Simon Hooper’s decision to wave away Cody Gakpo’s penalty claims during Liverpool’s trip to Brentford on Saturday night has been backed by former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee Keith Hackett. Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Hackett said Hooper was well-positioned to see that there was minimal contact between Gakpo and Brentford captain Nathan Collins as the Dutch forward went down in the area.
Brentford took an early lead when Dango Ouattara reacted quickest to a Michael Kayode long throw, compounding Liverpool’s fears of a fourth successive Premier League defeat. Kevin Schade doubled the advantage just before halftime with a clean counter-attack finish, though Milos Kerkez pulled one back for the Reds at the back post in first-half added time.
The hosts extended their lead from the penalty spot in the second half through Newcastle target Igor Thiago, who continued his fine goal-scoring form. Liverpool, however, felt they were unlucky not to receive a penalty earlier in the first half when Gakpo went down under pressure from Collins.
Despite Gakpo’s strong appeals, Hooper saw nothing in the challenge, and VAR confirmed the decision after review. Replays showed minimal contact, and the Premier League’s statement read: “The referee’s call of no penalty to Liverpool was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed that there was no foul by Collins on Gakpo.”
Hackett praised Hooper and VAR for following protocol correctly, saying: “Referee Simon Hooper was ideally positioned to detect if there was any contact to award a penalty kick. Frankly there is no clear evidence that there was actual contact and therefore without that evidence rightly VAR did not intervene. These decisions are so much more credible when the referee is in close proximity to play to judge accurately what has taken place. Without that clear evidence of contact, you would not award a penalty kick.”
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