood as the game’s sole goal. Isak stayed on his feet during the incident.

“There is a clear grab of the shirt,” Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola told BBC Match of the Day.

KMI Panel Rules Timber Shirt Pull on Isak Should Have Been Penalty — Photo: aol.com

“Alex was just in front of him. He was going to head in front of the goal, but couldn’t because he grabbed the shirt.”

Two panellists highlighted the “subjectivity in assessing impact” as a reason not to intervene, but the majority view was that it was a “clear and obvious error” by the VAR. In a unanimous decision, the KMI Panel concluded that Timber’s foul did not meet the criteria for a red card regarding the denial of a clear scoring opportunity.

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“If he goes to the floor, they call the penalty, 100%. It should be like this, but it is what it is,” Iraola told BBC Match of the Day.

“Next time, the managers should tell Alex to go to the floor, otherwise they won’t call it.”

"IT'S A Penalty!" Andy Goldstein & Darren Bent Baffled by lack of VAR in Timber & Isak shirt pull — talkSPORT and 2 more

“The answer is you have to dive. If you don’t dive they won’t call it.”

The KMI Panel ruled that there was a second VAR error on 31 October. The panel said that Ipswich should have been awarded a penalty against Hull City when Dara O’Shea was held back by Nobel Mendy during a corner kick.

Referee Peter Bankes did not spot the offence and VAR Neil Davies took no action. The game was 0-0 at the time. Ipswich took the lead shortly afterwards and it finished 2-2.

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