'Like Tom Daley' - Ex-referee blasts Aston Villa man for what he did against Liverpool

Former Premier League and FA Cup final referee Jeff Winter has praised David Coote for not awarding Aston Villa a penalty during their 2-0 loss to Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday night.

Goals from Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah helped boost Liverpool’s lead at the top of the table while also marking a dent in Villa’s Champions League push as they suffered a fourth consecutive defeat in all competitions. However, the match could easily have gone down a different road if Villa had been awarded at least one of their two penalty appeals during the contest.

The first incident, which occurred just two minutes after the opening goal, saw Ollie Watkins get played in on goal on the left side of the penalty area before falling to the ground after a coming together with Liverpool centre back Ibrahim Konate. The England international demanded a penalty as the ball went out of play but the referee waved away appeals and instead awarded Liverpool a goal kick much to the bemusement of many of the Aston Villa supporters.

Commenting on the incident, Winter, who refereed in the top-flight from 1995 to 2004, believes Watkins was too dramatic when he went down, told Grosvenor Casino: “There was a shoulder-to-shoulder in the penalty area with Konate and Watkins, where the Villa striker throws himself down, like he’s doing a Tom Daley. He would’ve been proud of it. That I'm afraid doesn't help the player. It's never going help the attacking player because if the referee is a yard or two either way, slightly hasn't got the best view of the incident and he sees a player make an exaggerated fall. That's not going to work in his favour. It's going to go against him.”

Villa boss Emery, who rarely comments on refereeing decisions was left with further frustration later in the match when the referee failed to award a foul for an incident involving Pau Torres and Connor Bradley. The Villans played an attacking free kick towards the head of Torres when he was held back by Bradley before falling to the ground inside the six yard box.

Commenting on the incident, Emery said: “In this situation it was clear. I always respect the decisions of referees and I accept it, but for me, when I watched it, with VAR it was a clear penalty. Of course, it was a very important moment in the game because if we could have the chance to shoot the penalty, maybe the match would have been different. I accept the result and the referee's decision. I don’t agree and then with the players I am confident we will recover and again find our way for the season.”

However, Winter once again feels the referee was correct not to award Villa a penalty and has claimed the rules surrounding shirt pulling can be confusing. He explained: “I'm getting confused now because to me, holding is holding. But now it's got to be significant holding or some other new term that they've come up with. You're not allowed to hold an opponent in the penalty area, end of. Whether it's for two seconds.

“If I pull your shirt that instantaneously has an effect on you, it prevents you from moving. So, the fact that it’s only for a second or a millisecond as opposed to what we sometimes see, the all-in embrace, it's still holding. There was there was holding going on in the box and Pau Torres got brought down. But I didn’t think it was a penalty, so on those ones it’s the referees call, he’s close and there’s no need for VAR to intervene”.