If their contention is that they did review the incident during the game and didn’t consider it to be a sending off offence then that’s surely merely their subjective opinion and not a case of them not understanding the rules though, no?
The issue regarding the actual rules seems to still be a matter of debate though.
https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/...fside-laws-rules-var-liverpool-everton-728804
I saw a comment that you posted from Clattenberg that said the ref could do as he liked as he’d not blown the whistle. Only that can’t be right and ‘our Mark’ is maybe thinking of pre-VAR there, as otherwise by definition, what he’s saying there is that the ref could have given a penalty should he have wished to, which is patently incorrect, as per the rules.
- an offence is committed against a player in an offside position who is already playing or attempting to play the ball, or challenging an opponent for the ball, the offside offence is penalised as it has occurred before the foul challenge
My initial view was that he could be sent off if it was deemed violent conduct, but Walton & Clattenberg are saying he could have gone for serious foul play, but this appears to be at odds with the rules as the ball was effectively dead when the incident occurred, and there doesn’t appear to be absolute clarity on that point from what I have seen. So maybe this incident has highlighted a slight grey area.