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• Smith tells Liverpool to move on as Klopp calls for replay of controversial Tottenham fixture

  While Alan Smith accepts Liverpool have every right to be hurt by the VAR error which cost them in Saturday's loss to Tottenham, he thinks Jurgen Klopp's team have no choice but to move on. 

  PGMOL, the body responsible for match officials in English football, admitted a "significant human error" was committed when the decision to disallow Luis Diaz's first-half strike – which was flagged offside – was not overturned. 

  The audio recording of the decision-making process surrounding the incident was made public on Tuesday, revealing VAR Darren England misunderstood the nature of the on-field decision when clearing the check.

  Diaz's wrongly disallowed effort occurred when the game was goalless, with Liverpool down to 10 men following Curtis Jones' straight red card. 

  Diogo Jota was also sent off in the second half before Joel Matip's stoppage-time own goal handed Spurs a dramatic 2-1 victory, maintaining their flying start to the Premier League season.

  Liverpool subsequently said the "sporting integrity" of the game had been "undermined" in a statement, and boss Klopp made further headlines on Wednesday. 

  Speaking at a press conference ahead of Liverpool's Europa League fixture against Union SG, Klopp called for the Spurs game to be replayed, labelling the situation "unprecedented".

  While Arsenal great Smith has sympathy for Liverpool, he maintains the Reds have no option but to accept they were wronged. 

  Speaking to Stats Perform at the Legends of Football event, in aid of Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy, Smith said: "I was amazed when they played on and the offside was upheld.

  "It was a lack of communication, big time.

  "I can't understand how that happened, but it's not great because it casts a shadow over the game, over VAR especially, and Liverpool are clearly very upset. 

  "You can't blame them, but I think you've just got to suck it up and carry on really. It's done. It's done now."

  The incident has sparked further debate about the impact and implementation of VAR, but former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein says the technology will become more effective as time goes on, calling for supporters to "stick with it".

  "Well, it comes down to two words, human error, and that's going to happen," Dein said. "People have got to understand.

  "I'm a great supporter of VAR. Before VAR came in, the referees were making one game-changing error every three games. That's been reduced dramatically.

  "You'll see as the years go by. It's still in its infancy. It only came in the World Cup in Russia in 2018. That was when VAR was really introduced. 

  "It's going to get better and more efficient as time goes on. I'm a great supporter. You've got to stick with it."

  Arsenal Women's manager Jonas Eidevall was also speaking at the event, and he outlined his belief that semi-automatic offside technology – which is used in UEFA competitions – should be adopted by PGMOL.

  "With VAR, as long as there is a human element to it, there can always be human errors," Eidevall said.

  "If you do the semi-automatic offside technology, you don't really have a human element to that and you get less errors. So I think that's a good example. Goal-line technology is another one. 

  "The referees are also going to get better, over time, at working with a system like VAR. That's also very obvious and they will also learn things every season. They want to get things right."

  Meanwhile, VAR – and goal-line technology – was a hot topic across the opening weekend of the Women's Super League season, with officials failing to award Guro Reiten a goal despite the ball clearly crossing the line in Chelsea's 2-1 win over Tottenham.

  Asked if he expected VAR to grace the league soon, Eidevall said: "Yes, I do. I think that's where the development is heading. I don't know if that's next season or the season after. 

  "I think when we do, if we implement it, it has to be the full version. 

  "What I don't want to see in the women's game is for them to implement a cheaper version of VAR with less camera angles. That makes it really difficult for the referees to see the situations."

• Celtic urge fans to stop using pyrotechnics after another UEFA fine

  Celtic have repeated their request for supporters to stop using pyrotechnics after being hit with another fine from UEFA.

  The club said they had been fined 23,400 euros (about £20,260) after fans lit fireworks in the stands ahead of their Champions League group opener against Feyenoord in Rotterdam.

  A spokesperson for Celtic said: “Clearly, we are concerned that, despite repeated requests and safety warnings, a small minority continue to use pyrotechnics at Celtic’s matches.

  “The use of pyrotechnics represents a serious risk to the safety of our supporters.

  “Celtic has been hit with another significant sanction by UEFA due to this behaviour. Again, the club requests that this conduct stops.”

  News of the fine came hours before their first home game of the competition against Lazio.

• Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp admits his call for Tottenham replay is unlikely

  Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp wants their match against Tottenham to be replayed after a significant VAR error ruled out Luis Diaz’s goal but accepts he is unlikely to get his wish.

  With the score at 0-0, Diaz was flagged offside but replays showed he was actually onside although Darren England, the VAR, mistakenly believed the on-field decision had been to award the goal, leading him to tell referee Simon Hooper the check was complete.

  Liverpool’s complaints promoted the publication of the audio between officials which revealed the first person to spot the mistake was the replay operator, who urged the team of officials to stop the game, but the VAR and assistant VAR repeatedly said they could not intervene because play had restarted.

  Klopp felt such an unprecendented scenario required a similarly unprecedented solution.

  “The audio didn’t change it at all because I was not really interested in why things happened because I knew,” he said.

  “I saw the outcome, I saw goal we scored and it didn’t count so I wasn’t now waiting for the audio and sitting there hoping I’d find out how it could happen or whatever.

  “Yes, it was an obvious mistake and I think there would have been solutions for it afterwards.

  “If not, I can say immediately – and probably some people don’t want me to say it – not as the manager of Liverpool but, much more as a football person, I think the only outcome should be a replay. It probably will not happen.

  “The argument against that will probably be if you open that gate then everybody will ask for it. I think the situation is that unprecedented – it didn’t happen before.

  “I’m 56 years old and I’m absolutely used to wrong decisions, difficult decisions but something like that as far as I can remember has never happened. That’s why I think the replay would be the right thing.

  “The next argument would be if it would happen again, I think a replay would be the right thing to do or the referee has the opportunity to bring both coaches together and say ‘sorry, we made a mistake, but we can sort it, that Liverpool score a goal and we start from there’.”

  Asked whether the club had made – or would make – a formal request for the match to be replayed Klopp, after taking advice from his press officer, said: “We are still going through the information that we have.”

  The PA news agency understands the Premier League’s stance remains the same as earlier in the week – that a replay would not be considered.

  The manager stressed he did not want to single out the individuals involved for the errors made, but wanted to find a solution within the framework of the system which would prevent something similar recurring in futrure.

  “What I want to say is it’s really important that as big as football is, and important as it is for us, that we really deal with it in a proper way,” he added.

  “I mean that all the people involved – on-field ref, linesman, fourth official and especially now in this case VAR – they didn’t do that on purpose. We shouldn’t forget that.

  “I’m not angry with any of them (the officials), not at all. It’s not only the respect, but the only thing for human beings in general is we should not go for them. It’s not allowed to go for them in any way.

  “They made a mistake and they felt horrible that night, I’m 100 per cent sure. That’s enough for me. Nobody needs further punishment. We should discuss it on a completely normal basis without emotions.”

  Klopp was still unhappy with some other decisions taken in the game, notably the upgrading of Curtis Jones’ yellow card to a red, and also the two yellow cards issued to Diogo Jota.

  “The referee got called to the screen and saw for the first three seconds a frozen picture. I would have given immediately a red card for that picture. Then he sees the replay in slow motion and I’d have given a red card for the slow motion. But in reality it’s not a red card.

  “The ref’s first decision is yellow. Then the clear and obvious mistake is showing a frozen picture and in slow motion.

  “On top of that, Diogo Jota got two yellow cards for not touching a player once. That is unprecedented as well I would say.”

  Jota will be available for Thursday’s Europa League visit of Belgian side Union Saint Gilloise but fellow forward Cody Gakpo, who was injured in the Spurs game, is out.