Andy Madley and VAR should take credit – they got major Anfield calls right | Chris Foy

There was one incident that got everyone talking at the weekend, and that was the decision not to award Liverpool a penalty in their match against Arsenal after Alexander Isak had his shirt pulled by Jurriën Timber as he tried to get his head to a Bradley Barcola cross. The on-field decision from the referee, Andy Madley, was no penalty and it was a call backed by the video assistant referee, Stuart Attwell. After the match the Liverpool manager, Andoni Iraola, said there had been a “clear, clear pull” and when the footage is slowed down or freeze‑framed, that looks to be true.

But at full speed, the contact appears minimal and not sustained: Timber is using one hand and tugs briefly on the shirt, and the impact on Isak’s movement is arguable. There is a high bar for penalising contact in the Premier League and that has to be taken into account by Attwell. Iraola said that he would encourage his players to go down in similar situations in future, but the incident was assessed by the VAR and didn’t clear the bar in their opinion on the day.

For the VAR to overturn an on-field decision there needs to have been a “clear and obvious error” and that is not the case here in my view. Later there was a great piece of refereeing from Madley that got approval from a lot of pundits, and I agree with them. The moment came in the 79th minute after a foul by Alexis Mac Allister on Martin Ødegaard.

There is a coming together of a number of players and Noni Madueke squares up to Mac Allister. The pair’s heads touch with Mac Allister then falling to the ground as if seriously hurt. It’s always been the case that players look to ask a question of the referee.

This was how it was when I was refereeing in the Premier League and it has not changed, with or without VAR. Here the question Madley had to answer was whether the contact by Madueke on Mac Allister added up to violent conduct. Clearly the answer to that was no.

Madley gave a yellow card to Mac Allister but not to Madueke, who had been carded earlier, and the VAR did not intervene to recommend a review given there was no evidence of a missed red card. Madley deserves all the compliments he received for the way he handled it. This was the busiest weekend of the season so far for VAR, with seven overturns across the first nine games.