Liverpool vs Man City referee was accused of 'hiding' behind VAR by Jurgen Klopp

Liverpool vs Manchester City in the Premier Leaguewill be officiated by Craig Pawson, who has refereed more games involving Liverpool than he has any other club

Jurgen Klopp criticized Craig Pawson(Image: 2021 Getty Images)

The referee who will officiate Liverpool's game against Manchester City this weekend was once accused of hiding behind the video assistant referee by former Reds boss Jurgen Klopp.

Craig Pawson will be the man in the middle for this weekend's clash at Anfield, five years on from Klopp criticizing the South Yorkshire-based ref after a game between Liverpool and West Ham.

In November 2021, after Liverpool lost a Premier League game 3-2 at the London Stadium, Klopp made his discontent clear after what he perceived to be a foul on Alisson in the build-up to one of West Ham's goals went unpunished, while he also believed that Aaron Cresswell should have been sent off.

"It is a clear foul on Alisson. How can it not be? The arm from Ogbonna is there. You always have to say the ref maybe in the game can see it but when you see the dynamic of the whole situation, when they all go down, how close they are," he said.

"They are in each other, how can that not be a foul already without pushing the arm of Alisson?

"But the ref made it easy for himself and thought: 'Come on, let's see what the VAR is saying.' VAR had a look and said: 'Not clear and obvious.' I don't know why, and gives the goal which is really strange.

"Then I saw the situation with Hendo [Jordan Henderson] and Aaron [Cresswell] and the way I saw it, it is a clear red card. There is actually no discussion possible and again, I don't know, they will probably say because he touched the ball before.

Craig Pawson speaks to Alisson during Liverpool's loss at West Ham in 2021(Image: 2021 Getty Images)

"But a reckless challenge, you can touch whatever you want before, if you cannot control your leg that much and you hit your opponent high up the leg, you cannot go like this in a challenge. But we cannot make these decisions obviously and the ref, I don't know what he would say about that now but in the game, he looked quite confident his decisions were right."

Pawson has taken charge of a total of 44 Liverpool games during his career – including 14 since that loss to West Ham. The most recent of those games came earlier this year, when Liverpool drew 2-2 with Fulham at Craven Cottage.

In total, Liverpool has won 30 of the 44 games that have been officiated by Pawson, drawing seven and losing seven,