Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was left stunned by his team’s failure to award an injury-time penalty as Pep Guardiola unleashed another dazzling and controversial saga in his latest Premier League clash.
Jeremy Doku’s move on Alex Mac Allister in the 98th minute was left unpunished by referee Michael Oliver and VAR was deemed fair by Stuart Atwell, allowing the title chasers to share the points in a 1-1 draw.
But the controversial stoppage time decision led Klopp to claim that only people ‘non-footballing’ would think it wasn’t a penalty.
“I think everyone in this room thinks that when the penalty whistle goes, it’s not a scandal,” Klopp said.
“He hits his chest, yes he has touched the ball before. Does having your leg that high make a difference at any position on the court?
“You can hit the ball first, then the foot is here and you go out. Of course, this is not a red card, but I talk about it very often. Why does the guy in the VAR studio think this isn’t clear? If you think this is not clear, what should you have for lunch?
Klopp thinks that if the foul had been elsewhere on the pitch, a foul would have been called.
“This situation in all positions on the field is 100 percent foul and yellow card,” he said.
“He hit the ball, but he could only hit the ball because his foot was there. If the ball isn’t there, he kills it. This is a punishment for all football people on the planet. If you think it’s not like that, maybe you’re not a football man.
“But actually I’m not angry. It’s just the way it is. It’s good. I’m very happy with the way we played today. I really don’t care. I’m over it.”
Klopp calls out Mike Dean
Sky TV’s referee advisor Mike Dean first suggested on commentary that Oliver would be asked to review the incident, but later backtracked and accepted the VAR call did not do so. Telegraph Port columnist Keith Hackett thought the incident was a “clear and obvious” punishment.
“You’ve got Mike Dean working, he’s working for Sky? Congratulations, it’s a great appointment by the way; he’ll find something,” said Klopp.
Despite the recent furore, the Liverpool manager said the game was one of the best games in terms of quality he has ever been involved in and claimed his team’s performance had convinced him they could go far in the title race.
“I would love to take advantage of one of the big opportunities we created,” Klopp said.
“Yes, we are lucky that Doku hit the post, but we played an outstanding game of football. The most important piece of information for us, besides the result, is that we are there. We are going the distance. Let’s see what we get for that, but the boys tried so hard to make it all there. Arsenal are It’s firing on all cylinders at the moment.
“They played an incredible game again last night. City is City. So for us it’s probably a little bit like how did we get through all of this, we’re still there. It’s just crazy, all these games we’ve played and the squad situation we’ve got.”
“Today against Manchester City I saw the best 53 minutes we’ve ever had. How we played was outstanding and it was also important that we learned that about ourselves. We can do that.
“The result is one thing. So if we win today, where are we four points ahead of City? That’s not a distance you can sleep on. Maybe two points ahead of Arsenal. No matter how they play, they won’t stop. After all the different paths we’ve found, the important thing for us is always Not perfect performances, just the most intense struggles to achieve results.
“This is the knowledge we need to be able to create something like this today. Our injury situation is still terrible. “There are so many players not available, it’s crazy.”
Liverpool should have had another penalty but don’t blame the referee
The quality of this game lived up to expectations with some outstanding playing skills on display and I was delighted to see a refereeing performance of the same quality.
Michael Oliver gave a performance that backed up why he is England’s No.1 football referee. He was well supported by his two colleagues on the line, Stuart Burt and Dan Cook, and I hope that many rank-and-file officials took good viewing positions and viewing angles into consideration of Oliver’s foresight, movement and positioning. Big penalty decision: Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson brought down Darwin Nunez with a reckless tackle.
But unfortunately I can’t say the same for VAR Stuart Attwell, who missed a clear and obvious penalty in the final minute of added time that would have given Liverpool the chance to win the game.
It’s not Oliver’s fault here; far from it. Mohamed Salah was well placed to turn down Liverpool’s call for a penalty kick when he went down dramatically.
But play continued and in the final seconds of play, when City’s Jeremy Doku lifted his foot towards Liverpool midfielder Alexis Mac Allister, Oliver had lost sight of the pair as they battled for the ball.
It was a foot raised above his waist, landing on his opponent. Even though we made contact with the ball first, it was a careless tackle. Oliver, who was blind, had to trust VAR at that moment. Liverpool felt there were serious penalty demands and in hindsight Oliver will be disappointed he wasn’t sent to the screen for a look. In my opinion this was a foul and Attwell missed a clear and obvious error that needs to be re-evaluated. We’ll never know if that would have cost Liverpool the winning goal.
Oliver was also well placed to award an accurate penalty kick for Liverpool when he penalized Ederson for his reckless tackle on Nunez earlier in the game.
There were those who called for the goalkeeper to be sent off, he was injured shortly afterwards, but once again I think Oliver made the right decision to warn him and keep the game at 11 v 11.
According to the law, recklessness is “where a player acts in disregard of the danger or consequences to an opponent and should be cautioned.”
Oliver was right to give Ederson a yellow card for his reckless tackle, but for it to be a red card the following criteria must apply in law: “Using excessive force means that a player exceeds the use of force required and/or endangers the safety of the Opponent and must be sent off.”
Oliver was right and showed why he is our No.1 referee; He remained calm and read the play extremely well, keeping in touch with the play and gaining important vantage points to See, Recognize, Think and Act.