‘Clear evidence’ – Keith Hackett drops Simon Hooper verdict after re-analysing Cody Gakpo penalty claim
Simon Hooper was right to wave away Cody Gakpo’s claims for a penalty in the first-half of Liverpool’s trip to Brentford on Saturday night.
That is according to former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee, Keith Hackett, who exclusively told Football Insider that Hooper was well-positioned to see that there was little contact between Cody Gakpo and Nathan Collins as the former went down in the area.
Brentford took an early lead as Dango Ouattara got on the end of a Michael Kayode long-throw to deepen Liverpool‘s fears of a fourth successive Premier League loss.
Kevin Schade doubled the hosts’ advantage just before the break as he finished off a clean counter-attack, but Milos Kerkez soon hit back for the Reds as he popped up at the back-post to score in first-half added-time.
The hosts extended their lead from the spot in the second-half as Newcastle target Igor Thiago continued his impressive form in front of goal, but Liverpool felt like they deserved a spot-kick of their own in the first-half.
Gakpo wanted a penalty after Nathan Collins’ challenge
Liverpool had their fair share of attacks in the first-half despite going two goals down, and they felt like they should have had a penalty just before Schade’s strike as Gakpo went down under pressure from Collins.
Despite his strong claims and the initial view seeming like he was caught, Hooper saw nothing in the challenge and played on as VAR checked and cleared the call.
Gakpo has struggled for form in recent weeks, and his desperation to win a spot-kick against Brentford was clear as replays showed that there was certainly minimal contact between him and the Bees captain.
The Premier League’s X statement to justify the decision of no-penalty read: “The referee’s call of no penalty to Liverpool was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed that there was no foul by Collins on Gakpo.”
Hackett praises Hooper and VAR for following protocol correctly
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the penalty situation, former PGMOL chief Hackett praised Hooper, who had to go off injured at half-time, and backed his decision not to point to the spot.
He said: “Referee Simon Hooper was ideally positioned to detect if there was any contact to award a penalty kick.
“Frankly there is no clear evidence that there was actual contact and therefore without that evidence rightly VAR did not intervene.
“These decisions are so much more credible when the referee is in close proximity to play to judge accurately what has taken place.
“Without that clear evidence of contact, you would not award a penalty kick.”