Liverpool FC’s ‘Big Baby’ Andy Robertson Shows The Hypocrisy Of Players

As the players trudged off the pitch at Anfield with visitors Arsenal 1-2 ahead, Liverpool FC fullback Andy Robertson was visibly incensed.

The Scotsman’s eyes bulged, his mouth frozen open in disbelief as he touched hand to neck.

“The linesman has just elbowed me in the throat,” he was later reported to have said.

It was an allegation that appeared to be backed up by grainy footage, pulled by the broadcasters at the interval, showing assistant referee Constantine Hatzidakis moving his elbow in Robertson’s direction.

Angry on-field protestations, which saw Robertson booked, were led by Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson. But, post-game, his manager Jurgen Klopp took a milder approach.

“I know it happened but I didn’t watch it,” Klopp told the media, “if it happened the pictures will speak for themselves.”

The images spoke to the Professional Game Match Officials Limited [PGMOL], the body that provides officials for Premier League games, and its actions were swift.

Hatzidakis was removed from active duty whilst investigations into “the incident” continued.

Nevertheless, amongst some members of the refereeing fraternity, the first sounds of condemnation had already begun.

“Players can push us officials to the limit,” wrote World Cup final ref Howard Webb in the Daily Mail. “They can provoke to the point where you are probably tempted to give them something in return. But under no circumstances can we can respond. Certainly not physically.”

“I cannot think why an assistant would throw his arms into a player’s face,” said former Premier League official Mark Halsey in The Sun. “Sure, from one camera angle, it does not look good.”

Reaction to the alleged elbow has been heightened by the fact it comes after Fulham FC striker Aleksandar Mitrović was handed an eight-game ban for pushing referee Chris Kavanagh in the team’s FA Cup defeat versus Manchester United.

As the ban was announced, the Serbian apologized to Kavanagh and spoke of regret.

“I allowed my frustration to get the better of me, and how I reacted was wrong,” he said in a statement, “I was trying to get the referee’s attention, but I appreciate that I should not have put my hands on him and I understand why he showed me a red card.”

Both incidents invoked the common perception that ‘putting hands’ on an official, or in Hatzidakis’s case a player, is the one thing that crosses the line.

Whilst no one could plausibly argue physical contact is acceptable, using this as the limit for what is deemed appropriate behavior in soccer is a hideously low bar.

As Robertson’s actions in the run-up to the incident demonstrate, soccer players can direct a disgraceful amount of aggression toward officials in the knowledge they tend to be treated with impunity.

Robertson ‘The Big Baby’

As the relentless analysis of the alleged elbow got underway on British television the typically blunt former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane, who was a pundit at the game, pointed out it may have been Robertson who was first to lay hands on the linesman.

“Does he grab the linesman first?” Keane said, “I’m not sure. But Robertson’s complaining. He should be more worried about his defending.

“I’ve watched Robertson a number of times and he is a big baby. Just get on with the game and concentrate on your defending.”

It’s a sad inditement of the behavior which is deemed acceptable in soccer that Robertson should feel able to make a beeline for the linesman to remonstrate in his face waving his arms like a drunk being ejected from a bar.

But maybe we shouldn’t be surprised he would feel emboldened to act in this way. Earlier in the season his coach Jurgen Klopp was sent off for shouting in a linesman’s face mid-game against Manchester City.

The German accepted the punishment post-game stating that he “went over the top,” but in practically the same breath justified it as being “about emotion” claiming he was not disrespecting the official.

Klopp was handed a £30,000 fine but was not banned for his actions, which in itself is a demonstration of the leniency which exists in soccer towards this type of dissent.

The consequences

Liverpool is hardly the only club guilty of this type of behavior.

Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes is just one of the many players seen perpetually berating officials and, in a video earlier this season, appeared to shove a linesman in the back after a decision went against him.

Whilst too much respect for an opponent in soccer can indeed be detrimental, it is a depressing state of affairs that many apply the same logic to officials.

Whether they are making calls players believe are fair the minimum standard is players accept them in a professional manner.

Aggressively berating referees on the field is simply wrong and to then, as is the case with Robertson, be filled with a sense of burning injustice when they potentially react to it hypocritical in the extreme.

The consequences of this behavior by players benefit no one. It invariably leads to more abuse from fans, which these days extends from the field into an official’s personal life through social media, and ultimately means fewer people take on the role.

But, worse than that, it makes soccer a game where aggression rather than respect towards officials is accepted.

In the top divisions that rarely leads to actual violence, as the case of Mitrovic shows the punishments are severe enough to deter it.

However, in the lower leagues referees are hurt and games are rendered unplayable.

Just a few weeks after Klopp’s sending off, an adult amateur football league in Merseyside announced the majority of their referees were opting out of officiating matches for the “foreseeable future.”

The reason was “totally unacceptable behavior from clubs” towards refs and “numerous incidents.”