every single time i see that picture, i cannot believe it wasn't given as a pen.
It couldn't be given as a pen as for that season, and that season only, they were using the 't-shirt rule' where if any part of the ball hits the arm above an imaginary line roughly where the end of a short shirt sleeve is it CANNOT be given as a penalty. As the VAR footage couldn't prove one way or another whether it was definitely above or below the imaginary line they had no reason or justification in the guidelines to overrule the onfield decision of no penalty.
The fact that this decision is still talked about endlessly as a huge miscarriage of justice against Liverpool however many years later,
despite being the correct decision according to the rules in place for that season, is the perfect demonstration of how the media give Liverpool a helping hand when it comes to refereeing decisions.
What referee is going to give a decision against Liverpool if their gobshite manager, psychopathic fans and paid mouthpieces in the press will cry out with outrage if anything less than a 70/30 decision doesn't go their way with coverage lasting weeks when a similar decision for any other team is met a wry chuckle and the classic refrain of 'it evens itself out over a season'.
This is why you can't brush against their keeper when attacking their goal or match their players physicality when winning the ball back. It's why they go onto games knowing they can foul, handball, punch, kick and hold onto opposition players with impunity. It's why they can go into games knowing that any over exagerated flop to the ground will result in a free-kick, penalty or card to the opposition.
As we saw last night the media pressure on referees is giving Liverpool a head start in games, particularly at Anfield, which gives them the psychological edge in big games. Their opposition know they have to play a beyond flawless game against them, teams have to score more legal goals against Liverpool at Anfield to even come away with a draw because of this.
Having said that though the Liverpool based outcry over this 'handball' decision is probably why they once again changed the handball rule to better suit VAR the next season, so their media manipulation of the referees isn't always bad as it was a bloody stupid rule.