Brighton 1 Liverpool 1

The furore over VAR has reached such a fever pitch that it is now the main discussion point  of a match.

That Brighton deserved a draw and held arguably the best team in the world is secondary to the intervention of VAR.

Managers and players seek any excuse for a below par performance which becomes due to VAR result.

The system is unsatisfactory as no one knows what it is.  If we went back to “clear and obvious error” then clarity would be restored.

Referee Stuart Attwell was once fast-tracked to the top but he gave a goal that was not as the  ball missed the target at Watford and his confidence never recovered.

Exposed to the full glare of publicity should he make a similar error he is one who would defer to VAR.

Aaron Connelly had an early chance he missed.

His pace clearly troubled a makeshift Liverpool defence missing Van Dyk, Gomez and Matip.

Then Brighton were awarded a penalty and Neil Maupay missed the goal altogether.

I had seen Cavaleiro and De Bruyne do the same and I said to Alan Tanner afterwards there is a case for a dedicated penalty coach.

Liverpool took the lead through Jota and nearly doubled it from a dubious free kick.

Ben White clearly got the ball first but in following through felled the player. Mane headed home but was correctly ruled offside .

Then deep into extra time we had the drama.

It did not look a foul on Danny Welbeck but once Attwell went to the monitor you felt he would award a penalty which he duly did.

Pascal Gross, who must have noted that Alisson flung himself to his right, struck the ball down the middle to score.

What Brighton and any team in the bottom half of the Premiership would give to bring on the likes of Milner, Henderson and Mane off the bench.

Liverpool are still top of the Premiership. Yet Klopp railed against BT Sport, Chris Wider and fixture congestion in his post-match interview. The reality is he has a competitive  squad he must  keep happy.

Klopp has had it easy but now he’s losing the plot.