Klopp livid over penalty equaliser
Liverpool held to draw at Brighton as list of complaints continues to grow
Already angered by fixture timings in a congested schedule and hindered by a long injury list in his squad, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was given another reason to be unhappy following the latest contentious incident involving VAR in the English Premier League.
The champions dropped two points after conceding a goal from a penalty in the third minute of stoppage time in a 1-1 draw at Brighton yesterday.
The spot kick was awarded following an intervention by the video assistant referee, who previously ruled out two Liverpool goals at Amex Stadium for offside — one of which couldn’t have been tighter against Mohamed Salah.
“You cannot imagine how many things are hard to take [at] the moment,” said Klopp, whose list of gripes is getting longer by the day.
Liverpool’s coach made clear his frustration by sarcastically applauding the assistant referee after Pascal Gross converted Brighton’s equaliser.
He spoke to the match officials as they walked off the field after the final whistle. Klopp wasn’t finished there, continuing his complaints about broadcasters post-match regarding a schedule that has seen Liverpool forced to play on Thursday night in the Champions League and then Sunday in the Premier League.
“The only thing we have to do is deal with it, recover, prepare again and go,” he said.
Indeed, for a team that is back atop the league as they look to retain the title, Liverpool are an unhappy bunch.
Salah, who recently returned to action after contracting coronavirus, was substituted around the hour mark — just as he was on Thursday in the 2-0 home loss to Atalanta in the Champions League — and didn’t hide his unhappiness.
Klopp made it clear he was trying to protect his star attacker, who set up Liverpool’s goal scored by Diogo Jota.
“We have to be careful [with Salah],” Klopp said. “He doesn’t like that, but that’s it.”
Already missing Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez and Thiago Alcantara because of injury, Liverpool have another issue to contend with after the versatile James Milner hobbled off with a hamstring problem.
Likely adding to Liverpool’s frustration was the sight of arguably their biggest threat for the title, Manchester City, regaining their scoring touch in a 5-0 win over Burnley a few hours later to close the gap to the champions to six points.
There had been concerns about City’s once-prolific attack, with the team scoring just 10 goals in their first eight games. All it needed was a visit from Burnley to get City flowing again.
Riyad Mahrez scored a hat-trick, while Benjamin Mendy and Ferran Torres added goals as Burnley were beaten 5-0 for a fourth straight time at Etihad Stadium. Three of those have come in the league in successive seasons.
City should be in the goals in their next three home games, too, with relegation contenders Fulham, West Bromwich Albion and Newcastle visiting in December.
Everton’s slide after their brilliant start to the season continued with a 1-0 home loss to Leeds.
After opening with four straight victories, Carlo Ancelotti’s side have won just one of their next six games and haven’t kept a clean sheet since the opening weekend. Raphinha grabbed a 79th-minute winner for Leeds with a 25m drive.
West Bromwich Albion picked up their first victory and left Sheffield United as the only winless team in the league with a 1-0 win at The Hawthorns.
Conor Gallagher’s 13th-minute goal lifted West Brom out of the bottom three.
Sheffield United squandered a string of late chances — Lys Mousset shot over the crossbar from inside the six-yard box in stoppage time — and remained in last place and on just one point after 10 games. Last season, the team was challenging for European qualification until the last few games.