Concern about an all-time title race, not marginal refereeing decisions | first division

Fthin margins. Just over five years ago at the Etihad, John Stones cleared Ederson and then, as he bounced towards the line, lunged to hook the ball. Had he come in? Liverpool appealed. Referee Anthony Taylor looked at his wrist monitor. No goal. The Goal Decision System ruled that the entire ball was 11.7 mm away from crossing the entire line. Liverpool were denied the opener, losing 2-1 and their lead at the top of the table was reduced to four points. Pep Guardiola won his second first division qualification.

In that same match, Sadio Mané hit the inside of the post and missed, while Leroy Sané's winning goal hit the inside of the post and went in. In any case, the 11.7 mm could have been decisive, changing the angle at which the ball left the post, but what is remembered is the goal-line technology. Refereeing decisions have a habit of sticking in the mind (even when, despite what some claimed at the time, using shadows and theoretical geometry and disdaining ballistics experts with the conviction of Jim Garrison discarding the magic bulletthe decision is manifestly correct).

Sunday's 1-1 meeting between Liverpool and Manchester City It was exciting and exhausting.. City had the best of the first half and Liverpool much better in the second. Luis Díaz was brilliant but missed three great opportunities in quick succession. However, later Jérémy Doku had a shot that hit the inside of the post and rebounded; 11.7mm to the left and would probably have gone off. And yet somehow, as is often the case, we ended up with most of the post-match discussion revolving around a refereeing decision.

As City defended a corner in stoppage time, the ball fell between Doku and Alexis Mac Allister. The Belgian raised his boot and played the ball, His boot is still on the Argentine's chest.. Was it a foul? It could have been like this: That type of incident, when a defender follows an attacker who has made contact with the ball, is a gray area. If Michael Oliver had awarded a penalty, VAR would almost certainly not have overturned it. As it was, Oliver did not give it and the VAR decided that no clear and obvious error had been made.

Jürgen Klopp stated, “If the ball isn't there, it kills him” – which is inflammatory and obfuscating; Many things that happen elsewhere on the field are penalties (but not kills) if the ball is not there. Still photos were posted on social media, which as a decision-making tool are useless: there is no doubt that Doku's foot made contact with Mac Allister's chest, or that it hurt; what matters is the force and angle, how much ball was taken and, fundamentally, the referee's instinct in the face of the lack of clarity in the application of the law in such circumstances. Some found precedents, largely useless: this is not a court making a considered decision with an appeals process; and some cited when the incident occurred, as if the penalty threshold was higher in stoppage time than at the beginning of the match, which is also nonsense.

Some incidents are just gray. If Oliver had called a penalty: good. He did not do it; also is okay. In this case, there is no obvious right or wrong. But even if there were, referees sometimes make mistakes, like Paul Tierney had the previous week by giving possession to Liverpool in a unopposed drop-ball later at Nottingham Forest despite Callum Hudson-Odoi having possession when play was stopped with a head injury. Let's do it.

Perhaps the worst aspect of VAR has been the way it appears to have persuaded fans and experts that there can be absolute clarity in every decision and that every referee will get everything 100% right. That's simply not the case, but of course it's much easier to blame external mistakes or wild conspiracies than to accept failures on the part of your own team (or even, perhaps, that so much of the sport is a mess that can't really be be explained).

It is depressing that an extraordinary football match like Sunday's can be reduced in analysis – and this article is now also guilty – to a discussion about a refereeing decision. It was about Liverpool showing in the second half that this City is vulnerable to direct running, that Guardiola's old fallibility to Balls played behind the defensive line. It's more pronounced this season.

Liverpool may come to regret not clearing things up between themselves and City when they had the chance to do so, and that is not really due to a dubious refereeing decision. Arsenal is the leader in goal difference, but it was far from convincing Brentford 2-1 on Saturday (in another game in which a close refereeing decision, not awarding a second yellow card to Kai Havertz for diving before scoring the winning goal, became frustratingly dominant).

With 10 games left, three teams are separated by a single point. It's probably still an advantage for City, but this could be one of the best title runs of all time. And that really has nothing to do with any officiating.

• This is an excerpt from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, Guardian US' weekly look at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Do you have any questions for Jonathan? Email footballwithjw@theguardian.comand will answer the best in a future edition.