Ta's explanation: Liverpool, the new crown chaos, and the game against Arsenal that does not need to be postponed

The Athletic UK Liverpool reporter Simon Hughes has written a new column about Liverpool's previous false positives.

Following Liverpool's FA Cup victory over Shrewsbury on 9 January, Klopp said his team had seen a series of "false positive" results on COVID-19 tests. It is therefore believed that the first leg of Liverpool's Carabao Cup semi-final against Arsenal three days ago was postponed under normal circumstances.

According to the EFL, which approved the extension, which governs england's domestic cups and lower leagues, Liverpool suffered a massive outbreak of COVID-19 that affected up to 40 players and staff. None of the affected players took part in the match against Shrewsbury, which led Klopp to claim they were "not eligible to play".

His words surprised many people in the football community, especially the authorities, who did not rule that the players were not eligible for the match. Inside the club, Klopp's exclusion of them from the tournament list was due to health reasons.

By then, the governing body had already questioned the problematic tests, as the results of the other three rounds of testing did not support the previous judgment of postponing the game. This is not what Klopp calls a "false positive," but the ultimate misunderstanding due to an error in the testing process.

Over the past ten days, ta can reveal:

After a round of negative lateral flow tests, Liverpool decided to send their players to a laboratory called BioGrad for a preventive PCR test.

2. Liverpool applied for a postponement before it knew the results of this round of testing.

3. Liverpool have carried out additional tests as they fear the club will erupt again, but the number of tests has been "up to par".

4.13 players tested positive.

5. When these erroneous test results are ignored, neither the club nor any other relevant authority publicly emphasizes the seriousness of these problems.

6. Klopp's use of the wrong terminology triggered the EFL to believe an investigation might be needed, however Liverpool had no incentive to voluntarily postpone the game.

7. Even without COVID-19, some Liverpool players are unhappy and frustrated by not being able to play two games and being forced to stay away from their families.

8. Different sources with sympathy for Liverpool used similar terms when describing what happened that week – "tmd a mess" + bad luck + bad PR tactics. And for those who questioned, the tension caused by the delay will inevitably raise questions about the club's intentions ahead of the match against Arsenal.

Liverpool sources revealed that the story began in the away dressing room at Stamford Bridge, where Liverpool rested in the London club's dressing room before the january 2 game against Chelsea. Overall, they were there for about an hour: preparing for the game, then taking a break at halftime, taking a shower after the final whistle blew.

Earlier in the day, a staff member was found to have tested positive through a lateral mobility test. He wasn't on the spot when Liverpool drew 2-2 with Chelsea, but he was already part of the trip – up close and personal with the rest of the staff and the players.

The teams returned to Liverpool and then went home separately.

The next day, a player who played against Chelsea underwent a lateral flow test and tested positive. Klopp, who had been quarantined after testing positive on 1 January, missed a match against Chelsea and Lindes took over as conductor. Between Monday and Tuesday, several other staff members, including Linds, tested positive.

When the NHS transmitted back a positive result from Lindes, the results of both the staff and players tested using the quick screening were negative. Still, Liverpool fear the virus has spread in their ranks and they will only be able to determine it through further testing.

Liverpool decided to test negative players again, this time with a PCR test. A senior Liverpool source said it was the club's doctor, Jim Moxon, who decided that additional tests were needed.

With two days to go before Arsenal, the team will be heading to London again, sharing a bus, a plane, a hotel and a dressing room, and they're going to be up close and personal with Arsenal's players.

Sources said the decision to increase testing was also in Arsenal's interest – other Premier League clubs already used independent testing labs because the Prenetics company behind the Premier League's COVID-19 testing programme was too procrastinating and they didn't like it.

However, the governing body did not originally require additional tests, and Liverpool's previous round of testing was enough to make the game go. But Liverpool took very cautious action – but that caution eventually led to the postponement of a game that could have been played.

Ta can confirm that the BioGrad laboratory in Merseyside undertook the independent nucleic acid test, and neither the laboratory nor its chief executive, Dr Natalie Kenny, responded to multiple requests for comment.

Following a visit to Anfield at Aston Villa last December, Liverpool also used the laboratory for testing in another suspected outbreak. At that time, there was an outbreak in Villa, which made Liverpool worry that some of their players and staff may have contracted the virus as a result of contact with Villa. Liverpool did not commission BioGrad for a round of testing, but they did, which resulted in the two players not being able to play at Anfield the following Thursday. Unlike the semi-final against Arsenal, that game went on.

Another player missed another game due to a separate test, which was believed to have been done by prenetics laboratories designated by the Premier League side. However, BioGrad was chosen because their detection speed is much faster. While Prenetics takes 24 hours to complete the test and publish the results, BioGrad only takes 4 to 8 hours depending on the workload.

Some believe that Liverpool decided to use this independent laboratory not only because of their speed, but also because of concerns about their staff. Omiljung is more contagious than previous outbreaks, and Liverpool believe they need to be more cautious based on the care of their staff.

And after Liverpool learned about BioGrad's efficiency, there were new concerns. This time, the Prenetics were tested at the training site, but their results wouldn't come out until Wednesday afternoon or evening – probably on Liverpool's trip to London. Liverpool did not completely ignore the Prenetics, but chose to use bioGrad laboratories for testing, so that the team could go to London with a calm mood.

However this means that Liverpool decided to come out with the results of the two different laboratories before applying to postpone the match against Arsenal. It also means that Liverpool submitted their application before they finally knew if there was an outbreak within the team.

According to people familiar with the matter, the club asked for an extension just in case. Meanwhile, the club said in response to rumors that Tuesday's training had been cancelled that the training base was effectively open. But before they were informed, the club had voluntarily closed the base.

At this time, the club is in discussions with local public health officials led by The Premier League and Merseyside county manager Matt Ashton, who personally believes Liverpool's handling has exceeded expectations. However, the club's caution ultimately backfired, as 13 players were tested positive for BioGrad. A Liverpool source considered the development extraordinary, and only then did Ashton direct a formal shutdown of the training ground for 48 hours before resuming training, with the remaining players undergoing another round of PCR testing.

When the EFL announced that Liverpool's match against Arsenal was postponed, they realised that the Results of the Prenetics test contradicted BioGrad's findings. However, the local public health authorities recommend that a negative result not cover a positive result. Although the EFL had hinted that Liverpool had as many as 40 cases, ta learned that double digits of the matchday staff had tested positive for BioGrad, bringing the suspected cases related to the Arsenal match to close to 25.

Either way, that was enough to delay the race and there was no chance of recovery, as the next batch of tests wouldn't be played until after the race was over.

According to the NHS, the rules are clear and the race must be cancelled anyway. As a result, the EFL cannot get involved in a debate about scientific explanations, and they take appropriate action after examining the laboratory, analyzing the test certificates, and having a brief discussion.

However, after the results of prenetics and BioGrad tests contradicted, Ashton got enough reason to suspect that there was something wrong with the independent lab's tests. If the results of the third round of nucleic acid tests after 48 hours are normal, he recommends having the affected players start training again. However, the final decision was up to the Premier League and the Ministry of Health and Social Security (DHSC), which was quickly approved.

Almost all of the exchanges between Liverpool and the EFL involve the club's secretary, Danny Steinway, who was the EFL's player management assistant more than a decade ago. A Liverpool source said Steinway's message was shared with the EFL side in real time via phone calls and text messages. EFL's senior sources support this claim and say the process was stressful and not easy due to the unequal level between the two sides.

Before announcing the postponement, the EFL had been responding to questions about the uncertainty of the game, insisting that the game would go according to plan. Their reasoning was also related to Liverpool's application: because before the results came out, liverpool did not have enough positive cases for both players and staff. And no senior official expected the results of an independent laboratory to be so horrific.

Regardless of the results of prenetics' tests, once the results are out, it's relatively easy to do the research quickly and make a decision. Since he himself tested positive on Jan. 1, Klopp was in home isolation. In addition, because Klopp and Lindes both tested positive, another assistant coach, Kravits, was forced to replace them at the press conference.

As of Saturday, Liverpool had a third nucleic acid test after the results of the second test of BioGrad and Prenetics came out, and the result was negative. This confirmed that there was something wrong with BioGrad's test, however the club decided not to publish the information. Sources say this is unfair to Kravitz because he is not used to answering questions that are beyond his ability to speak.

Meanwhile, sometime over the weekend, the quarantined players were allowed to be released and began training in the "bubble" again. Liverpool sources say this happened not out of fear of the spread of the outbreak, but because Klopp wanted players who had not trained for nearly a week to do extra training. For this reason, Klopp decided not to use these players.

Liverpool are now fully aware that their match against Arsenal was postponed because there was a round of test results that were problematic and BioGrad's test results were also considered unimportant – but all of these developments were kept secret until Klopp said in a post-match press conference after the 4-1 win over Shrewsbury that the players were "not eligible" for a "false positive" test.

Klopp's terminology is confusing, and his wording is also wrong. The odds of a PCR testing for a "false positive" are very small—the National Bureau of Statistics estimates range from 0.8 percent to 4.3 percent—which means that the odds of 13 "false positive" results at the same time are actually very small, and the bioGrad lab's erroneous test results are completely ignored.

Health experts who value the testing process believe that BioGrad overexplicates the results by CT values, which measure the level of virus in the human body. It is also possible that someone entered the wrong data, which eventually led to a sudden "outbreak" in Liverpool.

Initially, Liverpool declined to answer ta's questions about the test results, while the EFL firmly believed Liverpool had no record of "false positives" and believed in bioGrad labs' results. However, EFL also understands that the BioGrad laboratory test program contains a lower threshold for positive results. The EFL remains convinced they made the right decision and that Liverpool did everything right.

However, Klopp's remarks sparked resentment from other clubs, including Nottingham Forest – although they beat Arsenal, they believe Arsenal have gained more advantage. The uncertainty caused by Klopp's comments could have sparked an investigation, but the EFL concluded within 12 hours that while Klopp's claims were false, the information passed to them before making the delayed decision was accurate.

Liverpool have admitted internally that what Klopp said at the press conference was wrong, and that mistake did have consequences. He said some of the players he didn't use were not "qualified" to play, but that wasn't the case, and positive players tested by BioGrad were actually eligible to play.

Instead, Klopp chose not to use these players, a decision that could raise suspicions, with some suggesting that it might have given other players a chance to play. However, club sources also believe it should be remembered that he speaks his second language – in his opinion, the process the players went through made them "ineligible" for the game.

Some argue that the same claim applies to his "false positive" description. Literally, these players first tested positive and then they tested negative. However, given the number of tests they have received and the associated issues, they cannot actually be called "false positives."

The chaotic PR tactics used by media chief Matt McCann also made Liverpool uncomfortable internally, with McCann living in the same apartment as Klopp in 2020 while his wife lived in Germany. McCann has decided to step up and take responsibility to minimize the impact of the incident on the team.

Although a Liverpool source familiar with the situation admitted that the club and the EFL could have transparently disclosed the subsequent test results by issuing a statement. But during the pandemic, if a match is apparently postponed due to a round of very unusual test results, at least one person involved in the decision will take the scene seriously.

Inside Liverpool, Klopp did not like his authority to be challenged. The club admitted at Shrewsbury's press conference that his remarks should be explained when doubts and confusion surfaced.

Although within the club, the incident was seen as a mishandled communication lapse that disappointed the medical staff and failed to protect the manager in the wake of his own remarks. But the following Wednesday, when Klopp was asked to clarify what he meant by "false positive" ahead of his first leg at Arsenal at Anfield, he didn't admit his mistake even then.

At the same time, the club decided to downplay any impact of the incident. For the most part, the nearly forgotten side of the story are the players who were barred from playing two games they were supposed to play, and they had to leave their families. Understandably, some of them weren't happy about it, especially those who played on the pitch for a few minutes.

A club source who admitted the truth also said that deep down, any frustration among the players would be diluted by their experience as professional players over the past two years, especially those who have been at Liverpool during this time – Liverpool began testing players for covid-19 before mandatory testing.

Club sources said Klopp had reason to speak to them after they returned but had no reason to apologize, although other sources said he had apologized. Klopp decided to mention "false positives" for a reason, even if his terminology is wrong, and it may be because he wants the affected players to know that he is on their side.

According to a club source, his remarks were not planned in advance — something the news department did not anticipate because the club did not defend itself from the incident (although it would almost certainly have done so from the moment it realized that the results of an independent set of laboratory tests had been erased by the authorities).

Klopp takes health very seriously and claims he always listens to experts, but there are gaps in his understanding of the issue. Local health authorities were pleased with the report submitted by Liverpool before the delay, but Klopp's claims were confusing considering the positive results were eventually clarified. It seems unusual that they didn't correct him—perhaps his enormous contribution to the vaccination program, guaranteeing that what he is saying now will not be blamed.

At a time when doubts about the postponement of the football match have reached unprecedented heights, Liverpool and other teams have not heeded Klopp's call for increased transparency. From the moment Liverpool first contacted the EFL, transparency was lacking, resulting in the postponement of otherwise unwanted games, frustration among players and keeping fans in the dark.