Mark Clattenburg has slammed the quality of officiating in Liverpool’s clash with Tottenham on Sunday.
In a game that had numerous talking points, it was the incident involving the England and Scotland captains which drew the most attention.
At normal speed, it seemed to be a robust challenge by the striker, but the more times you looked at the incident it was a straight red card offence and almost certainly would have been adjudicated as such if VAR had been used.
As the dust has settled, there has been considerable dismay at another example of the subpar quality of officials in one of the top leagues in the world.
One of the justifications over the decision documented by BBC Sport said that Robertson lifted his standing leg out of the way of the Spurs captain's tackle.
However speaking on 5 Live’s Monday Night Club, the former Premier League referee for over a decade said it is a worrying conclusion to make.
“To hear that Robertson has to have his leg planted alarms me, because if he does that he's not walking this Christmas.
“If you don't believe this is a clear and obvious error about Kane, you're not doing your job correctly.
"I think we, as referees, are sometimes guilty of knowing the laws of the game but we don't understand the game.”
Clattenburg pinpointed the operation of VAR as a major issue and those in charge of it on any given matchday have no excuse to get the decision wrong.
“VAR cannot get this wrong. Referees can, because they have a split second. VAR have all the angles, he's got all the slow-motion, he can see the point of contact.
“If they are saying that his (Robertson's) leg has to be planted, which is a new one to me, if the leg was high, the studs were showing, it's reckless, he's lunged. For me, he's endangered the safety of the opponent.
"Robbo is lucky today that he's still walking. We should understand footballers more because he's not going to leave his leg there, why should he? He's not going to want his leg broken and his career put in doubt."
Clattenburg who is now Head of Officiating in Greece says that they follow a process that the Premier League should look into further.
“In Greece, we release the audio of VAR decisions.
"People appreciate it. They might not always agree with it, but they appreciate it. I think that should happen.
"We should be able to listen to the audio. We might not agree with it, but at least then we would understand."
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