Pundits feel Liverpool got away with two incidents in their win vs Cardiff City

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Pundits feel Liverpool survived two incidents they probably shouldn’t have in their win vs Cardiff City on Sunday. The Reds ran out 3-1 winners.

Liverpool enjoyed a comfortable result at Anfield in their FA Cup Fourth Round fixture vs Cardiff. After a disappointing first-half, Diogo Jota put them 1-0 up with a fantastic header. Takumi Minamino and Harvey Elliott both found second-half goals to drive a 3-0 lead – though, Cardiff did pull one back.

Things look good, then, as the Reds largely controlled Cardiff here. But should they have? Two prominent pundits believe VAR decisions went Liverpool’s way that were probably incorrect.

Chris Sutton took to Twitter to voice his concerns that Liverpool got away with a penalty shout. Ibrahima Konate appeared to barge over a Cardiff player in the box and Sutton feels it should have been a penalty.

“Yes [it should have been a penalty],” he wrote. “Big teams more often than not strike fear into VAR officials. LiVARpool today get away with it.”

Now, our thoughts are that there didn’t appear to be enough contact for a penalty and that a 48-year-old man shouldn’t be saying ‘LiVARpool’. But perhaps both are up for debate.

Sutton wasn’t the only one who felt Liverpool got away with something, though. Ian Wright told ITV that he should Caoimhin Kelleher should have walked for a reckless challenge early in the second half.

Kelleher charged out of goal to deal with a through-ball but completely missed the ball. Instead, he caught the Cardiff attacker on his calf with his studs up. There were two questions on this one – was it a clear goalscoring opportunity and was it dangerous?

Now, we think Ibrahima Konate would have swept up the chance regardless of anything. As for reckless play? Possibly. Kelleher certainly didn’t mean it but he did catch the player a little high. We’re not sure Liverpool could have argued against this one.

So were Liverpool lucky? On the Kelleher one, possibly. It would have been a game-changer but it’s one that went the Reds’ way. Both decisions, however, were debatable either way.