- Roberto Firmino earned Liverpool an early lead in spectacular fashion as he lobbed Ben Foster
- Jay Rodriguez was on hand to respond for West Brom as he netted twice inside four minutes at Anfield
- Joel Matip scored an own goal before Mohamed Salah clawed one back late on for the home side
- West Brom held on for a heroic FA Cup upset over Jurgen Klopp's side to move into the fifth round draw
Jurgen Klopp’s first trophy in England won’t be the 2018 FA Cup. Liverpool’s exit against West Brom was every bit as chaotic and confusing as the use of the video assistant referee saw the first half alone over-run by seven minutes.
In possibly the wackiest evening Anfield has ever witnessed, Liverpool took the lead, were 3-1 behind at half-time and narrowly failed to gain a replay after Mo Salah netted his 25th goal of the season late on.
To add to the Saturday night drama, referee Craig Pawson used VAR Andre Marriner eight times, two of which led to lengthy delays.
*Referee Craig Pawson called upon aid from the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) on numerous occasions during the encounter
First, he disallowed a goal by Albion’s Craig Dawson after guidance in his earpiece. Then, midway through the first half, it took three minutes 54 seconds between Mo Salah being fouled by Jake Livermore and Roberto Firmino taking the resulting penalty. as Mr Pawson heard from Mr Marriner and then went to the touchline to check the offence himself on a monitor.
To add to the farce, Firmino then crashed the resulting spot-kick against the underside of the crossbar. It was that sort of occasion.
Advocates of VAR will say justice was served because two major decisions were judged correctly because of technology.
But the flow of the game was constantly interrupted and the fans inside Anfield had no access to replays meaning they spent a lot of time sitting and waiting rather than watching.
‘Are we going to start taking goals away from the entertainment for those slight margins. That is a worry,’ said Pardew aftewards, and he was the winning manager.
Though it was a terrific game, a proper cup-tie, it hat was despite rather than because of VAR. To add to the confusion, only four minutes of overtime was played at the end of the first half even though the delays had been a lot longer that.
Even without the distraction of VAR, Liverpool will know their cup exit was self-inflicted and manager Jurgen Klopp didn’t try to pretend otherwise. ‘It was poor defending. Just bad goals,’ he said.
Both he and Pardew made only three changes each which gave the fourth round tie a sense of importance. Liverpool have won just one trophy since lifting the FA Cup in 2006 so any chance of silverware is not to be taken lightly.
Saturday night football might not be everyone’s cup of tea, or pint of lager, but there was a crackling atmosphere under the lights at Anfield, the kind that inspires forwards and makes defenders wither.
Perhaps it explains why there were three goals in the opening 11 minutes.
Liverpool struck first when Jonny Evans, in possibly his last Baggies game before joining Arsenal, reacted badly to Chris Brunt’s wayward pass, waiting for goalkeeper Ben Foster to come out and claim.
Instead, it allowed Salah to nip in and though Foster raced out to block the Egyptian’s shot, Firmino lifted the rebound into an empty net with a cute finish.
who broke the deadlock first after two errors in a row from Albion.
Liverpool’s lead lasted barely just a minute. Brunt won a 50-50 with Georginio Wijnaldum, accelerated past Trent Alexander-Arnold and squared a pass to Jay Rodriguez.
The forward hit a brilliant finish with the outside of his right boot that swerved away from Mignolet and, incredibly, he then scored again after 11 minutes to put the visitors ahead.
This time, Emre Can was guilty, beaten beaten in midfield by Grzegorz Krychowiak. The Pole motored into the box, slipped a pass outside to Kieran Gibbs and his first-time cross was sidefooted home by an unmarked Rodriguez from eight yards.
The striker is currently waiting to hear if he’s going to face an FA charge of racial abuse after an incident earlier this month involving Brighton’s Gaetan Bong. Pardew described his on-pitch contribution last night as ‘terrific’ but Klopp could only howl at more defensive frailties.
‘Long ball, West Brom win the first challenge, win the second challenge. We should have cleared the ball but then the disaster starts with the run of Rodriguez and fantastic finish.
‘For the second goal we lose Rodriguez in the box. It makes no sense.’
The drama then took a modern twist with a double dose of VAR. First, Craig Dawson rose above Firmino to head in a Brunt corner to make it 3-1. Or so Albion thought. The referee asked whether the goal should stand and over in west London Marriner checked the footage and found that Gareth Barry had been standing in front of Mignolet, in an offside position.
Instead of being 3-1 down, it was only 2-1 and Firmino was then given his chance to level from the spot which he fluffed.
Albion had to reshuffle before half-time when Kieran Gibbs and Hal Robson-Kanu both limped off.
But they still scored again before the interval, Krychowiak finding Dawson whose low cross was turned into his own net by Joel Matip. The German attempted a backheeled clearance, missed and watched as the ball hit his standing left leg and rolled over the line.
West Brom didn’t hold back as they kept their lead in the second half. Ahmed Hegazi left Firmino doubled up in pain after stamping on his foot but got away with it.
Klopp made a triple change and watched as Foster saved from two of his subs, Danny Ings and James Milner. Jordan Henderson also came on for his first action of 2018 following a hamstring injury.
After 78 minutes, Liverpool scored their second goal. Alexander-Arnold’s cross from the right bounced off Firmino and fell nicely for Salah, who despatched his finish first-time past Foster.
*Salah jogs back to the centre after his late effort proved not enough to revive Liverpool's FA Cup hopes
It was the Egyptian’s 25th goal of an extraordinary debut season in England. Not quite as extraordinary as this game, however.
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