David Coote has found himself in hot water after a video was leaked in which the English referee bad-mouthed Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp.
Soon after the rant appeared on social media, PGMOL suspended Coote pending a ‘full investigation’ which will now take place.
Coote and Klopp have had their run-ins with one another over the years and we’ve gone back throughout Klopp’s time as Liverpool boss and have found everything that he’s said about the controversial referee.
Physical Burnley
Coote first officiated a Liverpool game during the 2019-20 season as the Reds played out a 1-1 draw with Burnley at Anfield.
While Liverpool weren’t at their firing best on the day, Klopp was somewhat irked by Coote’s lenient attitude towards Burnley’s physical game plan.
“The ref let all these challenges today happen. When the ball comes in the box, Burnley are always dangerous,” Klopp told reporters after the game.
No VAR against Man City
Coote also officiated Liverpool’s 3-2 loss against Manchester City in the 2022-23 EFL Cup fourth round at the Etihad.
As VAR is not used in the opening rounds of the EFL Cup, the officiating team was in charge of all of the big decisions on the night.
Along with the linesman missing a few offside calls, Klopp felt as though Coote and his team were uncomfortable throughout the evening as they didn’t have VAR to fall back upon.
“I would say if we had VAR, the referees are used to VAR, and all of a sudden you tell them not today,” Klopp said after the game.
“It looked like in a couple of situations they were waiting for it, or thinking there was still VAR. But there were a couple of offside decisions, where everyone in the stadium was convinced they were offside.”
Allowing Marcus Rashford’s goal
Coote was on VAR duty during Liverpool’s clash with Manchester United at Old Trafford back in October 2019.
The Red Devils took the lead in the first half via Rashford, although Klopp was adamant that the goal should have been chalked off because of a foul in the build-up.
VAR did check the goal and Coote ultimately allowed it to stand, despite the protests from Liverpool on the day.
“They were better than us and defended well, but in the end they scored a goal that shows all the problems with VAR,” Klopp said.
“Mr Atkinson let the game run on because that is the protocol of VAR, and VAR shows there was contact and it was a foul. But we couldn’t change that. They still had 60 or 70 yards to run to score the goal, but it’s not cool.
“We then scored a goal that was disallowed. Pretty much everything went against us today, but we still didn’t lose.”
Jordan Pickford v Virgil van Dijk
This was undoubtedly the biggest controversy that Coote was involved in regarding Liverpool as he was on VAR duty when Pickford left Van Dijk with a season-ending ACL injury in 2020.
Klopp was baffled that Pickford didn’t receive any punishment for the tackle by the on-field referee and he was even more enraged that Coote didn’t intervene as the video assistant referee.
“First, the ref doesn’t see it, so it is Michael Oliver who doesn’t see it and he is an excellent referee usually, but why he couldn’t see it I don’t understand as he had the best view. And the VAR forgets the rules!”
On the back of the Merseyside derby controversy, Coote was removed from VAR duty for Liverpool’s Premier League clash with Leicester City later that season.
Martin Odegaard handball
During Liverpool’s clash with Arsenal at Anfield last December, Coote was on VAR duty and found himself in the middle of a storm after he failed to overturn one of Chris Kavanagh’s decisions.
Despite the ball touching Odegaard’s arm in the penalty box, Coote didn’t recommend an on-field review after Kavanagh had waved the play on.
Howard Webb later admitted that Liverpool should have been awarded a spot-kick and it’s fair to say that Klopp wasn’t best pleased after the game.
“Yes I have seen it,” Klopp said in a post-match interview. “I am pretty sure someone will come to explain it to me why it was not a handball but I don’t know how?
“I don’t say that the ref can see it because I don’t know where he was in that moment.
“But how can a guy in an office [Coote] see that and not come to the conclusion that maybe, possibly it could be worth the referee having another look?”