BIG DEBATE: Liverpool were edged out by Arsenal on Sunday but the failure to give Alexander Isak a penalty, after a VAR check, has again ignited the idea that players need to be theatrical to get decisions

Liverpool were undone by Arsenal at Anfield, who ended their long wait for a win on the red half of Merseyside on Sunday.

Kai Havertz's first-half strike was enough to separate the sides, but a lot of the talk surrounded a Jurrien Timber challenge on Alexander Isak, which denied the hosts the chance to equalise.

The Swede got the run on the Arsenal defender and looked poised to head an effort on goal from just seven yards, the smart money was on him scoring, but Timber pulled his shirt and Isak narrowly missed out on connecting with the cross.

The replays showed that the Dutchman's tug on the shirt was clear and notable, but Isak barely reacted. It has shone a light on whether players need to make a meal of every foul to ensure a referee sees the indiscretion. VAR of course had the angles to look at the incident, but let it go.

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Andoni Iraola claimed a more obvious Isak reaction would've changed the outcome, and told him to dive in future. Jamie Carragher insisted VAR should do their job regardless of a player's reaction - but is he right? Or do players need to take matters into their own hands?

Ian Doyle

Fouling will always be part of the game, as is trying to bend the rules. That's why there is no truck with Jurrien Timber successfully distracting Alexander Isak from almost certainly scoring, and thus earning Arsenal three points that mean it will take an unlikely collapse on their part to now not retain the title. And nobody really wants players diving about.

So the real issue here is VAR - and the evidence of more than eight years proves it has just added another layer for unwanted human error.

The only technology that should be used in the game is one that isn't reliant on human calls - basically offside calls and if the ball has gone out of play or over the goalline. The rest of it, get rid. Because it isn't the technology you can't trust - it's the humans who use it or, in an increasing number of cases, hide behind it.

Ben Husband

I've got to side with Carragher on this one. You can't bemoan the antics of Gabriel and Alexis Mac Allister one minute and then the next, implore your players to go down easily to win penalties.

You could argue that Isak being so casual could have subconsciously impacted officials at Stockley Park, but that's not his issue. One of the main reasons for introducing VAR was to reduce referees being conned by players who were quick to go down. I understand Iraola suggesting his players should go to ground easily, there are occasions where that could make the difference.

But this wasn't even debatable, it was stonewall. The fact that the officials missed it is yet another damning indictment of one of the major scourges of the modern game. Fans didn't mind when a ref missed one, but VAR doing the same is intolerable. Get rid of it.

John Cross

Sadly, Andoni Iraola is bang on the money. Unless a player goes down, he is incredibly unlikely to get a penalty for a shirt pull, trip or any sort of grappling. That is the harsh reality.

Am I condoning diving? No. Nor do I think the Liverpool manager is either. But unless players take a tumble then it’s going to be seen as they could have carried on. How many times, down the years, have we seen a striker try to stay on his feet, not go down and then not get a penalty?

It’s worth remembering referee Andy Madley did not give the decision for Jurrien Timber’s shirt pull on Alexander Isak on the pitch. And the official reasoning for VAR not getting involved was that it was a small hold and it was non-impactful.

The claim was probably not helped by Isak not only not going down but sharing a joke with Timber afterwards. He’s far too nice and not cynical enough for this world.

Honestly, we underestimate how tough it is to referee and also to be a VAR on a Premier League game. I thought it was a penalty. But I rang a big pal on my way home from Anfield (he doesn’t support either club) and he didn’t think it was. So maybe the officials were right after all…

Sam Meade

Andoni Iraola is right and so is Jamie Carragher - players should make sure any foul is blindingly obvious and VAR should be doing its job regardless.

Jurrien Timber's pull on Alexander Isak was further proof of the dark arts for which Arsenal have become the league's best. Ultimately its taken them top of the league and delivered the title, so it is working.

But it only worked on Sunday because Isak and the officials allowed it to. There's no doubt the Liverpool frontman needs to be as theatric as possible to shine a light on why he wasn't able to connect with a header from close range.

Equally VAR, and referees in general, need to be paying far more attention on the challenges that take place, and not the reaction of players. If that's what you're basing your decisions on, you're getting it so wrong.